DataWindow Reference
Methods for the DataWindow Control

Description

Inserts data into a DataWindow control or DataStore from tab-separated, comma-separated, or XML data in a string.

Applies to

Syntax

PowerBuilder

long dwcontrol.ImportString ( {saveastype importtype}, string string {, long startrow {, long endrow {,long startcolumn {, long endcolumn {, long dwstartcolumn } } } } } )

Events

ImportString may trigger an ItemError event.

Return value

Returns the number of rows that were imported if it succeeds and one of the following negative integers if an error occurs:

-1 -- No rows or startrow value supplied is greater than the number of rows in the string

-3 -- Invalid argument

-4 -- Invalid input

-11 -- XML Parsing Error; XML parser libraries not found or XML not well formed

-12 -- XML Template does not exist or does not match the DataWindow

-13 -- Unsupported DataWindow style for import

-14 -- Error resolving DataWindow nesting

Usage

All the arguments of this function except string are optional. You do not need to specify the importtype argument.

The string must be formatted in tab-separated or comma-separated columns or in XML. For TXT and CSV files, the format of the string is the same as if the data came from an ASCII file, and each line must end with a carriage return and a newline character (~r~n). If the string has four tab-separated columns, one line might look like for a tab-separated string:

col1_data~t col2_data~t col3_data~t col4_data~r~n

For a DataWindow control or DataStore, the string should consist of rows of data. If the data includes column headings or row labels, set the startrow and startcolumn arguments to skip them. The datatypes and order of the DataWindow object's columns must match the columns of data in the string.

The startcolumn and endcolumn arguments control the number of columns imported from the string and the number of columns in the DataWindow that are affected. The dwstartcolumn argument specifies the first DataWindow column to be affected. The following formula calculates the last DataWindow to be affected.

dwstartcolumn + ( endcolumn - startcolumn )

If string data to be assigned to a single row and column has multiple lines (indicated by line-ending characters in the import string), you must quote the string data using ~". Do not use single quotes.

This example of a valid tab-separated import string assigns multiline values to each row in column 2:

ls_s = &
      "1~t~"Mickey~r~nMinnie~r~nGoofy~" ~r~n" + &
      "2~t~"Susan~r~nMary~r~nMarie~" ~r~n" + &
      "3~t~"Chris~r~nBen~r~nMike~" ~r~n" + &
      "4~t~"Mott~r~nBarber~r~nPicard~" "

If an XML or CSV column contains a leading double quote, it is assumed to be part of the column value. A leading double quote has to be closed to mark the end of an item.

ImportString does not support Crosstab DataWindow objects.

Examples

These statements copy all data in the string ls_Emp_Data to the DataWindow control dw_employee starting at the first column:

string ls_Emp_Data
ls_Emp_Data = . . .
dw_employee.ImportString(ls_Emp_Data)

This statement stores data in the string ls_Text and imports it into the DataWindow dw_employee. The DataWindow is a report of department 100 and start and end dates of personnel. The string includes the department number and other information, which is not imported. ImportString imports rows 2 through 10 and columns 2 through 5 in the string to the DataWindow beginning in column 2. The result is 9 rows added to the DataWindow with data in columns 5 through 8:

string ls_text
 
ls_text = "Dept~tLName~tFName~tStart" & 
      + "~tEnd~tAmount~tOutcome ~r~n"
ls_text = ls_text + &
      "100~tJones~tMary~tApr88~tJul94~t40~tG~r~n"
ls_text = ls_text + &
      "100~tMarsh~tMarsha~tApr89~tJan92~t35~tG~r~n"
ls_text = ls_text + &
      "100~tJames~tHarry~tAug88~tMar93~t22~tM~r~n"
...
ls_text = ls_text + &
      "100~tWorth~tFrank~tSep87~tJun94~t55~tE~r~n"
 
dw_employee.ImportString(ls_text, 2, 10, 2, 5, 5)

This statement imports rows 1 to 200 of the data in the XML string ls_emp, ignoring any template mappings before column 5:

dw_employee.ImportString(ls_emp, 1, 200, 0, 0, 5)

See also

ImportClipboard

ImportFile