FileHelpers Home Page (Project Summary)
FileHelpers v 2.0
Introduction
The FileHelpers are an easy to use library to import/export data from fixed length or delimited flat files (like the CSV). FileHelpers also has support to import/export data from different data storages (Excel, Acces, SqlServer).
The library has a set of converters for the basic types and can be easily extended to provide custom converters.
The main idea is pretty simple:
You can strong type your flat file (fixed or delimited) simply describing a class that maps to each record of the file and work with your file like a strong typed .NET array.
Basic Uses
Directly between the files and the .NET source code:
It also can be used as an intermediate between files and MS Access or MS SqlServer tables:
Quick Start Guide (easy 
steps)
To start using the FileHelpers Library you only need to add a reference in your project to the file: FileHelpers.dll. You can find it in the Release directory of the distribution. Tip: remember to leave the FileHelpers.xml file to get Intellisense support.
Next you need to define a class that maps to the record in the source/detination file. For this example we use a file with this format delimited by a |:
10248|VINET|04071996|32.38
10249|TOMSP|05071996|11.61
10250|HANAR|08071996|65.83
10251|VICTE|08071996|41.34
...............
The class that we refer can be like this:
[DelimitedRecord("|")]
public class Orders
{
public int OrderID;
public string CustomerID;
[FieldConverter(ConverterKind.Date, "ddMMyyyy")]
public DateTime OrderDate;
public decimal Freight;
}
Later you must instantiate a FileHelperEngine and Read/Write files:
FileHelperEngine engine = new FileHelperEngine(typeof(Orders));
Orders[] res = (Orders[]) engine.ReadFile("input.txt");
engine.WriteFile("output.txt", res);
Finally you can use the res array to access each item in the file, for example:
foreach (Orders order in res)
{
Console.WriteLine("Order Info:");
Console.WriteLine(order.CustomerID + " - " +
order.OrderDate.ToString("dd/MM/yy"));
}
Working with FixedLength files is exactly the same but you need to use the [FixedLengthRecord] and [FieldFixedLength] attributes.
Record Class Wizard
Since version 1.3.5 the library has had a Record Class Wizard to generate the record class. The Record Class Wizard allows you to generate your record mapping class, save the definition, generate code based on snippets (Read File, Read with Generics, ReadAsync and so on).
The wizard uses the excellent FireBall CodeEditor
Click to see how it works
Who needs the File Helpers Library?
In almost every project there is a need to read/write data from/to a flat file of a specified format. Writing the code to process these files is not hard, you can use String.Split or String.SubString, but if you do that the code sometimes becomes hard to read and change. If you want to add support later for quoted string, multiline, convert types, etc. these things tend to get complicated.
So with the FileHelpers you don't need to worry about changes in the file structure because you can change the Type, Converters, Triming, Length in seconds.
Another place where you can find the FileHelpers useful is for log parsing, data warehouse and OLAP applications, communication between systems, file format transformations (for example from a fixed length to an CSV file), load test data into your NUnit tests and a lot more!!!
This library aims to provide an easy and reliable way to accomplish all these tasks.
