Dear all,

We are currently developing a new Data Download tool and are looking for testers. On release, this will be for 'Active' and above subscription levels.

If you are interested please click here.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Karl.

Hilary,

The standard CSV format allows the inclusion of speech marks (") to help delineate the data. For example if one section of data included a comma but it was not to be used as a data seperator.

The data will load seemlessly into all the spreadsheet software that I have tested it with (inc Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Spreadsheet).

If the speech marks are causing problems for you loading the data into some other software please let me know and I will create an option to switch them off.

Hope that helps,

K

Karl: any news about making the download available earlier than 11pm - I'm tucked up in bed by then.. :)

BT,

He has just popped out for lunch - I will get him to answer your question when he returns.

Ian

Karl, Ian,

Thanks for your help. I'm probably doing something wrong here.

I'm downloading the ohlcv data for the previous day which produces a spreadsheet within my browser. I'm then clicking "File", then "Save as" and have saved as both a CSV file and an Excel file. I've then tried opening the files within both Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 and they still have the speech marks. They're certainly not seamless. Help please??!!??

Hilary,

Do you get a choice to open the file or save it when you click the download?
What browser are you using?
What spreadsheet do you use as your default?
When the file loads into your browser does it have the speech marks?

I'm sure we will sort this problem out for you :)

K

hilary - when you go to the download page, you will notice it is defaulted to csv just click download at bottom of page then save it to your pc you can then import it into your excel spreadsheet.

Karl,

Normally when I download a file, I get a choice of saving it or opening it. With your download, I don't get a choice and it just opens in my browser (IE6). It has the speech marks within the browser. I then have to save it from the browser.

CSV files are defaulted to open within 1-2-3 (which I happen to prefer over Excel) although I have tried opening it with Excel but to no avail.

Karl,

I've a copy of your CSV file open (in Excel) atm. The date, epic, name and ohlcv data is all contained within the cells of column A and hasn't separated into the other columns at all. It has, however, separated into the respective rows.

Hilary,

Ok ... you've got me ... no idea why yours is showing the quote marks. I'm also using IE6 as well as FireFox and Opera. But I can't replicate your problem.

So I'll add an option to get rid of the speech marks. I'm not too sure if this will affect anything else but I'll have a go. It will mean that you won't be able to use the "quick downloads" and will have to manually choose the option to get the correct download.

I'll post back here when it is done, probably sometime next week.

K

OK thanks Karl (thanks too to Prodman for the input).

I've just opened the download on my other PC which also just opens the file in the browser and doesn't give me the option of saving it.

Interestingly, on one pc the Date column is not contained within speech marks, whilst all the others are. On the other pc it is within speech marks.

hilary, your problem is that you have 1-2-3 set up to take the stuff directly from the browser. When you load up a CSV file in 1-2-3 (File/Open) it gives you the option "start a new column at each comma" or "automatically parse based on file layout". When it comes directly from the browser this option doesn't seem to be given, and unfortunately the default is "automatically parse based on file layout" which doesn't work.

Karl, the way out of this problem is for you to provide a second button Download to File. Then people can open it with the program of their choice.

Hilary,

Just out of curiosity, I am emailing you one of the datadownload csv files that I have downloaded.

Could you open it in Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 to see if the speech marks are still visible.

Thanks.

K

Kayak,

From our testing, most people will be given the option to "save" or "open" when they click download.

Do you know any reason why hilary doesn't get this option?

K

Thanks K,

I've got to confess to having re-read your post about 10 times now and I'm still a bit confused by it.

Are you suggesting that there is something that I can do within 1-2-3 to solve the problem? Or alternatively, will it work if I reset my default program for opening CSV files to Excel? If that were the case, I could then save the Excel file in 1-2-3 format (seems a bit long winded).

I don't get the option either Karl, but I don't know why since it's hidden behind the php I think. It goes straight to Excel although it is loaded correctly. I also use 1-2-3.

Karl,

I hadn't seen your posts 34 & 35 when I just posted ...... I'll get back to you.

Kayak,

Thanks for the input. I had tried everything I could to get it to download dynamically and thought I had cracked it. Hmmmm .... back to the drawing board.

K

hilary, if Karl emails you the CSV file, save it to disk, fire up 1-2-3 and File/Open it (CSV format). You should be given the options I listed, choose comma-delimited and it should work as expected. Clicking on the file name instead won't give you the options and the default may not be correct.

Karl,

I've opened it in both programs. Not only are the speech marks still visible, but all the data is contained within column A. Incidentally the separator seems to be a tab rather than a column (edit: comma).

The answer to your other question Hilary is that yes it will probably work better under Excel, however changing the browser preference is not the same as changing the file type association in Windows Explorer. I think you might need to reinstall Excel (i.e. install it after 1-2-3 rather than before) or you could always edit the registry if you felt up to it.

From the sounds of it Karl will fix it so that you can download the file and then it should work for you.