CODEWITHSUNDEEP
excelcsv
Gert Gottschalk
Gert Gottschalk

Reputation: 1716

excel load save csv file messes with format

A 3rd party software 'Eclipse Orchestrator' saves its config file as 'csv' format. Among other things it includes camera exposure times like '1/2000' to indicate a 1/2000 sec exposure. Here a sample line from the csv file:

FOR,(VAR),0.000,5.000,49.000
TAKEPIC,MAGPRE (VAR),-,00:01:10.0,EOS450D,1/2000,9.0,100,0.000,RAW+FL,,N,Partial 450D
ENDFOR

When the csv file is loaded into Excel the screen display reads 'Jan-00'. So Excel interprets the string 1/2000 as a date. When the file is saved again as csv and inspected in an ascii editor it reads:

FOR,(VAR),0,5,49,,,,,,,,
TAKEPIC,MAGPRE (VAR),-,01:10.0,EOS450D,Jan-00,9,100,0,RAW+FL,,N,Partial 450D
ENDFOR,,,,,,,,,,,,
  1. I had hoped to use Excel to variablearize the data and make it easier changeable. But the conversion to fake dates is not helping here.
  2. The conversion at load-time affects the saved data format making it then unreadable for the 'Eclipse Orchestrator' program.

Any way to save the day in Excel, or just move on to write a prog to do the patching of the csv file?

Thanks, Gert

Upvotes: 1

Views: 165

Answers (1)

teylyn
teylyn

Reputation: 35970

If you import the CSV file instead of opening it, you can use the import wizard (Data ribbon > From Text) to define the data type of each column. Select Text for the exposure time and Excel will not attempt to convert it.

Upvotes: 1

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