Main Features
Easy to use: The FileHelpers Lib is straight forward to learn and use. (see EasyExample)
Auto Converters: The library has a set of converters for the basic types and can be easy extended to provide custom converters. (see ConverterBase and Converter Example)
RunTime Classes 
since version 1.6.0 you have been able to create your record class at run time, and load them from files with source code or an XML description (check the example)
Master-Detail: You can read and write records with a master/detail pattern. (see Example1 and Example2)
Multiple record format support: With the MultirecordEngine you can read files with different record layout, you can also read files with some delimited and some fixed length records. (see Example)
Event Support: The engines of the library contain some events to allow you to easily extend the behavior of the library (see Example)
MS Excel Storage: Are a way to extract / insert records between any source and an excel file. (see ExcelDataStorage and ExcelDataLinkExample)
DataLinks: Are a way to extract / insert records between a database and a file. (see DataStorage and FileDataLinkExample)
GenericDataLink: Now you can to copy records between two Data Storages (see GenericDataLink and DataStorage)
Asynchronous Mode: You can use the library to read line by line and not the whole file. (see Async Methods)
.NET Compact Framework Support: From the version 1.1 you can use the FileHelpers library for you PocketPC and WindowsCE developments. (thanks Pierre)
File Transform Engine: To convert files in one format to another (for example a file with CSV to a FixedLength record format) (check the example)
Progress Notification: To get notified of the progress in each operation in the library (check the example)
.NET 2.0 Generics: the cast less and strong typed version of the engines (check the example)
FileDiffEngine to allow compare files with the same record layout (check the example)
Others Features
Files, Stream and String Support: You can use the library to read/write any stream or string, not only files. (see FileHelperEngine)
Different Error Behaviors: You can set the behavior of the library when an error is found (throw and exception, ignore, save and continue, etc) (see the examples)
Quoted String Support: It allows to indicates that the field must be read and written as Quoted String, like Excel CSV. (see FieldQuotedAttribute )
CommonEngine a easy way to access to common operations (check the example)
Encoding Aware: You can define the encoding used to read and write files or streams. (see BaseEngine.Encoding)
NullValues: The library identifies the null values in the files and assigns an adequate value. (see FieldNullValueAttribute)
Good Documentation: The library is fully documented (at least that's the intention) with a lot of Examples of Use.
Align and Trimming: You can set the processing mode of the in/out strings with a lot of attributes like the FieldAlignAttribute and the FieldTrimAttribute.
Progress Notification
Here is a screenshot of the progress notification of the demo app.
Since versi�n 1.4.0 you can get notified of the progress of each operation of the library to show feedback to the user or whatever you want.
Class Diagram
Detailed Diagram
Testing
The library contains more than 250 NUnit tests to ensure correctness:
History
Version 2.0 (April-2007)
The library has passed his 1st birthday!!! Thank you all for your work and contributions (partial list of them)
A lot of things were changed (mostly internally), now we have a performance gain of more than 60% for .NET 2.0
I keep releasing the .NET 1.1 version because I know that a lot of people use it in some corportaions, but it could be that new features in the versions to come will be .NET 2.0 only. It is monumental work to maintain and optimize both versions.
There are also a lot of major changes, a lot of refactoring in the code, and a big core rewrite that allows the engines to use less memory and temporary strings (we are using more buffers to aviod this)
I keep working hard to keep the library updated and give support to the users. You can check for examples in the Forums which shows a lot of problems that have been solved. I also ask for a lot of mail with problems from the users.
We have our own domain www.filehelpers.com thanks to (Antoine) and a Development Blog
Breaking Changes
- The constructor of the
MultiRecordEngine was changed to allow params args, and to disallow users from passing the RecordSelector (in write operations were not needed).
EndsRead and EndsWrite deleted, now you have a Close() operation to simplify the API and to make it similar to the System.Data namespace. (The async engines also implement IDisposable) - Renamed FileHelperException --> FileHelpersException (a better name and an easy solution to a problem)
- By default the numeric fields in the
FixedLengthRecords that don't have a [FieldAlign] will be aligned to the right and the rest the left by default, with this we avoid the problem of generating files with different meaning when we read and write.
Performance Related
- Internal use of
Reflection.Emit, Dynamic Methods and char buffers to get more than a 50% enhace in performance and for .NET 2.0 more than 65%
- The
Read..AsDT methods now create the DataTable record by record, and not at the end so you can handle large files without any memory overload
- Not more reflection in the operations (only in the constructors).
