Reading .csv Files & Empty List Elements

[christopherkowalski]

I have an application allowing users to upload .csv files for import into a database.

The issue is however, that in some cases every column in the csv file will be populated, and in others, not.

As ColdFusion ignores empty list elements I cannot accurately import data based on it's column numbers.

I'm curious how others get around this issue.

[-__cfSearching__-]

ckbentdesigns wrote:
> As ColdFusion ignores empty list elements

Yes, most list functions ignore empty elements. If you are using CF8, try the listToArray function. It has a new attribute includeEmptyElements.

Otherwise, there are several solutions. I listed a few of them in this thread. Though there are others. You should google something like: ColdFusion csv Files Empty List Elements to see other options and the +/- of each.
http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1490791&page=1

[Dan_Bracuk]

I just did something like this. My solution was:

Step 1 - Outer loop, read each line of the file.

Step 2, - replace all consectutive delimiters with the delimiter followed by the word null, followed by the next delimiter.

Step 3 - inner loop. loop through that modified row and process it accordingly.

[christopherkowalski]

quote:

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Originally posted by: Dan Bracuk
I just did something like this. My solution was:

Step 1 - Outer loop, read each line of the file.

Step 2, - replace all consectutive delimiters with the delimiter followed by the word null, followed by the next delimiter.

Step 3 - inner loop. loop through that modified row and process it accordingly.

---

Tried that earlier, but didn't have much luck...

The attached code just ends up producing this result:

first_name,0,last_name,0,,0,,0,,0...

[-__cfSearching__-]

quote:

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Originally posted by: Dan Bracuk
Step 2, - replace all consectutive delimiters with the delimiter followed by the word null, followed by the next delimiter.

---

You also need to handle cases where the first or last element is empty.

[-__cfSearching__-]

Did you try running the replace twice?

[Dan_Bracuk]

Put it in a while loop.

While your string contains ",,",
run the replace function