How to Use Notepad++ to See Special Characters In Your ASCII Import File
Release Date: 07/10/2019
This has only happened twice in the last 18 months and I have not been able to find a way to fix the file other than to delete the order and enter it manually.
Version: All
Q - When trying to import the attached file, there is an error on line 30. Error message :The 1st Byte must be H, N, L, T, O or I. When the file is checked it appears that the data on line 31 is out of alignment by one space after the Line Item Description. Inserting a space moves the data back into alignment but the import returns the same error.
The error states line 30 but it appears that line 29 has the data alignment issue. See sample screen below:
This has only happened twice in the last 18 months and I have not been able to find a way to fix the file other than to delete the order and enter it manually.
I have attached the file to be imported with the misaligned date and the error message. If I can find out what is causing this error I can look at getting the import file created correctly.
A - If you use Notepad++, on the menu choose "View" -> "Show Symbols" -> "Show All Characters." Then you will see that the import file clearly has a problem with both lines 29 and 30. See attached screen below:
Line 29 appears to be incomplete and was terminated prematurely by an [LF] special character after “FIELDSTONE VOGUE DINN FORK .” This caused the quantity, price and date to wrap to line 30. As far as the Elliott Sales Order import utility is concerned, the quantity, price and date are not required fields, so the import utility did not complain about line 29. Instead, it complained about line 30, which is the information that was part of line 29. As far as we can see, the import utility is behaving correctly.
Normally, in a line sequence ASCII file (like TXT), a record should be terminated by both characters of [CR][LF]. But if you should miss the [CR], most of the file systems are still OK with using only the [LF] character to terminate.
You should look at the source of where your data comes from, and prevent special characters like [LF] from getting into your line item description, which is the root cause of this problem.
Normally, in a line sequence ASCII file (like TXT), a record should be terminated by both characters of [CR][LF]. But if you should miss the [CR], most of the file systems are still OK with using only the [LF] character to terminate.
You should look at the source of where your data comes from, and prevent special characters like [LF] from getting into your line item description, which is the root cause of this problem.
EMK
Related Articles
Using Special Characters in Elliott Item Numbers
Release Date: 4/27/2021 Version: 7.5 & Higher Q - Are there any special characters I should avoid when creating a new item number? For example, which one of the following are preferred item numbers: HCC451-30 HCC451_30 HCC451/30 HCC451*30 HCC451 30 ...Do Not Use Extended ASCII Characters
Release Date: 2/15/2019 Q - I've run out of characters for Material Cost Types using what's available directly from the keyboard (numbers, letters, punctuation). Will Elliott properly recognize extended ASCII characters? For example: ALT+0188 gives ...Procedure to Correct Bad Serial Number with Special Symbol
Q - From time to time, either due to the bar code label or the bar code scanner, we get a bad scan of the serial number as we receive it. Since the receiving staff usually does not look at the serial number, they scan it in. So the problem does not ...Error 013 File Not Found When Importing CSV File Name Longer Than 20 Characters
Revision Date: 1/28/2021 Version: 7.x & up Users may encounter an Error 013 on an ASCII File when importing from CSV. This can be due to a limitation of 20 characters for the CSV file name including the extension. For example, the file name ...Change - CSV Import Programs to Support File Names Longer Than 20 Characters
Release date: 5/5/2021 Version 8.5 & Up There were many Elliott CSV Import programs which had a limitation that the maximum file name could not be greater than 20 characters. See the following KB article: ...