On Thursday 06 March 2008 23:24:31 Will Stephenson wrote:

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.

And if he appeals to the Tooth Fairy, an elf may appear to do that. And if it doesn't, the KDE team is not doing itself or the community a favor by letting the program out the door with out even a badly written draft.

Anyway, this is how it works:

First you choose the separator character so kaddressbook can parse the file. Not all CSVs are comma separated.

Of course not. Mine is. In any case, the GUI asks clearly to define the separator.

Also select the correct text encoding for the file you are using.

It is Latin 1

Then you should check that the date format matches any dates used in the data.

There are no dates.

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.

It is all double quotes.

** 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. **

Aha! I see no combo boxes, because the program has chosen to make the upper-left cell longer than the window in the GUI. I had used the first line to contain the meanings; I had chosen these names, and also their order, by creating a two-record dummy database, exporting it to CSV, and copying the headings to my real database. In the absence of any clues whatever, I don't think this was an illogical way to procede. Now that I read your very simple paragraph above, which could have been reproduced by the developer (in German, if not in English, and in draft form if he was not confident in his writing ability) if he cared a fig to help anybody use his work, I expect the work to go more easily. I have only to change the number in the "Start line" field.

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.

This is now clear.

I am not sure what the 'ignore duplicate delimiters' checkbox is for - perhaps someone who has seen more CSVs can comment.

It's possible for a CSV file that already has double-quote separators may acquire a new set of them upon being exported. He wants to remove the duplication.

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.

That was clear, as was the below.

Finally click "Ok" and the data is imported into the resource you selected earlier.

I hope that helps.

It certainly does. Many thanks.

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.

To be clear, you are asking me to use what you have written above to make effective directions for the documentation? I will be happy to do this, in at least two languages perhaps three. If I can help some other slob from the same frustration in trying to read the deveoper's mind I will feel amply rewarded.

Will

-- Will Stephenson Desktop Engineer KDE Team

-- Stan Goodman Qiryat Tiv'on Israel -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Thursday 06 March 2008 23:36:33 Stan Goodman wrote:

...

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.

To be clear, you are asking me to use what you have written above to make effective directions for the documentation?

That's what I'm suggesting, yes. The KMail handbook is a good example of the style used for user documentation - see the Message Filters section of chapter 3.

I will be happy to do this, in at least two languages perhaps three. If I can help some other slob from the same frustration in trying to read the deveoper's mind I will feel amply rewarded.

Excellent! Proof of the Tooth Fairy's existence! And you'll be able to see your work and your name in the next openSUSE release, or any other linux distro coming out in the next few months. Will -- Will Stephenson Desktop Engineer KDE Team -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org