[Dx4win] Need tips how to clean up garbled .csv file

[Rick Murphy]

On 10/20/06, Dick Flanagan <dick at twohams.com> wrote:
> At 07:01 AM 10/20/2006, Larry Alkoff wrote:
>  >I notice that exporting from DX4Win to .csv produces a file with commas
>  >separating the fields but there are some embedded commas - especially in
>  >the comment fields.  Can this mess up my file?
>
> You betcha!  .csv files are "comma-delimited" and the application uses
> commas to determine when one field ends and the next one begins.  If you
> have commas in data fields, the system loses track and all subsequent
> fields are thrown off.

Not quite. CSV files can have arbitrary text when strings are quoted
with "....". Most software that builds CSV files quotes strings to
avoid this problem. Apparently DX4WIN doesn't.

You can fix the csv file by sticking double-quotes (the shifted quote
character, not two single quotes) around the comment fields; if there
are any quotes, double them. That'll allow it to import into
OpenOffice.
    -Rick
-- 
Rick Murphy, CISSP-ISSAP, K1MU/4, Annandale VA USA