Re :- Convert Access or ASCII File to Text or Excel File( Without ACCESS???)??

[DocAElstein]

---o00o---`(_)`---o00o---
'' An / To :- Mr Excel Access Forum
'' Von / From :- Alan Elston
Re:- Import Access or ASCII File with Excel???
'' Hallo, ‹(•¿•)›
'' I `ve been getting into Excel for about a year ,and recently also into VBA for
'' a private project (calculating Daily Nutrition values to help my Wife with her Diets)
'' I’m an old Physicist, and a bit new to Computers all together, - bit of a “late starter”!!
'' I sometimes need to get at big Published data files. For me is Excel
'' good enough, and I don’t want to start learning (or buying!!) Access (Yet).
''
'' I’m trying to get the Nutritional databank sr26 from
'' United States Department of Agriculture, which is free
'' as described in their link:
Nutrient Data : SR26 - Download Files
'' They have an abbreviated Excel download. I have
'' downloaded this and I can Open it in Excel or as a text Document
'' and I can manipulate it with the Excel Wizard and also by using VBA.
''
'' The problem is they only have the Full version as an ASCII or
'' Access file. They all download very easily. Also, (although it takes
'' very long), I can open these downloads with a text editor
'' But the resulting files look very weird,
'' I’ve tried all the options in EXCEL for importing or opening this data,
'' (Even the one option shown as “US-ASCII” ),
'' but nothing seems to give me sensible looking results.
'' (It’s probably down to my lack of experience)
'' Excel Wizard doesn’t seem to be able to do anything
'' except import it in the same weird Text form!!
''
'' Can anyone help me and suggest how I can get a sensible looking Full version
'' as a text or Excel file, without having to buy and learn Microsoft Access.
'' Ideally the final form should look like the Abbreviated Excel form
'' - just lots bigger!.
'' If that’s not possible, then any Format, that is “readable to the naked eye”
'' will do.. It will then be good practice for me to sort it out in the
'' exact Format I want using VBA !!!!
'' As this might be a question for an Excel expert I’ve posted it in both
'' the Access and Excel forums.
'' (Sorry if that breaks any rules?? – I’m new here!!)
'' Thanks
'' Alan Elston, Email:- Doc.AElstein@t-online.de
'' Baveria

'' Ps.1) I’ve contacted the United States Department of Agriculture
'' but I just get the standard reply...
Nutrient Data : SR26 - Download Files
'' Ps.2) Maybe someone with Access who has a minute or two spare
'' could download it in Access and then if possible
'' use Access to make a text or Excel file and send it to me.??
'' P.s. 3) I have Excel 2007 and 2010 but no Access versions

 

[DocAElstein]

Hi Alan
Thanks again for all you efforts.
Just one quick question, as I’m a bit confused... the download you sent Yesterday, 10:55 PM , comes out by me exactly the same as the one you sent Yesterday, 07:31 AM , that is to say it is one excel file which .........has one nutrition ( vitamin K) for a lot of food items, but not all.........................
If I am beginning to understand the terminology, what I have there is just 1 “not quite full querie”. So I do not understand what you meant by " .....rest of the full queries from the database "


??

Thanks , Alan

 

[alansidman]

I thought that I had loaded three files into the zip. Let me check. In the zipped file nutrients.zip, there should be three files from the database. Each has approximately 600,000 records of informtion. It is the complete file of information available in the database. It has not been filtered. If data appears to be missing, it is because the whomever created the file meant it to be. As I said earlier, if you wish to be assured that you are getting all the data available to you, you will need to find a copy of Access and view the records directly.

 

[DocAElstein]

Hi Alan,
I think I’ve finally got a solution now. All of the information I need is in fact displayed in one of the sheets (NUT_DATA) I imported from the ACCESS file into Excel using your very first instructions to me. I just did not notice because there is such a vast amount of other information which I don’t need there!
. So I need to get my head down and practice my (poor!) VBA skills and write a code to sort that data into a simple Table that has the form similar ( but just much bigger) to that in the shortened (abbreviated) Excel Table given by the USDA ( Excel (3.2Mb) : sr26abxl.xlsx )
. Thanks again for all your help
Alan











Dr. (Physik) Alan Elston
Schleizerstrasse 111
Studentenberg.
95028/Hof
Germany

Email:- The Elstons.. Doc.AElstein@t-online.de or Fahrradprinzessin@t-online.de

 

[DocAElstein]

An / To:- Alan Sidman
Von / From Alan Elston.
@ “MrExcel”

Just a very quick note to say thanks again for all that stuff you sent me. I’m a bit slow getting the point these days, -I’ve had the chance to for through everything and am finally getting the point:- It’s only now that I see how much useful info is in all that stuff you sent. It was / is a big help. ..
... But I’m still not sure if a simple old fashioned table with rows and columns should do for me, or if I should take the time and expense of getting into ACCESS for my (private) project.... But the stuff you sent has been one good example in helping me now to decide.
Thanks again
Alan.

P.s. Was in fact the last file you sent ( FileSnack | Easy file sharing ) me not just one Query for Vitamin K and not as you said “ the rest of the full queries from the database ......
Each file has about 600,000 records ... “...... as It only seems to download that one Vitamin K file, or part thereof (I see only 9 columns (Fields?) And 4958 rows ( records??). Or put another way 44,622 cells . It is not too important as I have managed to get now the info I want ( FileSnack | Easy file sharing and FileSnack | Easy file sharing ), I just wanted to check if I am missing the point again, or using “Filesnack” wrongly?… As you can see I’m just trying “ Filesnack” today for the first time!!

P.s. I post this to the Thread and you “private” at the same time as I am still not too sure how one does (or should do) these things in “Mr Excel”!