Using Drupal Feeds Module to Import Content from MS Access

Feeds works brilliantly, but there is a couple weird gotchas when working from MS Access to Drupal that are worth documenting:

Seems self-explanatory, but since you are importing as .txt or .csv make sure you remove all carriage returns. In MS Access this involves writing an update query and doing a replace on all Chr(10) and Chr(13). e.g. Replace(Replace([myfield],Chr(10),"<br />"),Chr(13),"<br />")
Although CCK Date fields import perfectly as MS Access dates, published dates do not. This is because the published field in Drupal is a Unix Timestamp which is a quite different than Access dates. The easiest way I know to fix this is to export your data to Excel and then use the Excel integer date value to convert to a Unix Timestamp.

We've all seen this right? That really long integer you see when you misformat a date?

Anyway, to fix you need to first account for the difference between the start dates of the two time systems and then account for the fact that excel is decimal days and unix is seconds (or something like that).

Formula:
UnixDate = (A2 - 25569) * 86400.

Where:
25569 = Difference in days between 1900(Unix) and 1970(Excel)
86400 = Number of seconds in a day
Source: webconsultingengineering.com
Exporting from MS Access can also cause you problems with Memo fields. Strangely, if you use Text Qualifiers your exported Memo fields will be truncated to 512 characters. Don't do that.
If Importing Taxonomy fields to Drupal, you'll need to edit your Taxonomies at least for now to Free Text. You can set them back later, but at least for me, even if the Term existed it wouldn't insert unless I set it to Free Text. Your mileage may vary.
Apostrophes will cause you nightmares. They terminate strings early. Replace them with right apostrophes or quotes.
Real HTML required. If you're like me and you've stored all your <HTML> as <HTML> in your ASP and .Net applications to get around Microsoft injection filters you'll have to undo all that silliness.

And I think that's it. If I remember any more from this evening I'll edit this post. Good times.

Comments

Brent said…

MS Access Conversions

Access -> Unix
DateDiff("s", #1/1/1970#,[myAccessDate]) AS myUnixDate

Unix -> Access
DateAdd("s", [myUnixDate],
#1/1/1970#) As myAccessDate

December 13, 2011 at 7:17 AM

Brent said…

Remember the times above are all seconds in GMT, so be sure your locale settings match the data if importing dates as text from another timezone before converting.

December 13, 2011 at 7:20 AM

Attachment Reminder - and more for MS Outlook

I just did it again. We don't like to admit it, but we all have. You write a long letter describing the attachment, press send and then 10 seconds later remember you didn't actually attach the message. I finally decided to do something about it. Turns out it isn't too hard. Chiefly because Jimmy Peña at Code for Excel and Outlook already did all the hard work of writing up an excellent MS Outlook Etiquette Check Macro that does all the dirty work for you. What's left for you to do? In MS Outlook go to Tools > Macros > Visual Basic Editor Under the Project Panel (far left) Browse to Project1 > Microsoft Office Outlook Objects > ThisOutlookSession Double-click ThisOutlookSesson to Open (if you haven't been here before this will be a big blank canvas) Visit Code for Excel and Outlook Etiquette Check Code and select "Copy to Clipboard" at the top of the code. Or you can also copy from the code I've modified below if you prefer.

Auto Format (and Color) Outlook Appointments

A few years ago I got turned on to the idea of indexing your life by color. In a quick glance your mind can comprehend really complex patterns. By coloring entries in my calendar I am able to tell immediately if I am available or if a future appointment conflicts with a work meeting. There are a number of ways to set this up. Outlook allows you to add a label to every appointment. However this is an Outlook specific feature and I sync my calendar across Outlook, Yahoo! and iCalendar. The later two don't even have labels. Besides, calendars should be simple. Complexity only hinders usability, so I prefer an automated solution. How to color appointments in Outlook automatically: In Calendar, right-click the calendar grid, and then click Automatic Formatting on the shortcut menu. Click Add, and then type a name for the rule. In the Label list, click a color. Click Condition to specify the conditions under which the color will be applied. Note: If you manually assign a color to a

Simple HTTP Redirect with Querystring in IIS7

HTTP Redirect seems simple enough. Always was in IIS6 and in IIS7 there's even a button labeled HTTP Redirect that promises relative redirects. It looks like it'll be as easy Apache finally. That is until you try to redirect a querystring. Then everything bombs. Turns out it still is relatively easy, except you have to know that Microsoft changed $S$Q to $V$Q. Why? $Ss and $Gs I suspect. And How. In our example we'll redirect all pages under http://olddomain.com/content to http://mydomain.com/content. Pick the virtual directory you want to redirect. e.g. http://olddomain.com/content Click HTTP Redirect under IIS in the IIS management console. In the HTTP Redirect Dialog: Check Redirect requests to this destination Enter your new path ending with $V$Q. e.g. http://mydomain.com$V$Q Counter-intuitively check Redirect all request to exact destination (instead of relative destination) Choose the appropriate Status Code (Permanent or Temporary)

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