FieldSorter faster too, Removed REFLECTION for EMIT
Shining new features
- The very cool DelimitedFileEngine and FixedFileEngine that allow to change options at RunTime (also with generic versions) Check an example here
- ConditionalRecords you can easily include or exclude certain records based on a
RecordCondition (like BeginsWith, EndsWith, Contains or RegEx) Check the example
- A new
GenericDatabaseStorage which is excellent for allowing others Db with ASO.NET support to work with the FileHelpers (Thanks Rodolfo Finochietti)
- Experimental Mono Project Support (some users are already using it, we hope that in the next release we have a completely working version for this framework)
- New Version Checker in the demos and Wizard (both with renew look and feel) Check the movies
- .NET 2.0 Nullable Types support. (Thanks Vijayan) Check the example
- Notification Interfaces: you can now get notified of the events simply implement
INotifyRead or INotifyWrite
- Enhaced Debugging in .NET 2.0 with
DebuggerDisplay and DebuggerBrowsable, DebugVisualizars to come.
- The Wizard has a Record Class Test that allows you to introduce sample data and your class and check for errors or results.
- You can check some screencast about the demos, wizard and other features of the library.
- Now the code for VS2003 and VS2005 are both on SVN, sharing the same files and the build script autodetect your Visual Studio installation. So no more excuses: time to get involved.
- The engines with async ops are now
IDisposable and IEnumerable so you can declare it with using(..) and use them in a foreach loop
API Changes and Extensions
- The write methods are less strict. You can pass now an
IEnumerable instead of an array, so you can direct pass a List or ArrayLIst to the method without needing to do a ToArray()
RunTime records can now get a DataTable in the constructor and so use DataColumns to create one field for each column. - Generic versions of near all the engines of the library (it's really hard to mantain the two copies so everyone, it's time to port!!)
- Async Operations in others engines like the
MultiRecordEngine
- Event support to the
MultiRecordEngine thanks to the contribution of Francis de Fouchier
- The library handle now has infinite levels of inheritance adding the high level fields first in the result record class.
- Allow to ignore spaces and tabs in the IgnoreEmptyLinesAttribute
- IgnoreCommentedLines thanks to MCampbell
- The
Read methods now have a maxRecords args to tell to the engines how much they must read.
- A new constructor overload to the engines that allows you to pass the Encoding, which is useful for making the users aware of the Encoding feature.
FileTransformEngine with two new methods ReadAndTransformRecords and TransformRecords Flush Method to AsyncEngines to allow users to ensure data write, for example, if they are using the lib for logging. - The converters are now smarter. They validate to which types can be assigned and throw exceptions if it is wrong (for example if you use
ConverterKind.Decimal in an int field)
- The ConvertException has a lot of context information:
LineNumber, ColumnNumber, FieldName. Also has a better Exception Message.
- The integer converters now recieve a decimal separator to build an
InvariantCulture to format and parse the values and strings
Small Changes
- Fixed the problem with ASP.NET: "Line 0: Metadata file 'filehelpers.dll' could not be found"
- Fixed some problems with the
CsvClassBuilder (it's a good practice to not release features added last-minute)
- The Assemblies are now Signed
- The new
ConverterBase.DefaultDateTimeFormat to avoid setting the converter format field by field
- Some error messages from the library were rewritten and now provide more context information (line and column numbers, field name, etc).
ExcelStorage support for more than 26 columns (thxs to Mark Izendooren) - Encoding Support to the
CsvEngine
- The wizard remembers all the paths now
SkipThisRecord in the AfterReadRecordEventArgs, this allows the skip records from the results (thanks Crestline) - More Methods for the CommonEngine
- More than 420+ NUnit tests!!! (I can't belive it, I�m a lazy developer but I know how much worth there is in testing the lib)
- Now you have two versions for the demos, one for each framework version.
- The
FixedLengthClassBuilder has more constructor to set the lengths of the fields in you instruction
- Improved docs. (Thanks Antoine and Matt)
- A lot of new examples check it out !!
Browse the complete history at SourceForge.
RoadMap (the future of the lib)
Check it out at SourceForge FileHelpers Roadmap.
