Sorry but I am a bit new to this import thing. 
Could someone please help me to set up a simple checklist that I can tick off when something has been packed or not.
If I create a new form, use the name of each item I want to remember as a separate field name, then make each fields data a check mark, I get the exact form I want to use. i.e. a simple list of items I can tap to either show done or not done.
How would I go about creating the csv file for several hundred of these items so that I can use the import feature.
I know how to create a csv file using my spreadsheet and I have managed to upload and import a file, but I am lost how I create the checklist I want as described above. Is this possible to create using an import file ?
Hope so.
By the way, I simply love what you have managed to produce. Its a superb piece of software although it takes a little while to get used to.
Well done.
Hello Shrimpfarmer,
If you format your CSV file as follows, then Tap Forms will create a form for you just as you want it and fill in the values:
Item Name<text>,Is Packed<check_mark>,Is New<check_mark>
iPod touch 32 GB,Y,N
iPhone 3GS 16 GB,N,Y
etc… you can actually use Y,y,N,n,true,false,yes,no,0,1 to represent true or false in the check mark fields.
The words between angled brackets tell Tap Forms what kind of field to create before importing the data in the subsequent rows. That will allow Tap Forms to recognize the field types and deal with the data appropriately.
Hope that makes sense!
And thanks for the compliments!
Brendan
Many thanks for the speedy response Brendan. That is excellent customer service, always reassuring.
What you suggested works of course but it does not produce exactly what I need. However, having played around I have managed to get it to do what I need.
In my file there is only ever one record. It has several hundred fields though, each one is an item I want to pack and the field types are all check marks. When you access the file it displays each item in a simple list and you just tap it to tick or untick it.
For anyone else wanting to do this, this is how I got it to work. I bet there is an easier way though.
I started with a spreadsheet with all my items listed in one collumn. I had to use transpose (in the spreadsheet)to turn that collumn into one single row.
So with all my items going across one row of the spreadsheet I made sure each collumn had a N in it. I hope this makes sense. Example
Socks Shoes Hat
N N N
Then I exported the spreadsheet as a csv file making sure I set the coding to Unicode 8.
I opened the resulting csv file using notepad. I then used the replace function to replace a comma with <check_mark>, which as you point out in your answer to me, makes Tapforms treat that text as the file name and makes the file type a checklist.
I only changed the commas between the items, not the list of n.n.n.n.n.n…. at the end of the csv file.
I sent it to the Iphone and imported it. Bingo it created the file with just 1 record but I was left with a beautiful checklist.
I am impressed with how quick it scrolls as there are hundreds of items in it.
Cheers
Shrimpy
Hi Shrimpfarmer,
You can also import into an existing form without Tap Forms creating a new form for you. That way you don’t have to have the field type e.g. <check_mark> in the header row. It will match based on the name of the field. To import into an existing form, just go to the Edit Form screen and tap the action menu button and tap “Import Records”. The only requirement is that you put the files into the Imports directory when you’re transferring them to Tap Forms.
Also, you can set the file type encoding in the Import & Export Settings area in the Tools tab to be the same encoding as what you would save your file as. For Windows it is probably Windows Latin 1.
Just some ideas to make the process for you simpler.
Thanks!
Brendan
Excellent thread – learned a lot from it however I’m still pretty green at creating a proper .csv file and I think that may be the problem. I seem to be able to import data OK but I have a check mark field that I would like to have checked or not when I import. Everything I’ve tried has not worked and now I think I’m just confusing myself.
It’s a pretty simple form and my headers in the .csv are as follows:
OptNum1<Number>Name<Text>Designer<Text>Notes<Note>Flashcard(Check Mark>
I have other fields in the form however I enter that info manually on the iTouch so I”m using the Add Records function.
Using the format example in your previous reply I’ve placed the Y,n in the Name field after the name entered. I’m not sure what if anything should be in the Flashcard column I’ve entered data and left it blank. No matter what format I’ve tried none of them have the check mark checked when the import is complete where the Name field contains the Y,n. What seems to happen consistently is that the Y,n appears as part of the name.
Sorry to be so dense.
Hello Ziggy,
It looks like your Check Mark field in your header row is set to (Check Mark>. It should be <check_mark>
Also the other field types should be all in lowercase. And make sure that every row in your CSV file has the same number of delimiters as the data rows. I’m assuming you’re using tab delimiters for your header row? Because the row you have there doesn’t show any delimiters. At least not here. If you aren’t using tab delimiters then you need to make sure you have a delimiter between all your columns.
Thanks,
Brendan
Thanks for the quick reply – the ( and other items were sloppy typing on my part so I have entered below the header row and the first 2 rows of data. I believe the spreadsheet program I’m use has commas as delimiters – I’m not sure how to change this to tabs. I changed all types to lower case and added the underscore in <check_mark>. I made all of those changes but still no luck. I really want to learn this thanks for your patience.
This is how the columns appear in the spreadsheet.I added the spacing between Name and Flashcard for readability. Do I need to enter something in the flashcard column? If so what?
OptNum1<number>,Name<text>, Flashcard<check_mark>,Designer<text>,Notes<Note>
1 Kofeforn,Y,n LH zendoodle
2 O-Neg,N,y SS
I’m using Open Office not sure if that creates any problems as it’s rather quirky and I’m not a spreadsheet guru either. Thanks for any assistance.
Hello Ziggy,
Well, it looks like you don’t have the same number of comma delimiters in your data rows as you have in your header row. You have 4 commas in the header, but only 2 commas in the data rows. That could be the problem.
Also, it looks to me like there is a space between 1 and Kofeforn instead of a comma. So the Y would go into the Name column.
Your data, if I have it correct, should look like:
1,Kofeforn,Y,LH,zendoodle
2,O-Neg,N,SS,
Although I’m not sure why you have Y,n and N,y. You need to pick one. Is it checked or un-checked? If it’s checked, then just use Y. If it’s un-checked, just use N. Actually, any character other than Y would mean no. You could also use 0 or 1. true or false.
So in my example, 1 would map to OptNum1. Kofeforn would map to Name. Y would map to Flashcard. LH would map to Designer. zendoodle would map to Notes. In the second row, the mapping would be similar except the Notes column would be empty. Notice the trailing comma in the second row, but not in the first row. Whenever there’s missing data, you just have a comma.
Hope that makes sense.
Thanks,
Brendan
Again, thanks for your patience – Voila – I have Check Marks checked! Crazy way to go about it but now that I have the template it will be much easier.
I had the Y,n from my mis-interpretation of what I thought I was seeing in you reply to the other poster in this thread. As I was continuing in my attempts I was headed down the correct path in thinking my error was related to the delimiters. I’m new to OpenOffice – find it frustrating at times – not sure if the problems I was having was within OO or my lack of knowledge – probably a little of both.
After your last reply I abandoned the OO spreadsheet since I could not seem to change or work with the delimiters. As a last resort I created a table in a document, entered my data then converted it to text. I could only save it as a .txt file – didn’t work to import that so went into finder and changed the extension to .csv (ignoring the warnings) and then was able to import it. Whew!
Not to hijack the thread but one other question – in this process I imported several test files both as new form and adding records. On several occasions when I would Delete All Records, Tap Forms close and I would need to restart. Is this a bug or was I doing something to create this? The records would always be deleted when I reopened Tap Forms – just seemed strange that it would exit sometimes and not other times.
Thanks again.
Hello Ziggy,
Hmm… I’ll look into the crash on deleting all records. Possibly a memory shortage issue.
Thanks,
Brendan
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