VISTA Plus for MPE User's Guide

Viewing a Report
3-25
Downloading Comma Delimited Files to a PC Spreadsheet
Comma-delimited files are supported by many PC applications and provide a method of
transferring data from one application to another. When a comma-delimited file is loaded by a PC
spreadsheet, the data in each column will align correctly in the spreadsheet’s cells.
VISTA uses comma-delimited files to notify a PC application where numeric and text values begin
and end. When a PC application loads a comma-delimited file, the size of each field and the field
type are defined. This provides an advantage over text files since a PC application does not know
where numeric values are located when a text file is loaded.
Column dividers must be defined prior to attempting a comma-delimited download; these dividers
tell VISTA where to put commas. Column dividers are specified with the Column Management
function keys. Turn to the “Working with Columns” section in this chapter for more information.
Translation Rules
Numeric values are determined by extracting the contents of each cell and testing for the presence
of dollar signs, minus signs, commas and numeric values (for example, 0 through 9).
Text fields are defined as any values that are not numeric values (as defined above). However, any
numeric value starting with a zero (0) will be treated as a text value to prevent fields, such as
account numbers starting with zero (0), from being zero suppressed by a PC application. This is
because zero suppressing an account number causes loss of data.
Dates containing slash (/) and dash (-) characters are treated as text values. For example: 01/25/93
and 01-25-93.
When a numeric value is detected, the commas and dollar signs are removed and the value is
written to the download file. A comma or a tab character (depending on the field Delimiter) is also
written to the download file following the numeric value.
When a text value is detected, the text value is placed within double quotes (e.g., “100”) and
written to the download file.