6.4.8.3.4 Import Wizard, The Variable Extraction by Position Page (ASCII)

This page is available only if Specify location of variable names and values using character positions is selected on the Variable Extraction page (and there is at least one header line in your data file). Use the controls on this page to extract variables from the file path/filename and file header, extracting information by character position from a "variables" preview window.

Import Wizard Variable Extraction by Position Page.png

Variables Preview Window

Use this preview window to select variables for extraction. The content of this preview window includes four standard file name variables (path + filename.extension, path, filename.extension, filename). Also included are any file header lines that were identified on the Header Lines page. Each variable name/value is preceded by a line number -- the Line value in the Variable group (see below).

Variable Group Controls

Each line of information in the variable preview window is presumed to contain variables and variable values (you decide which is which). Note that each of the following can be chosen independently from each line in the preview window.

Line Select the line number of the desired variable.
Start/End You can enter character positions directly or (easier method) you can highlight the variable Value using your mouse and click the Refresh button to the right of the Value field.
Value The Value field is automatically filled using the Start and End character position information.
Enter variable name Variable names can be specified in two ways. Select this radio button to enter a string constant (spaces and special characters not allowed) to be used as the variable name. To extract the variable name from the information contained in the Variables preview window, select the Extract variable name from file radio button (next option).
Extract variable name from file When you select this radio button, additional fields are added to the Extraction by Position page. These fields allow you to specify a Line, Start and End character positions, and Name for a given variable (the Name field is automatically filled using the specified character position information). This option is used to assign a Name to the Value drop-down list.

Variables to Extract Window

Method You can opt to extract variables by more than one method and they are tracked across both Delimiter and Position pages, regardless of the method/page by which they were specified. Variables specified on this page are of the type "Method = Position".
Name Name as specified using the Variable group controls.
Value Variable Value as specified using the Variable group controls.
English | Deutsch | 日本語