Re: [mv] Using database files

[Handytman@aol.com]

I like using Excel to alter products.asc. But, the quoting is a pain, 
especially since my products.asc contains many intentional double-quotes, 
which Excel re-doubles. Until I found out that Mike took care of all of that 
already.

In catalog.cfg, change this....
<snip>
########### Database
##
## Default: products products.asc 1
#
# Definition of an arbitrary database, in the form
# "Database database file type", where "file" is the name of an
# ASCII file in the same format as the products database.  The
# file is relative to VendRoot, and is put in DataDir if no
# path is provided.  Records can be accessed with the
# [data database field key] tag.
#

Database            products    products.asc   TAB
Database            pricing     pricing.asc    TAB
<snip>

to this...

<snip>
########### Database
##
## Default: products products.asc 1
#
# Definition of an arbitrary database, in the form
# "Database database file type", where "file" is the name of an
# ASCII file in the same format as the products database.  The
# file is relative to VendRoot, and is put in DataDir if no
# path is provided.  Records can be accessed with the
# [data database field key] tag.
#

Database            products    products.asc   TAB
Database            products    EXCEL          1
Database            pricing     pricing.asc    TAB
<snip>

Notice the second-to-last line!

HTH,
Rob Maurer

In a message dated 12/7/99 8:42:33 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
edlafrance@printexusa.com writes:

> I do what you are attempting to do, except that I import producs.asc into
>  MS Excel as a tab-delimited text file to make my changes, then do a Ctrl-S
>  (Save) to save it and accept the defaults.  The only problem is that Excel
>  puts quotes (") around those fields which it considers to be "text."  So
>  then I open the file in MS word and do a Replace to extract the quotes
>  (find them, replace them with nothing) and save the file with Ctrl-S,
>  accepting the defaults.
>  
>  As a final precaution: make sure products.asc filename is all lowercase
>  before uploading.  If you do all this, everything should work.
>  
>  >******    message to minivend-users from Deborah Gray
>  ><webmaster@snswwide.com>     ******
>  >
>  >Hello again,
>  >
>  >Another day of frustration...I am trying to make changes to the products
>  >database of our site. I downloaded the products.asc file, opened it in
>  >Notepad and made the changes. I then uploaded the file (in ASCII), which
>  >replaced the old one. When I tried to use the site, I got an Internal
>  >Server error. Luckily there was an old copy on the site that I renamed.
>  >
>  >What am I doing wrong? I tried uploading the file in binary, but that
>  >didn't work. I looked at the FAQ, and read the Database section, but I
>  >couldn't find the answer to my question.
>  >
>  >TIA,
>  >
>  >Deborah