Of course one can read a fixed length file into Excel. (I can also use Open Office)
For example, imagin a file called (FILE_FIRST.DAT) like this: (This file has 4 fields. My real file has about 40 fields).
JOHN DOE 6105551212BOSTON
This file is
10 - First name (JOHN )
10 - Last name (DOE )
10 - Phone (6105551212)
10 - City (BOSTON )
I can "tell" Excel how wide the fields are and Excel will read it in, creating 4 columns.
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OK. Let's say tomorrow, I have another file called FILE_SECOND.DAT. I don't want to have to "show" Excel how wide each field is. (This is easy with 4 fields - hard with 40 fields).
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Is there any way to tell Excel: "Remember this mapping. There will be more files in the future that will have the same layout. In other words, more files that will need to be mapped the same. (10, 10, 10, 10, 15 in this example).
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What I just learned in the last hour!!!
It seems that Office 2007 (which I LOVE) understood my need. It is an easy, elegant procedure to create a database table in Access, import the Text file, which prompts you to define the field lengths and field types. You can then so-simply export the data to Excel. It's so easy it feels like cheating. Right on the Excel screen, it says "Saved Imports".
Start Access.
Define a table.
Choose Text File under External Data.
You must rename the file to be imported with a .TXT extension. Just copy the file to that name.
Go through the import procedure. Fixed-width youve probbly done this before, in various contexts.
Define the fields: Optionally enter field names (instead of just Field1, Field2, etc.) You may or may not want a Primary Key. I didn't.)
AMAZING!
Click on External Data tab. Click on Excel.
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: matthewspatrickPosted on 2007-08-31 at 19:23:42ID: 19812352
Before importing the file, go to Tools|Macro|Record macro and record your steps. Hit Alt+F11
to get to the VB Editor, and paste here the code the recorder generated. An Expert can help
you clean it up.