Read Text/Web File

This Analytics Edge wizard allows you to import a text file into a table. It accepts both delimited files as well as fixed-width fields.

While the date format of the source file can be specified, you can follow up with a Convert function to handle any text, number or date conversions desired.

File/URL – enter or browse to the specific file to be loaded, or enter a direct URL to a web-based file.

Split on delimiter – select or enter a delimiter to use when reading the file.

Split into fixed width fields – if the file uses fixed width fields, select this option and continue to the next wizard panel (below).

JSON file – top node – read a JSON-formatted file. Some JSON files contain all of the data in a “data” or other-named object, in which case you can enter the name of that top node.

File does not contain a header row – select this if the data does not contain column names.

Transpose – read the data in, swapping rows of data into columns. The first column in the row will be treated as the transposed column name.

Date format in file – enter codes to represent the exact date format used in the source file. Analytics Edge will recognize columns as dates if all of the values match that format. Pay specific attention to matching single or two-digit days, months or time components.

Pause between successive callsĀ – paus the specified number of milliseconds (1000 milliseconds = 1 second) between Read Text/Web functions when executing refreshes. This allows you to prevent exceeding rate limits for web calls.

Create Column Breaks Tab

If the file uses fixed width fields, the first few rows of the file will be displayed. Click with the mouse to insert a red line between each field column.

Click the line again to remove it.

Define Column Types Tab

Select a column and change the data format to be used for that column. By default, all columns are of type ‘General’, which means numbers and date columns should be automatically recognized.

If the file uses an odd date format, you can select from the drop-down or enter date format codes to match the source. The codes must match exactly for the column to be recognized (see Date Format).

Updated for v10.