Contact and Ideas
The main site of contact of the library are the FileHelpers Forums
If you find that there is a feature that I must include, or you have a new idea (for the API, Source Code or Examples), only let me know, entering the forums or sending an e-mail to marcos[at]filehelpers.com
Licence (LGPL)
FileHelpers Library is @Copyright 2005-2006 to Marcos Meli but it's source code and the binaries are free for commercial and non commercial use.
Vote for this article if you like the library.
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 | My vote of 5
jarimba | 0:35 5 Feb '10 |
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Excellent!
Best regards,
Rui Jarimba
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| Great!
Polymorpher | 14:36 20 Jan '10 |
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Thanks a lot, this is a great tool, and very easy to use!
--
"Keyboard not found. Press < F1 > to RESUME. "
Source unknown (appears in many common BIOSes as a real error message)
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| Reading the results of a Microoft Access Compact & Repair
mtohamy | 7:46 15 Jul '09 |
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We managed to perform Compact & Repair form VB cosde. I would like to know how to read the results of the completed compact and repair. Wher does Access erites it (if any)? How can i access it and read it to interpret the results and take actions baed on these results?
While on the subject, How can I decide whether an Access file is corrupted or contains tables with corrupted records?
Thanks in advance.
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 | Why dpn't you use OLEDB for the Excel files?
Robson Félix | 17:33 15 Dec '08 |
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Dude,
Question for ya: why don't you use Jet/OleDB to insert/read data from Excel files? This way we:
a) don't need to have Excel installed on the machines running the code
b) have this code running much faster
Let me know what you think.
Best,
Robson
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| CSV line terminators?
drwbns | 10:00 10 Dec '08 |
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Is there a way to specify a line terminator after the last record in myrecordclass?
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| Parsing Flat file without Newline to separate the records
Rezaul | 11:46 17 Sep '08 |
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Hi, FileHelpers is really an excellent tool. Great job!
While testing I have felt that following feature would make it more versatile:
1. Currenly FileHelpers separate records by NewLine. So it uses ReadLine() to read lines from Stream.
2. It would be really excellent if you could add the provision to read fixed and variable length records that are not separated by Newline.
a. Fixed Length:
i. All records are of same size. We define the size of the Record and specify size of each Field.
Example Attribute:
[RecordSize=504]
ii. Records are of variable size. Certain field in the record specify the type of the Record which dictates the size of the record.
Example Attribute:
[Recordsize=variable]
[When RecordType='{ID}=="00"']
List of fields and size
Define Filed ID
List of fields and size
[When RecordType='{ID}=="01"]
List of fields and size
Define Filed ID
List of fields and size
Ok, There goes my wish list.
----------
Rezaul Kabir
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| Could I add header and trailer to the CSV?
_Thurein_ | 0:07 6 Aug '08 |
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Could I add header and trailer to the CSV?
Thanks a lot ....
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| Is it possible to write a csv file with variable structue.
MAP Tiger | 13:22 24 Jul '08 |
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Hi
Well, library looks great. I have a little question that if I want to open a csv file whose structure is not known to me but it has the header rows and is tab separated. I want to load it into a dataset and later to bindingsource.
Basic question is that is it possible to open a file without knowing the structue?
Thanks in advance
MAP Tiger
Tiger Softwares
Software Designer and Developer
VB.NET, ASP.NET, VFP
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| [Message Removed]
Kartal | 3:09 31 May '08 |
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| Export to excel from SQL 2005
jimmag | 9:33 29 May '08 |
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Can this library handle exporting tables from a SQL server 2005 database into a Excel spreadsheet?
Thanks for the help and for contributing a great product.
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| Dynamic Generation question
Member 495468 | 18:41 19 May '08 |
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Marco, this is an amazing library. Thanks very much for this; I only hope to be able to one day provide something as valuable as this as well.
