On Thursday 06 March 2008 20:26:05 Stan Goodman wrote:
Has anyone imported a CSV file into Kaddressbook? Did they get any assistance from the program's =;-))) "Documentation" in doing so?
Probably not.
In the absence of such help, I have resorted to File > Import > Import CSV file, and chosen the resource (prevously set up) into which I want to import, then chosen the file to import. All that seems quite logical, but from here, everything falls apart: clicking on "OK" (even after experimenting with "Save Template", causes an uninformative box with the sentence "You have to assign at least one column".
I have tried clicking on various points in the little window into the file. Nothing helps. I will not ask what goes through the mind of a developer that supplies no meaningful assistance whatever, but (if anybody knows) would like to know what this error message really wants to tell me.
He or she probably expects someone better at himself at writing or English to write documentation. Anyway, this is how it works: First you choose the separator character so kaddressbook can parse the file. Not all CSVs are comma separated. Also select the correct text encoding for the file you are using. Then you should check that the date format matches any dates used in the data. You should also select whether text fields are enclosed in single or double quotes - this allows values such as "Smith, John" to be imported when commas are used as the field separator. ** With CSV, Kaddressbook has no easy way of knowing the meaning of each field (columns), so the combo boxes at the top of each column let you assign that meaning - eg First Name. You go from left to right until each column is describe or in the case that KAddressbook has no field matching this and is therefore unable to store it, Undefined. ** Then check that the "Start at line" value is the first data line to import - some CSV files do contain column headers in the first line, or you may already have the first contacts imported. I am not sure what the 'ignore duplicate delimiters' checkbox is for - perhaps someone who has seen more CSVs can comment. Save Template now, this stores the settings you have just laboriously set up for future use. You can restore this template with the Apply template button next time. Finally click "Ok" and the data is imported into the resource you selected earlier. I hope that helps. One more thing - this is open source software, and that includes the documentation. If you or anyone else reading this would like to tidy up these quick notes and send them to me, I will ensure they are formatted correctly and included in the manual, and then you can enjoy the knowledge that they are being translated into 65 languages and used worldwide. Will -- Will Stephenson Desktop Engineer KDE Team -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org