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When Tab Separated is selected, the Export Contact Database Data page changes to that shown below - .
Figure 1 - The second stage of the Export dialog for a Delimited Text File export
Make the appropriate selections, then click Next. The options are as follows:
- Formatting - a delimiter is a sequence of one or more characters used to specify the boundary between separate, independent regions in plain text or other data stream. An example of a delimiter is the comma character in a sequence of comma-separated values. Select the delimiter that you wish to be used in the data file to be exported. The options are:
- Comma - a Comma (,) -separated ASCII text file is generated. All answers will be inside quotes (""). The variable names will be in the first row.
- Tab - a Tab-separated ASCII text file is generated. No quotes ("") are used. The variable names will be in the first row.
- Custom - the Custom Delimiter field is activated. Here you can select any single keyboard character, which will then be used as the delimiter in the exported ASCII text file.
- Text qualifier - this property is available when you select “Formatting: Comma separated” or "With Quotes". When "Comma separated" is selected, the comma character has a special meaning; it is used to separate the different values from the different variables. However during export commas will be removed from opentext answers since in this case the character has a different meaning. Adding quotes around an answer text ensures that the text remains unchanged. A Delimited Text File export with Quotes can be generated.
- Locale - determines the formatting of elements such as numbers (decimal point) and dates/times. Select the locale appropriate to the format used in the file.
- Truncate Open Ends - For Open Ends (Open Text questions with no field width specified), it is recommended to truncate texts to improve performance. If a number of characters is specified for the Open Ends Width, texts longer than this limit, if any, will automatically be truncated. If No Truncation (Full Length) is selected, the whole text will be imported/exported, but the task may take significantly longer to execute.
Note: There is no filter for Open End type, so all Open Text questions with no field width specified will be included in the export (those with type Normal, Hidden or Background), while those with field width set will not be included.
- Open End Handling - defines how open ended questions are handled. The options are:
- Include Open Ends - all open end questions are included in the export.
- Exclude Open Ends - no open end questions are included in the export.
- Open Ends Only (one row per respondent) - only open end questions are included in the export file, with one row in the file for each respondent (all the answers for each respondent are in the same row).
- File Encoding - to support the export of surveys using Unicode (for example Chinese), you can choose the Character Encoding of the Export files. Choose between ANSI, Unicode and UTF-8 (default).
- Contact Database Variables - click Select Variables to open a selection overlay, then select the variables you wish to use. Note that you must select one or more variables or the export will return nothing.
- Survey Activity Variables - click Select Variables to open a selection overlay, then select the variables you wish to use.
- Override Filename - All export tasks will generate files with unique names in the following format: <projectid>_<userid>_<taskid>.<extension>. The "Override file name" functionality allows you to override this system-generated name. Tick this checkbox to open the file name text box were you can edit the system-generated name (go to APPENDIX F: EXPORT FILENAME DYNAMIC VALUES for more information).