I have a question. I'm building an application that allows the user to define their own "lists." The user specifies the columns, datatypes, etc... I want to give them the ability to export data from one of their custom list using your library, but this means that I need to be able to generate a mapping class "on the fly" based on the column layout they have defined. Is there an automated way of doing this? Or is the Wizard the only way to generate a mapping library? Please let me know if my question doesn't make sense.
Many Thanks,
Steve
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Hi Steve
Thanks a lot for your kind of words =)
You can create dynamic classes for the engines using runtime records
Here do u have the docs:
Run Time Records[^]
Let me known if that help in ur problem.
Cheers and thanks again for the motivation
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Again...amazing.
That is perfect.
Thanks very much.
Steve
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| csv to msaccess
scalpa98 | 11:37 31 Oct '07 |
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hello
i try to import csv data into a table of a database without success.
here is the format of the csv file :
IdEleve;Nom;Prenom;Niveau_Classe;Sexe;Ddn
1;ANNE;Tanguy;CE2;G;25/05/1998
2;BAISNÉE;Laurine;CM2;F;08/07/1997
3;BAISNÉE;Leslie;CM2;F;08/07/1997
I tried to follow the example, but my knowledge is not enough to understand all the steps. Here is the code i put in a class , but i get few errors i couldn't fix.
Imports FileHelpers
Imports FileHelpers.DataLink.AccessStorage
Public Class Class1
<DelimitedRecord(";")> _
Public Class Orders
Public OrderID As Integer
Public Nom As String
Public Prenom As String
Public Niveau_Classe As String
Public Sexe As String
<FieldConverter(ConverterKind.[Date], "ddMMyyyy")> _
Public Ddn As DateTime
End Class
Dim storage As New DataLink.AccessStorage(GetType(Orders), "TestData.mdb")
storage.SelectSql = "SELECT * FROM Orders"
storage.FillRecordCallback = New FillRecordHandler(FillRecordOrders)
FileDataLink.EasyExtractToFile(storage, "out.txt")
Protected Sub FillRecordOrders(ByVal rec As Object, ByVal fields As Object())
Dim record As Orders = DirectCast(rec, Orders)
record.OrderID = CInt(fields(0))
record.Nom = DirectCast(fields(1), String)
record.Prenom = DirectCast(fields(2), String)
record.Niveau_Classe = DirectCast(fields(3), String)
record.Sexe = DirectCast(fields(4), String)
record.Ddn = DirectCast(fields(5), DateTime)
End Sub
End Class
In fact i don't know how to use this, i am a real beginner.... But i feel, it can make the job.
I hope you can help me
Thanks
pascal
scalpa
http://www.scalpa.info
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| Bug Report... or is it a feature?
martin_hughes | 1:37 5 Oct '07 |
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I'm dealing with some very large fixed width files (> 100 fields per record) - when I try to add more than 100 fields in the Wizard I get the following exception:
See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.
************** Exception Text **************
FileHelpers.FileHelpersException: The string '' not is a valid .NET identifier.
