PRB: Import Wizard's Scan Option Doesn't Scan Beyond Record 50

ID: Q139873

3.00 WINDOWS kbtool kbprb

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SYMPTOMS

After you select the Scan All Records option in the Import Wizard, only the first 50 records are actually scanned.

STATUS

Microsoft is researching this behavior and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

By selecting the Scan All Records option in the Import Wizard, you might assume that the data is scanned and the structure of the file being imported is verified before the import actually occurs. This is not the case.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

CAUTION: For the purposes of this demonstration, you should close all critical data and applications other than Visual FoxPro to ensure that the results of this demonstration have no effect on other data or applications should an error occur.

This demonstration requires that the Customer table from the Testdata database be present, intact, and available for your use. To demonstrate that the above situation is actually what the Import Wizard is doing, follow these steps:

1. Use the Customer table from the Testdata database.

2. In the Command window, enter the following line of code:

   COPY TO C:\TESTTEXT.TXT TYPE DELIMITED

3. Open Testtext.txt in Notepad. If your text is wrapping, turn Word wrap

   off.

4. Scroll down to the 51st record, the first field of which should be

   Merep, and remove the first comma (not the quotation mark) on that line.
   This damages the structure of the text file to be imported.

5. Save and close the file.

6. On Visual FoxPro's Tools menu, click Wizards, and then click Import.

7. Click the three-dot button located next to the Source File text box.

8. Locate Testtext.txt on your hard disk, select it, and then click OK.

9. Click the Next button in the Import Wizard dialog box. Note that the

   Status bar now reads:

   Record: 1/50

   This indicates that the first 50 records are intact.

10. Click the Option button.

11. In the Import Wizard Options dialog box, click Scan All Records, and

    then click OK.

12. Click Next, click Next, and then click Finish in the Wizard's dialog

    boxes. You may receive an error that indicates that the application has
    performed an illegal instruction and will be shut down. The point of
    this exercise was to demonstrate the fact that the Import Wizard never
    scanned the text file being imported. The 51st record was damaged, and
    the Import Wizard only displays the first 50 records.

13. Browse the newly created table, and go to record 51. The data will not

    have been imported properly. Close the table.

14. In the Command window, enter the following line of code to erase the

    table you created:

    ERASE TESTTEXT.DBF

To further demonstrate the fact that the Import Wizard doesn't scan the text file being imported, perform the following steps:

1. Using Notepad, edit Testtext.txt, and repair record 51 by inserting the

   comma that was removed earlier.

2. Move up to record 49 and remove the first comma. The first field in this

   record should be MAGAA.

3. Save and close the file.

4. On the Visual FoxPro Tools menu, click Wizards, and then click Import.

   Then click the three-dot button next to the Source File text box.

5. Locate Testtext.txt on your hard disk, select it, and then click OK.

6. Click Next. You will receive an error stating the records in this file

   do not appear to be delimited by commas or tabs and the record lengths
   are variable. Fixed-length format will be used by default. This time,
   you did not tell the Wizard to scan all records. The damaged record was
   within the first 50 records and was automatically detected by the
   Wizard, so it displays the error message.

Additional reference words: 3.00 VFoxWin import fail KBCategory: kbtool kbprb KBSubcategory: FxtoolWizother

Keywords          : FxtoolWizother 
Version           : 3.00
Platform          : WINDOWS