Export table to a csv file without decimal places, dollar signs and apostrophes
Hi.
I using Microsoft Access 365. I need to export / create a clean csv file.
My table only has 3 fields.
[System ID] Data type = Number Field Size = Double Decimal places = 0
[Order Qty] Data Type = Number Field Size = Integer Decimal places = 0
[Unit Cost] is Data Type = Currency Format = General decimal places = 2
I am trying to export a from a table to a CSV file. Below is the result
*** Please note that I inserted spaces in this question to make it easier to read. ***
This is what I get.
System ID, Order Qty, Unit Cost
210000000347, 4.2, 1
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Microsoft Access
Last Comment
PatHartman
8/22/2022 - Mon
Dale Fye
create a query that selects all of those records and uses explicit type conversion
SELECT [System ID], [Order Qty], cdbl([Unit Cost]) as UnitCost
FROM your table.
Then use this query in your transfertext method.
peispud
ASKER
I am trying to understand your advice.
I have used the query wizard to on this table. I am looking at this now.
But, I do not understand how "use explicit type conversion".
or is this a vba code solution that you suggest?
peispud
ASKER
Thank you for your help. I'm working on this but still stuck.
I believe that I've done that within the query wizard. I created a new field in the query that does the explicit conversion. Then I exported just that field as a csv file. It did not change anything .
If you have formatting defined on the table for those fields, that may get transferred when exporting to .csv. Since I NEVER, EVER format numbers or dates at the table level, I have never had this problem. It is not a problem that Access causes. Either your query is adding the formatting or it is in the table itself.
The reason I never format at the table is because users never get to look directly at tables. Only I do. Users look at forms and reports where it does make sense to format these data types. When you format at the table, you obfuscate the data and that only causes YOU problems with debugging. For example, if you are having trouble selecting the correct records using a date range, the issue is likely that some rows include a time component and you can't see it because you formatted the field to show only the date. Or you may be confused by decimals. Internally, Access stores the actual value. So if the result of a calculation is 245.788765, that is what gets stored but if you set the decimal places to 2, what you see when you look at the table is 245.79 and so you'll never understand why a column of numbers is a couple of cents off when you add it manually.
Hi
I went with John Tsioumpris's suggestion. The code below works perfectly, except that Excel interperts it as a text file.
When I examine the contents in notepad and compare to a valid csv file, there are no differences.
So, I am still missing something.
Dim fso As Object: Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Dim Fileout As Object: Set Fileout = fso.CreateTextFile(strTheDirectory, True, True) Fileout.Write "Order Qty,Unit Cost,System" & vbCrLf Do Until rsx.EOF Fileout.Write rsx![Order Qty] & Chr(44) & rsx![Unit cost] & Chr(44) & rsx![System ID] & vbCrLf rsx.MoveNext Loop Fileout.Close
Excel sometimes tries to "guess" what the contents of a file is ...maybe this is the issue...
Maybe if you upload a small sample we can help better.
Also ...even Excel doesn't recognizes it correctly can you still import it by using the Text To Columns and using comma as separator ?
peispud
ASKER
I am using Microsoft Access. I actually just made the following changes
Old --- Set Fileout = fso.CreateTextFile(strTheDirectory, True, True)
New --- Set Fileout = fso.CreateTextFile(strTheDirectory, True, False)
Now, everything looks like it should in Excel.
So, it looks like I can create / have created a valid .csv file for import into another web application.
It now looks and acts like a csv file. Any other considerations?
John Tsioumpris
So the problem was the Unicode/ASCII setting...interesting...
Anyway...as usual i think you just have to test it for some cases and if everything goes as it should the work is done.
SELECT [System ID], [Order Qty], cdbl([Unit Cost]) as UnitCost
FROM your table.
Then use this query in your transfertext method.