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CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
- trimbs
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5 years 9 months ago #169535
by trimbs
CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output was created by trimbs
Hi,
When exporting survey results as CSV the results appear to be semi-colon separated in version 3.9.0, where as in version 2.72.5 the results were comma separated as you'd expect in CSV file.
Is this a deliberate change? If so why, as it would seem to make it invalid CSV? Is there any way I can make Limesurvey export as an actual Comma Separated Value file?
I'm also told by a user that End Of Line is now CR LF rather than LF, although that is not a change that makes it invalid CSV in itself.
When exporting survey results as CSV the results appear to be semi-colon separated in version 3.9.0, where as in version 2.72.5 the results were comma separated as you'd expect in CSV file.
Is this a deliberate change? If so why, as it would seem to make it invalid CSV? Is there any way I can make Limesurvey export as an actual Comma Separated Value file?
I'm also told by a user that End Of Line is now CR LF rather than LF, although that is not a change that makes it invalid CSV in itself.
The following user(s) said Thank You: DenisChenu
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- holch
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5 years 9 months ago #169538
by holch
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Replied by holch on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
I think "can I do this with Limesurvey" is probably not the best forum for this. I guess "Development" would be the better forum. I can confirm that the separator is now ";".
If it is on purpose, it is probably because most people use Excel and Excel CSV has ";" as separator. But it might be just a mistake/bug.
I'll move this to the development section, because there you'll probably find more people that are involved in this than here.
If it is on purpose, it is probably because most people use Excel and Excel CSV has ";" as separator. But it might be just a mistake/bug.
I'll move this to the development section, because there you'll probably find more people that are involved in this than here.
I answer at the LimeSurvey forum in my spare time, I'm not a LimeSurvey GmbH employee.
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- trimbs
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5 years 9 months ago #169545
by trimbs
Replied by trimbs on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
Err, CSV means Comma Separated Values so Comma is the separator and Excel conforms to this standard. Part of the problem is if you double click on the Limesurvey 3.9.0 created CSV file it opens in Excel and Excel doesn't understand the semi-colons instead of commas. This all used to work in Excel with Limesurvey 2.72.5.
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5 years 9 months ago #169546
by holch
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Replied by holch on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
As far as I know, Excel works with semi colon when creating CSVs, which has caused trouble from time to time here in the forum, because people used Excel and it had the wrong separator. But I might remember wrong.
I just tested it with Excel and saved a spread sheet as CSV (coma separated). And voila, it was saved separated by semicolon.
I just tested it with Excel and saved a spread sheet as CSV (coma separated). And voila, it was saved separated by semicolon.
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- jelo
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5 years 9 months ago #169550
by jelo
You better use LibreOffice or CSVed ( csved.sjfrancke.nl ) for importing and editing CSV under the windows platform.
I won't rule out an issue in LimeSurvey when creating CSV.
The meaning of the word "stable" for users
www.limesurvey.org/forum/development/117...ord-stable-for-users
Replied by jelo on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
Excel conforms to the list separator (mostly comma or semicolon) set in the language and region setting when using windows. Depending on your settings it may not work when doubleclicking the file.trimbs wrote: Err, CSV means Comma Separated Values so Comma is the separator and Excel conforms to this standard.
You better use LibreOffice or CSVed ( csved.sjfrancke.nl ) for importing and editing CSV under the windows platform.
I won't rule out an issue in LimeSurvey when creating CSV.
The meaning of the word "stable" for users
www.limesurvey.org/forum/development/117...ord-stable-for-users
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5 years 9 months ago #169560
by trimbs
Replied by trimbs on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
Thanks very much for clearing that up regarding Excel, Jelo
Although I realise now that this thread has gotten away from my initial question: why has Limesurvey changed the separator in its CSV exports of survey responses from comma to semi-colon? Without an option as far as I can tell to do CSV with a comma separator?
Although I realise now that this thread has gotten away from my initial question: why has Limesurvey changed the separator in its CSV exports of survey responses from comma to semi-colon? Without an option as far as I can tell to do CSV with a comma separator?
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5 years 9 months ago #169562
by trimbs
Replied by trimbs on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
Or perhaps more to the point: now that the CSV separator has changed in Limesurvey from a comma to a semi-colon, can someone confirm this deliberate and will stay this way? And its not going to be changed back to comma at some point?
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5 years 9 months ago #169569
by tpartner
Cheers,
Tony Partner
Solutions, code and workarounds presented in these forums are given without any warranty, implied or otherwise.
Replied by tpartner on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
@trimbs, please file a bug report and provide a link here.
Cheers,
Tony Partner
Solutions, code and workarounds presented in these forums are given without any warranty, implied or otherwise.
The following user(s) said Thank You: DenisChenu
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5 years 9 months ago #169582
by holch
As Tpartner says: the only way to find that out is to file a bug report and see what the response is.
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Replied by holch on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
Yes, I agree. It is strange that it has changed. For years we needed to explain to people that the MS Excel way is the wrong way and now LS is going down this route. I would say it was an error. But I could also imagine that there was a decision made to change it to the Excel way, because most people use Excel. No matter if it is the wrong specification or not.Although I realise now that this thread has gotten away from my initial question: why has Limesurvey changed the separator in its CSV exports of survey responses from comma to semi-colon? Without an option as far as I can tell to do CSV with a comma separator?
As Tpartner says: the only way to find that out is to file a bug report and see what the response is.
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- DenisChenu
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5 years 9 months ago - 5 years 9 months ago #169618
by DenisChenu
1: we don't have to update this without spoking with all Dev … and user
2: it's not because excel is a dumb tool we must be dumb ourself
And CSV as his standard : www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4180.txt
Assistance on LimeSurvey forum and LimeSurvey core development are on my free time.
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Replied by DenisChenu on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
Yes, please !tpartner wrote: @trimbs, please file a bug report and provide a link here.
1: we don't have to update this without spoking with all Dev … and user
2: it's not because excel is a dumb tool we must be dumb ourself
And CSV as his standard : www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4180.txt
Assistance on LimeSurvey forum and LimeSurvey core development are on my free time.
I'm not a LimeSurvey GmbH member, professional service on demand , plugin development .
I don't answer to private message.
Last edit: 5 years 9 months ago by DenisChenu.
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- trimbs
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5 years 9 months ago #169626
by trimbs
Replied by trimbs on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
Thanks all, I've reported this as a bug.
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5 years 9 months ago #169627
by tpartner
Cheers,
Tony Partner
Solutions, code and workarounds presented in these forums are given without any warranty, implied or otherwise.
Replied by tpartner on topic CSV Export of survey results no longer appears to be valid CSV output
Cheers,
Tony Partner
Solutions, code and workarounds presented in these forums are given without any warranty, implied or otherwise.
The following user(s) said Thank You: DenisChenu
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