My mother kept a database in QA4 to track her personal antique inventory: what she had, when she bought it, who she got it from, what she paid for it, etc. In the past year she has switched from Q&A to Sesame. We want to retrieve the old Q&A data and upgrade the database to include more and better information about past and future purchases. I am just learning all of this but here is what I have done so far:

1. Translated the Q&A database into Sesame. There were some errors from improperly-formatted entries that Sesame didn't like so I bypassed them by checking the "Force field types to text" option during the translation procedure. There were 1550+ records!

2. Exported the data to .CSV so I could open and edit the data easily in a spreadsheet program.

3. Added new field/category columns and re-worked the data in the spreadsheet.

4. Tried to import the newly-arranged data as an ASCII database to use as a starting point for my new-and-improved Sesame Antique Inventory database.

This is where I am running into problems. First I tried saving the text file as ANSI and then UTF-8 format. I got errors from Sesame both times saying "Cannot translate ASCII file..." Finally I tried saving the text file as Unicode and then Sesame seemed to take it okay.

Next problem is that I achieved an empty database with all the proper fields but no data. Where did all the 1500+ records go?

Next I made a sample text file just to make sure the ASCII import worked properly. I tried this about 20 different ways. Here is one example, a subset of the large inventory csv file, but using only 6 of the 1550 records (I've inserted extra hard returns in this example to make it easier to read):


!"Record","ItemName","Category","SubCategory","Comments","Maker","Origin","Style
","Circa","IdentifyingMarks","Condition","Location","DateAcquired","PurchasedFro
m","AskingPriceEach","PurchasePriceEach","AppraisalDate","AppraisedBy","Appraise
dValueEach","CurrentValueEach","Image","SaleDate","SalePrice","Net","Knowledgeab
leContacts","InterestedContacts"

"1","Corbel","Architectural","","Pair Victorian corbels peeling white paint","","","","","","","Home","03/02/1996","MAM - Vone's","","$129.00","","","","","","","","","","",""

"2","China Cabinet","Furniture","Oak","Oak small","","","","","","","Home","","Tom Tate traded sewing machine & love seat","","$595.00","","","","","","","","","","",""

"3","Bell","Collectibles","Cast Iron","Cast Iron School House Bell with Yoke","","","","","","","Home","01/13/2002","Brian Radcliff' Buffalo Nickel","$250.00","$187.50","","","","","","","","","","",""

"4","Bayonet","Collectibles","Military","Swedish Bayonet w Scabbard","","","","","","","Mall","01/29/1993","MAM","","","","","","","","",""
,"","","",""

"5","Arrow Heads","Collectibles","Native American","Collection of 38 Arrow Heads","","","","","","","22nd","","","","$33.75","1984","Bob McBroom","$70.00","","","","","","","",""

"6","Bedroom Suite","Furniture","Oak","3 piece Bed, Dresser, Wash Stand","","","","","","","Home","11/17/1978","Antique House Unloading Sale","","$695.00","1984","Bob McBroom","$1,200.00","","","","sold","","","",""


This never worked for me so I finally simplified it dramatically and just typed this from scratch:


!"First","Last"
"George","Bush"
"Sam","Elliot"
"Eliza","Banks"
"Kermit","TheFrog"
"Hugh","Hefner"

I imported this and it worked perfectly. The first time. Two fields, five records. I compared notes between this simple file and the more complex file listed above. Made a few adjustments regarding commas and quotes that were incorrect. No luck. Changed it about fifteen different ways. Still nothing. Finally went back and tried the First Name Last Name version again. This time it didn't work! I'm not seeing the two fields or any of the records! Instead all I see is a field with nothing in it labelled ASCII0000. In previous attempts with the more complex text file I sometimes got as many as ten fields with labels like ASCII000, ASCII0001, ASCII0002, and so on. But never any data (after entering F10, of course).

I'm really confused why it's not working and even more so why the First Name Last Name database worked the first time and then never thereafter.

Can anyone detect what I'm doing wrong?

Okay, so create a finished (empty) form first and then go through the import process defined starting on page 339 of the 2.0 User Guide?

That seems to be working with the First Name Last Name file. Time to try it with the big guns!

Thanks,
Marke