Re: Looking for easy csv -> database
On Mon, 2003-04-14 at 01:49, Ross Boylan wrote:
> Does Debian have any database-like tool that could easily create a
> database from a CSV (plain text with delimeters) file?
>
> I've looked at gaby and the gnome-db front end tool, but didn't get
> very far with either.
>
> This is inspired by taxes. Here's what I've done in the past with MS
> software:
> dump my expenses to a CSV file
> add a field or two for me to make additional categorizations
> get totals by field
>
> There were actually two ways to do this. I could do it in excel, and
> then use data reduction/cross-tab functions. Or I could import into
> access (database) and then get subtotals.
>
> Neither route worked for me in Linux (I'm running testing).
>
> Spreadsheets: Neither KSpread nor gnumeric seems to have any cross tab
> facility (though I kind of suspect it might be programmable).
> Additionally, gnumeric refused to import the data, complaining about
> an invalid character (it's actually from an old DOS program).
>
> Databases: as I said, I didn't get very far. I have the sneeking
> suspicion gaby doesn't import from the rest of the world. Further,
> every time I've tried gaby in the past, its meager documentation and
> apparent bugginess have stymied me (though it seems to be in a much
> higher version number now). The gnome-db architecture looks as if it
> should, in principle, be able to take a plain text file as a data
> source, but I had no luck hooking this up. I also wonder any of the
> tools well extract the schema from the CSV file (column headers), or
> whether they all want me to define it in advance.
>
> I'm not sure if the problem here is the capabilities of the software,
> or my understanding of it. I'd appreciate any guidance.
Have you tried OpenOffice.org? Importing CSV files into scalc (the
OOo spreadsheet program) is a piece of cake...
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