at FileHelpers.RunTime.FieldBuilder..ctor(String fieldName, String fieldType)
at FileHelpers.RunTime.FixedLengthClassBuilder.AddField(String fieldName, Int32 length, String fieldType)
at FileHelpers.WizardApp.frmWizard.CreateFieldControl()
at FileHelpers.WizardApp.frmWizard.cmdAddField_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
FileHelpersWizard
Assembly Version: 1.5.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.5.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Martin%20Hughes/Desktop/FileHelpers_2_0_0_bin_docs_wizard/FileHelpers/Wizard/FileHelpersWizard.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
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FileHelpers
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Martin%20Hughes/Desktop/FileHelpers_2_0_0_bin_docs_wizard/FileHelpers/Wizard/FileHelpers.DLL
----------------------------------------
Fireball.CodeEditor
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.1
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.1
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Martin%20Hughes/Desktop/FileHelpers_2_0_0_bin_docs_wizard/FileHelpers/Wizard/Fireball.CodeEditor.DLL
----------------------------------------
Fireball.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 1.9.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.9.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Martin%20Hughes/Desktop/FileHelpers_2_0_0_bin_docs_wizard/FileHelpers/Wizard/Fireball.Windows.Forms.DLL
----------------------------------------
Fireball.SyntaxDocument
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Martin%20Hughes/Desktop/FileHelpers_2_0_0_bin_docs_wizard/FileHelpers/Wizard/Fireball.SyntaxDocument.DLL
----------------------------------------
Fireball.Win32
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.1
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.1
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Martin%20Hughes/Desktop/FileHelpers_2_0_0_bin_docs_wizard/FileHelpers/Wizard/Fireball.Win32.DLL
----------------------------------------
Fireball.Core
Assembly Version: 1.1.0.2
Win32 Version: 1.1.0.2
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Martin%20Hughes/Desktop/FileHelpers_2_0_0_bin_docs_wizard/FileHelpers/Wizard/Fireball.Core.DLL
----------------------------------------
System.Configuration
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Web
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_32/System.Web/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Web.dll
----------------------------------------
Fireball.CodeEditor.SyntaxFiles
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.2
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.2
CodeBase: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Martin%20Hughes/Desktop/FileHelpers_2_0_0_bin_docs_wizard/FileHelpers/Wizard/Fireball.CodeEditor.SyntaxFiles.DLL
----------------------------------------
System.Data
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_32/System.Data/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Data.dll
----------------------------------------
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow?
User:Errr...ummm....no.
Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards?
User: Oh yes, I see it now!
-Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
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Hi There
Thanks for your feedback
This sure is a problem with the wizard, I never checked it with so many fields, I will check the problem and post here the solution.
Could you send me a sanmple file with all that fields, so I can add an NUnit test to ensure that this never happend again ?
Best Regards
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Hi Marcos,
Email sent.
Cheers,
Martin.
Me: Can you see the "up" arrow?
User:Errr...ummm....no.
Me: Can you see an arrow that points upwards?
User: Oh yes, I see it now!
-Excerpt from a support call taken by me, 08/31/2007
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Hi there
The problem was the default Maximum of the NumericUpDown 
I just sent to you the last build of the library and commit the changes
Thanks for the report 
Marcos
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| How to create excel spreadsheet
StevieGen | 11:31 29 Aug '07 |
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I have this small sample:
ExcelStorage provider = new ExcelStorage(typeof(Person));
Person p = new Person();
p.FirstName = "Steve";
provider.FileName = "Test.xls";
provider.InsertRecords(new Person[] { p });
There is no WriteToFile equivalent for ExcelStorage ?
I need to both create and read an excel spreadsheet
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| Return List for generic readers
Marc Scheuner | 23:37 28 Aug '07 |
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Hi Marcos,
Great stuff you have here! I was just wondering why you return a static array of e.g. "Customer" (Customer[]) from the generic engine's .ReadFile method, instead of a List ?
I think using the generic lists would be a lot easier than a clunky array...
Cheers!
Marc
=============================
Marc Scheuner, Berne, Switzerland
mscheuner - at - gmail.com
May The Source Be With You!
