Text export properties

This example script is based on the Museum sample data set. See Running the sample table scripts for information on running the example scripts.

When you export tables to a text file, you can control a number of options using the export properties. The following table lists the available export properties.

Location and filename of the exported text file.

Default value: "" (An empty string.) When the location is not specified, the text file will be created in your default temporary folder. If you do not know where this is, you can find out by opening a command prompt and typing cd %temp%. This displays the location of the temporary folder. You can then browse to this folder in Windows Explorer to find the text output.

Determines whether annotations are included in the export.

An integer value representing the Unicode character code (sometimes called the code point) for the character to be used to separate the fields.

Default value: The integer representing the code for the comma (,) character.

Launch the default application for the file type after the export has completed.

Default value: False

An integer value representing the Unicode character code for the character to be used to separate tables. (This should be different from the FieldDelimiter.)

Default value: The integer representing the code for the form feed character.

Determines whether element names or the more friendly element labels are to be used for the row and column labels.

Default value: True (Use labels)

Determines whether variable names or the more friendly labels are to be used for variable texts.

Default value: True (Use labels)

The following example sets the Destination, TableDelimiter, and LaunchApplication export properties.

With TableDoc.Exports.mrTextExport
  .Properties["LaunchApplication"] = True
  .Properties["TableDelimiter"] = AscW(";")
  .Properties["Destination"] = _
         "[INSTALL_FOLDER]\IBM\SPSS\DataCollection\7\DDL\ _
          Output\TextExport.csv"
.Export()
End With

The TableDelimiter property has been set using the AscW function, which returns the integer code for a given character. If you attempt to set this property (or the FieldDelimiter property) to the character itself, you will get a “Type mismatch” error.

You should also use the AscW function if you use the mrScriptBasic String constants to set these properties, because these constants have a string value. For example:

If you set the property using one of these constants without using the AscW function to convert it to the integer value, it can be ignored and the default property value will be used instead or you might get an "An error occurred accessing the Properties property for the XML element Export" error, depending on the property's position in the collection.