Open CSV File

This dialog is opened with either:

• Database Explorer: Tools > Open CSV file
• Data Display Window: File > Open CSV file

This tool allows you to quickly view the contents of a CSV file. CSV files contain structured data - eg. a number of columns separated delimiters. CSV stands for comma-separated variables though the delimiter may not necessarily be a comma.

To use this window:

• the data can come from a File or from the Clipboard
• specify the file-format options with the options in the top pane
• the bottom panes show a sample of your file and (in the grid) the file after it has been split into columns as per your options. As you change your options, the grid will change.
• once you have specified the options correctly, the full file with be displayed in a Data Display window.

Options

• Use correct data types for grid columns. When this option is selected, AQT will display numeric and dates values in grid columns defined as numeric and date respectively.

  If any values are not valid numeric or date values, this will fail and the values will not display. In this case, de-selecting this will cause all values to be displayed as character.

• Delimiter can appear multiple successive times. This option is useful if the delimiter appears multiple times but should only be interpreted as a single delimiter.

  An example of this is a file which uses a tab delimiter. We have seen some files where multiple tabs are used to line the data into columns. The multiple tabs are intended to only be a single delimiter.

Updating or running SQL against a CSV File

This feature doesn't allow the CSV file to be updated. To do this, and to perform more comprehensive processing and querying of CSV files, use the Microsoft Text ODBC Driver.