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| Reading MS CSV files
udikantz | 18:33 8 Aug '07 |
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hello could anyone please help me figure out how i can make this wonderful
library read the MS Excel CSV files , thank you all for your time , im a newbie to c# and i couldnt understand for the samples how to do it , help me make it work and i'll donate 20$  thanks
i got a file that looks like this:
Site Name Title Site Auction ID Quantity Order SubTotal Buyer E-mail Address Seller Left Feedback SKU Winning Bidder Unit Price Invoice Quantity Invoice Date Class Order ID Bidder Status E-mail Status Payment Status Shipping Status Transaction Status Checkout Status Payment Type Shipping Addr 1 Shipping Addr 2 Shipping City Shipping Region Shipping Postal Code Shipping Country Shipping Carrier Code Shipping Carrier Shipping Class Code Shipping Class Second Chance Offer Promotion Code Buyer First Name Buyer Last Name Buyer Company Buyer Day Phone Buyer Evening Phone Estimated Ship Date Deliver By Date External Payment Transaction ID Seller Cost Flag Description Order Total Promotion Value Tax Total Tracking Number Shipping Cost Transaction Notes Shipping Date Warehouse Location
"some secret data" "some more secret data" "3242346543634" 1 9.89 "sensord data that is" False "3243" "secretgirl" 9.89 1 8/8/2007 5:35:10 PM "someitem" "234233" "some secret e-mail thing" "Payment cleared" "Items shipped" "Transaction valid" "Checkout completed" "PayPal" "secret again" "secret adress" "secret place" "LOL" "1232" "BB" "Secret POST" "SECRET POST" "Air Mail" "Air Mail" False "Claire" "Amos" "LONGNUMBER123212" 3.10 18.89 0.00 0.00 7.00 8/8/2007 6:11:19 PM "MEH4"
Net
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Hi udikantz
I just post an answer to your question in the FileHelpers forums you need to follow these instructions to parse the CSV files, I will be adding it to the docs in the next version =)
http://www.filehelpers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1224#1224[^]
Let me know if that solve your problem, you can answer here or in the forums.
Cheers
A copy of the Answer:
How to read a CSV file generated with MS Excel
There are two main problems handling this kind of files.
1. The quoted fields: Excel can add " (quotes) at the fields at random basis not only at the fields that contains the delimieter.
2. The missing fields: Excel after certain number of rows can not generate enough delimiters (comma or tab) if the last fields are empty.
To solve these problems we must use the FieldQuoted and FieldOptional attributes.
For Example for a Excel File like this one:
We first create this delimited class:
[DelimitedRecord("|")]
public class CustomersExcelCSV
{
public string CustomerID;
public string CompanyName;
public string ContactName;
public string ContactTitle;
public string Address;
public string City;
public string Country;
}
Later we need to add the [FieldQuoted] to all fields and the [FieldOptional] from the second field to the last
[DelimitedRecord("|")]
public class CustomersExcelCSV
{
[FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.OptionalForBoth)]
public string CustomerID;
[FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.OptionalForBoth)]
[FieldOptional]
public string CompanyName;
[FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.OptionalForBoth)]
[FieldOptional]
public string ContactName;
[FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.OptionalForBoth)]
[FieldOptional]
public string ContactTitle;
[FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.OptionalForBoth)]
[FieldOptional]
public string Address;
[FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.OptionalForBoth)]
[FieldOptional]
public string City;
[FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.OptionalForBoth)]
[FieldOptional]
public string Country;
}
So now to read the Excel CSV Files
FileHelperEngine engine = new FileHelperEngine(typeof(CustomersExcelCSV));
CustomersExcelCSV[] res = engine.ReadFile("Customers.csv") as CustomersExcelCSV[];
Or in .NET 2.0
FileHelperEngine engine = new FileHelperEngine();
CustomersExcelCSV[] res = engine.ReadFile("Customers.csv");
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hey marcos , thanks for the fast replay ,
well , it seems like my excel csv files are delimited by a tab and not by a "|" ....
and when i tried to use the [FieldOptional] attribute i would get
BadUsageException:
Null Value found for the field 'flag_Description' in the class 'CA_Sales'. You must specify a FieldNullValueAttribute because this is a ValueType and can´t be null.
i have tried to change the [fieldoptional] attribute to the [FieldNullValueAttribute] , and it also didnt work , also i didnt know what kind of object to put for [FieldNullValueAttribute(Object)] , so i tried some diffrent types of object but it turned to be a failure 
if you want i can send you a sample of the CSV im working with , or whatever you want that can assist for a solution , thank you very much for your time , you guys are the best.
Net
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