validating an uploaded file before inserting data in to database

[Rahul Chatterjee]

Hello All

I am uploading a file using ASP code. After the user uploads the file, I
would like to be able to open the file and check if the data is in a given
format (comma separated) and also has all the data elements needed (i.e. all
fields are there). Is there a parse routine in asp that would allow me to do
this. The user can upload any type of file as long as I am able to parse it
and determine if the data is of the aforemention type.

Please advise

[Ray at]

You will have to code this all yourself. You can use the FileSystemObject
to open files and read the contents of them. What I suggest doing is just
starting with a string variable and using it to build your validation.
testString = "asdfj"
If Instr(testString, ",") = 0 Then
REsponse.Write "This isn't a comma delimited file."
Response.End
End If

Ray at work

"Rahul Chatterjee" <ra***@benesysinc.com> wrote in message
news:%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

Hello All

I am uploading a file using ASP code. After the user uploads the file, I
would like to be able to open the file and check if the data is in a given
format (comma separated) and also has all the data elements needed (i.e. all fields are there). Is there a parse routine in asp that would allow me to do this. The user can upload any type of file as long as I am able to parse it and determine if the data is of the aforemention type.

Please advise

[Jeff Cochran]

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 08:30:55 -0500, "Rahul Chatterjee"
<ra***@benesysinc.com> wrote:

I am uploading a file using ASP code. After the user uploads the file, I
would like to be able to open the file and check if the data is in a given
format (comma separated) and also has all the data elements needed (i.e. all
fields are there). Is there a parse routine in asp that would allow me to do
this. The user can upload any type of file as long as I am able to parse it
and determine if the data is of the aforemention type.

Parsing is somthing you have to code yourself, though there are
obviously a number of functions you can use, such as Split, InStr,
StrComp, etc. Counting comma separated fields could be easy, do a
ReadLine and then a Split at commas and count the elements. You might
even ask the uploader to specify the delimiter from a list, and do the
Split on that delimiter.

If you decide to accept *any* type of input your job gets harder.
Stripping HTML codes, escaping various characters, Trimming spaces and
the like could run hundreds of lines of code, and accepting non-text
files such as an Excel file would further complicate things. You'd
likely have to find a component to do file conversions as part of the
process.

Controlling what the user can supply makes it easier to work with what
you receive.

Jeff