Difference in format between excel tab seperated file and filemaker version

fmaker only does what you ask him to do.
a tab file means tabs in between fields whatever are data in the field.
and this may include, as shmert says, any character which may collapse the file structure; it is up to you to take care of tabs in fields, characters which must be escaped to avoid interpretation by the receiver, etc...
excel is more tricky, it may insert double quotes around a field if the field data is containing suspicious characters like tabs, which means some fields may have quotes around them, some others don't. and it will double the quotes found inside the field to avoid confusion with the quotes inserted as delimiters.
obviously your ebay app prefers the excel way. in this case, the csv format would be suited better from filemaker (quotes are mandatory) if ok with the ebay thing. otherwise, you can put quotes around all fields before exporting the file, but still have to manage characters inside fields.
I think it is a bit strange to use tab files to export html code, very risky. I think I would build up my file in a single field or variable and write it to disk. but I am lacking details to be sure this is the best way.

Unfortunately, this system I use I have no control over.  It is the same management system used by all the largest ebay stores.  There is only 1 method of imported data, and I can either use it, or add data manually, which is not a solution.

That said, it is possible that there are tabs in the code.  If this is the issue, is there a custom function I could use to convert the html fields to not throw off my online database on import?

Your best bet is removing the tabs before the data is exported.  Replace them with some spaces.

I removed all the tabs and the file is still not working.

Here is the new file:

http://www.diagiodiamonds.com/ebay/Revised%20Items%20Upload%20-%20New.txt

the ebay app probably needs quotes being doubled, then the whole field in between quotes.
have you tried the excel export from filemaker?

This has nothing to do with ebay itself.  This is a management system called Channel Advisor.  The question comes back to, what is the difference between the excel generated file and the filemaker version, and how can i make the filemaker version emulate the results.

I cannot create an excel export because the long text fields get messed up, among other issues.  

In order for my filemaker file to work properly with channel advisor, all i have to do is open the file in excel, and resave it.  It works, but it makes no sense that excel formats a tab separated file differently then filemaker.

it does! tab separated files is not a rigid format, all it is is that there is tab in between each field. the rest is undefined, so it is all linked to how the receiving app behaves.
but I am sure you can simulate the excel format with filemaker. it maybe an extensive script, but it can be done.

I still dont understand the difference between the two files, and why i can take the file created by filemaker, and simply open it in excel and press save, and suddenly I have a different file that Channel Advisor accepts.  

Even more odd, it seems that Channel Advisor will accept the file created from Filemaker, so long as the number of records is low.  If the file has 50 or more records, I have to cut the import into smaller files, and it will accept the data.

If you have a solution, I would be thrilled  :)

the diff is that when it encounters a quote, excel doubles it then put the whole field in between double quotes.
and when you say the CA accepts the filemaker file, are you sure that the part which is imported is correct?

Channel Advisor rejects the import when the number of records in the import exceeds a certain amount.  If I import the records in smaller amounts it does not reject it.  If I open the file in excel, and resave it, it imports the full file.

are field dispatched the same way in both cases?

If I create a tab seperated file in filemaker, then import it into Channel Advisor, it rejects the import if the total number of records being imported exceeds a certain number.  This is not specific number, merely an observation that small imports work, large ones don't.  It is possible that I am wrong about the cause of the rejected file.

It just occured to me that chopping the file up into a smaller set of records probably has nothing to do with the reason Channel Advisor accepts it after I do so. Simply opening the file in excel and resaving it is the reason, irregardless of the size of the file after.

If i had to guess, double quotes is excel's normal handling of quotes for tab seperated files...or....it is the way it handles quotes from filemaker's tab seperated files.

Channel Advisor reads the double quotes as single quotes.  

Perhaps if I create a custom function to replace quotes with double quotes it will read properly.  

at least you can try by doing it manually once first
would the pb happen when the file is over 64k?

It isn't a 64k issue.  I think I may give up on this one.  Now that I know that simply reopening and closing it in excel gets around the problem, it may not be worth the effort to reformat my exports to avoid it.

Should I just close this question?

up to you, but this is not really handy. you should compare the file before and after opening it in excel, and try to to the same in filemaker, manual solutions is always a bad choice.
about closing it, no pb, just ask for it, the topic moderator will do it

The issue is how filemaker interprets quotes within text based exports.  In filemaker's help file it says the following about Comma-Separated Text format :

Quotation marks (") in a field (not curly quotes) export as double quotation marks ("").

This is the problem.  What are curly quotes?  

Oddly enoughthough, the help file only says this for csv files, when mine are tab separated.

If you get a chance lesoeuf, can you take a look at this question:

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22743050/Using-table-relationships-to-show-records-in-a-database-with-matching-fields.html 


Thanks!

Forced accept.

Computer101
EE Admin