MapInfo Pro

Hello,

I have an excel table with many fields. One of them goes like:

Samples

1

2

3

4

GA12345

GA123456

...

When importing this table, mapinfo recognizes sample field as float automatically. But, since I don't want to lose the other records I select to treat the field as character. However, when creating a browser I can see that mapinfo still imported the field as float.

The solution I found is to move one record with a character sample (GA12345) to the beginning, and then it works fine.

Can anyone please confirm if this is a bug indeed or it just happens to me?

Thank you

In MapInfo 2023 it automatically gets recognized as char and also gets opened that way. Maybe you are using an older version?

Hello,

I have an excel table with many fields. One of them goes like:

Samples

1

2

3

4

GA12345

GA123456

...

When importing this table, mapinfo recognizes sample field as float automatically. But, since I don't want to lose the other records I select to treat the field as character. However, when creating a browser I can see that mapinfo still imported the field as float.

The solution I found is to move one record with a character sample (GA12345) to the beginning, and then it works fine.

Can anyone please confirm if this is a bug indeed or it just happens to me?

Thank you

Hello,

I have an excel table with many fields. One of them goes like:

Samples

1

2

3

4

GA12345

GA123456

...

When importing this table, mapinfo recognizes sample field as float automatically. But, since I don't want to lose the other records I select to treat the field as character. However, when creating a browser I can see that mapinfo still imported the field as float.

The solution I found is to move one record with a character sample (GA12345) to the beginning, and then it works fine.

Can anyone please confirm if this is a bug indeed or it just happens to me?

Thank you

Hi Paolo

That sounds like a bug but not something I have noticed earlier. 

MapInfo Pro should, of course, honor the column type you select when opening an Excel file.

Do you get this misbehavior with a small file with just 6 records as you show above or only if you have thousands of records where the first many records are numerical?

Hello,

I have an excel table with many fields. One of them goes like:

Samples

1

2

3

4

GA12345

GA123456

...

When importing this table, mapinfo recognizes sample field as float automatically. But, since I don't want to lose the other records I select to treat the field as character. However, when creating a browser I can see that mapinfo still imported the field as float.

The solution I found is to move one record with a character sample (GA12345) to the beginning, and then it works fine.

Can anyone please confirm if this is a bug indeed or it just happens to me?

Thank you

The table has over 18000 rows. I attach an example so you can check if this happens to you also

Hi Paolo

That sounds like a bug but not something I have noticed earlier. 

MapInfo Pro should, of course, honor the column type you select when opening an Excel file.

Do you get this misbehavior with a small file with just 6 records as you show above or only if you have thousands of records where the first many records are numerical?

Hello,

I have an excel table with many fields. One of them goes like:

Samples

1

2

3

4

GA12345

GA123456

...

When importing this table, mapinfo recognizes sample field as float automatically. But, since I don't want to lose the other records I select to treat the field as character. However, when creating a browser I can see that mapinfo still imported the field as float.

The solution I found is to move one record with a character sample (GA12345) to the beginning, and then it works fine.

Can anyone please confirm if this is a bug indeed or it just happens to me?

Thank you

It works here, if I change the float to char, MapInfo decides for a char(19) and it keeps that field definition after opening the table.

If it still fails for you, you can just close the file, edit the TAB file header and then open the TAB again.

The table has over 18000 rows. I attach an example so you can check if this happens to you also

Hi Paolo

That sounds like a bug but not something I have noticed earlier. 

MapInfo Pro should, of course, honor the column type you select when opening an Excel file.

Do you get this misbehavior with a small file with just 6 records as you show above or only if you have thousands of records where the first many records are numerical?

Hello,

I have an excel table with many fields. One of them goes like:

Samples

1

2

3

4

GA12345

GA123456

...

When importing this table, mapinfo recognizes sample field as float automatically. But, since I don't want to lose the other records I select to treat the field as character. However, when creating a browser I can see that mapinfo still imported the field as float.

The solution I found is to move one record with a character sample (GA12345) to the beginning, and then it works fine.

Can anyone please confirm if this is a bug indeed or it just happens to me?

Thank you

Morning Uffe,

Can you check if the values look fine for you? Especially the values at the end of the table. I want to verify if the issue I described below where the values starting with characters got lost can be replicated.

Thanks

It works here, if I change the float to char, MapInfo decides for a char(19) and it keeps that field definition after opening the table.

If it still fails for you, you can just close the file, edit the TAB file header and then open the TAB again.

The table has over 18000 rows. I attach an example so you can check if this happens to you also

Hi Paolo

That sounds like a bug but not something I have noticed earlier. 

MapInfo Pro should, of course, honor the column type you select when opening an Excel file.

Do you get this misbehavior with a small file with just 6 records as you show above or only if you have thousands of records where the first many records are numerical?

Hello,

I have an excel table with many fields. One of them goes like:

Samples

1

2

3

4

GA12345

GA123456

...

When importing this table, mapinfo recognizes sample field as float automatically. But, since I don't want to lose the other records I select to treat the field as character. However, when creating a browser I can see that mapinfo still imported the field as float.

The solution I found is to move one record with a character sample (GA12345) to the beginning, and then it works fine.

Can anyone please confirm if this is a bug indeed or it just happens to me?

Thank you

The table has over 18000 rows. I attach an example so you can check if this happens to you also

Hi Paolo

That sounds like a bug but not something I have noticed earlier. 

MapInfo Pro should, of course, honor the column type you select when opening an Excel file.

Do you get this misbehavior with a small file with just 6 records as you show above or only if you have thousands of records where the first many records are numerical?

Hello,

I have an excel table with many fields. One of them goes like:

Samples

1

2

3

4

GA12345

GA123456

...

When importing this table, mapinfo recognizes sample field as float automatically. But, since I don't want to lose the other records I select to treat the field as character. However, when creating a browser I can see that mapinfo still imported the field as float.

The solution I found is to move one record with a character sample (GA12345) to the beginning, and then it works fine.

Can anyone please confirm if this is a bug indeed or it just happens to me?

Thank you

OK, it seems to work but then it doesn't.

We convert the column to Char as specified but the values are all numbers - all the characters seem to have been removed from the table once loaded into MapInfo Pro. The values starting with a character seem to have been changed into an empty string.

If I format the cells in the first row as Text, MapInfo Pro detects this and suggests using Char(20) as the column type.

Here you can see the result

I'd recommend raising a case with our support team on opening the Excel file and changing the column type to char. You can send an email to our support team at support@precisely.com

Thanks

The table has over 18000 rows. I attach an example so you can check if this happens to you also

Hi Paolo

That sounds like a bug but not something I have noticed earlier. 

MapInfo Pro should, of course, honor the column type you select when opening an Excel file.

Do you get this misbehavior with a small file with just 6 records as you show above or only if you have thousands of records where the first many records are numerical?

Hello,

I have an excel table with many fields. One of them goes like:

Samples

1

2

3

4

GA12345

GA123456

...

When importing this table, mapinfo recognizes sample field as float automatically. But, since I don't want to lose the other records I select to treat the field as character. However, when creating a browser I can see that mapinfo still imported the field as float.

The solution I found is to move one record with a character sample (GA12345) to the beginning, and then it works fine.

Can anyone please confirm if this is a bug indeed or it just happens to me?

Thank you