159967 - CSV import: separation character should be selectable

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(MailNews Core :: Address Book, defect)

Description

[[e-mail]]

On German localized Windows the CSV format (as written by MS applications) does
use semicolons instead of commas for separators. (The comma is the decimal
separator in this locale.)  Mozilla apparently always uses commas when importing
and fails.

Comment 1

[Thomas]

Anyone with a German Windows version still having the problem?

Comment 2

[[e-mail]]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Anyone with a German Windows version still having the problem?

The problem seems to be still present on 1.7.2. I'm, however, not using a German
Windows but an English Windows switched too German locale.
The problem does not really depend on the Windows language version anyway, as
the exported file might come from a different computer.
Basically a separation character should be selectable in the CSV import dialog.
(See e.g. CSV import in OpenOffice).

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
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Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.

Comment 5

[[e-mail]]

Bug is still there (German Windows XP, Mozilla Suite 1.7.12)

Comment 6

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Worth considering as an enhancement for the address book

Comment 7

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

A relative that I convinced to switch to Thunderbird just got hit by this bug, Outlook (In French, so I don't think it's really locale related) exports in csv with semi-colons as field separators. 

If she didn't know me and I was geeky enough to look for the cause and do the conversion to ldif myself, that would have been a blocker for her and she would have switched back to Outlook. I think this should be marked as a normal (even major) bug and not a RFE.

Comment 10

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

aceman's comment from bug 1195250 "Note for me: nsTextAddress::DetermineDelim()"

Comment 11

[Ping Chen [:rnons] (away)]

Attachment: Bug 159967 - Support importing semicolon separated csv file to address book. r=benc

Comment 12

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

20 year old bug, nice job! :)

Comment 13

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/8b2ee78ad412
Support importing semicolon separated csv file to address book. r=benc