We import data into Selltis from any of the following formats:
- ascii comma delimited
- ascii tab delimited
- ascii column delimited (fixed length)
- dBase III
- MS Access 97 or later
- MS Excel 97 or later
If you intend to submit your data in an ascii format, please be aware of the following:
ascii comma-delimited format: Each double-quote or inch symbol (" character) must appear as two " characters (""). Single occurrences of the double-quote characters within fields of the text type invalidate this format because the double-quotes are used to delimit the fields. Without the double-quotes surrounding fields of the text type, the program could not distinguish between the "legitimate" commas and those that are used as delimiters between fields.
ascii tab-delimited format: There must be no tab characters anywhere in the database, otherwise the program would mis-interpret the tabs within the data as field delimiters. Most databases do not allow entering tab characters into fields. However, if your database has large text fields that allow entering text on multiple lines, you may have tabs in them. If you copied data from word processors into such fields, you are likely to have tabs in your database. Use one of the other formats instead.
ascii column-delimited (fixed length) format is the most reliable ascii format for transfers of simple databases because the format doesn't depend on any delimiting characters. The data is placed into individual fields based on its position in each record. However, your data must not contain any hard returns because the records are delimited by the hard return characters (ascii characters 10 and 13). Use this format only for data from single-line high, short fields.
dBase III format is a popular interchange format. Some programs limit the size of the record to 2048 Bytes. If you have such a program, use another format instead.
MS Access 97 allows populating multiple tables of data into a single database file (mdb extension). There are no restrictions about the data formatting or special characters.
MS Excel 97 is a popular spreadsheet application that can be used to import and export data in many formats. There are no restrictions about the data formatting or special characters.
How to Submit the Data
We accept data files on disk (floppy, CDROM, and 1GB Jaz), or electronically (via e-mail or via the ftp upload). Before you submit your data electronically, let us know the size and format of your file. If you wish to upload the data file on our ftp site, contact us for a user name and password.