Importing a CSV File into Tap Forms
March 13th, 2009A few people have asked me how to import their CSV files into Tap Forms. Here’s a quick guide to get you going in the right direction.
Before you transfer your file to Tap Forms, make sure your CSV file has the following properties:
- Has a .csv file extension (lowercase .csv in version 1.6).
- Encoding matches encoding of set in the Import & Export Settings screen.
- Includes a header row defining the field names and types (optional) you would like to have in your form.
- If you’re importing dates, your import data format should be set correctly in the Import & Export Settings screen.
You can build a header row such as this (including a couple of sample records):
Movie Name<text>,Release Date<date>,Is Great Movie<check_mark>
The Dark Knight,07/18/2008,Y
The English Patient,11/22/1996,N
Valid Field Types are:
- text
- number
- date
- time
- check_mark
- contact
- web_site
- note
- phone (should be all digits without formatting)
The field type in the header row of your CSV file must match exactly one of the field types above. If the field type doesn’t match or is unspecified, text will be used instead.
If you define your header row on your PC to be the field names that you’d like to see in Tap Forms and also give them a field type, then Tap Forms will do most of the work for you. The only thing you need to do on the iPhone itself is create a new form, give it a name and pick an icon.
On the Edit Form screen you’ll see an action menu icon (a little arrow in the top-right corner). Tap that and then you’ll see “Import Records”. Selecting your .csv file will then bring you to the Import screen. You’ll see how many rows there are (less the first header row), the file size, and a big green Import button. Tap that and Tap Forms will auto-create the fields for you and import the records.
March 14th, 2009 at 8:51 AM
OK, this is “how to set up my CSV file for import”. How about more clear instructions on how to actually invoke the import? When I start the process, the file will be on my Mac, how do I get it to my iPod Touch? TapForms can’t simply browse for it on my Mac.
I’m an old Palm user and have been using a DB program on that platform, import is very important for me as I don’t want to re-key all my data.
Much thanks, Al
March 14th, 2009 at 9:03 AM
There are instructions on the Files tab for how to get your file into Tap Forms from your PC or Mac. I simply added this bit of information to help people understand how to actually format their CSV file and also where to go to initiate the import (e.g. tap the Import Records button from the Edit Form screen’s action menu). You can also tap the Import Records button from the list view’s action menu.
Thanks!
Brendan
March 15th, 2009 at 8:42 AM
My problem is that from a Mac, when launching from Finder’s Go > Connect to Server, it creates a volume on my desktop in which I can see the Exports and Imports folders, but the volume is read-only. Do I need to sudo in and set permissions here, as Get Info does nothing for me? I also tried via CuteFTP for the Mac, but no combination of anonymous logins got me connected. (using IP address and port 8021).
March 15th, 2009 at 11:05 AM
I figured instructions would be available once TapForms is installed. That doesn’t help one make an evaluation of the software prior to purchase. You have to agree that documentation and support availability are large criteria toward purchasing decisions. I’m glad to see a prompt response to my question, speaks volumes concerning support.
I’m anxious to see your response to Eve McGivern’s issue.
Tkx, Al
March 15th, 2009 at 11:11 AM
I agree that my documentation skills are a little lacking. I will have more time in the near future to put together a comprehensive user guide.
To answer Eve’s Finder question. The OS X Finder for some odd reason only mounts FTP servers as read-only. I generally use a cool free program called CyberDuck. You can download it from http://cyberduck.ch
Then I simply click the Open Connection icon, put in the IP address and port number into the appropriate fields, check anonymous and then connect. Works like a charm every time.
I’ll add this bit of info to the main article.
Thanks,
Brendan
March 24th, 2009 at 3:16 PM
I noticed that the list of fields you included in this post included the audio and photo fields. Does this imply that there is a actually a way to import these formats? I assume that you just cut and paste these out of habit, but I thought I’d ask “just in case”.
Thanks,
Daniel
March 24th, 2009 at 3:38 PM
I just updated the posting to remove audio and photo from the field types. Yes, you’re right Daniel, you can’t import photos or audio from a CSV file. Typo!
Thanks,
Brendan
March 24th, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Although now that I think of it, you could leave audio and photo in their and Tap Forms will at least generate the fields and set the types for you given the column names in the CSV file.
March 27th, 2009 at 3:29 PM
I thought the documentation, though brief, was clear, although the need for a username and password was skipped. Other than that it worked perfectly on some fairly large files.
March 28th, 2009 at 7:33 AM
Hello,
I must say, i do love this app! Every time i reach for a bit of paper i think, wait i can just do it on here!
I have no idea how to use this .csv , i know it is some kind of database file or some sort.. i can export the MYSQL databases on my web-server to CSV. Could someone email me a demo CSV with a sample form or something in it so i can just see how it works and how i need to actually make the .csv file
Thanks so much!
(t.arnfeld@magic3.co.uk)
April 8th, 2009 at 3:12 PM
Hi
I have created my .csv file and sent it to my imports folder using my FTP program. No problems there. When I open my form and go to import this file it starts but then drops out of the program. hen I go back into the program I find that only a small number of the records have imported. Tried this a few times and each time different number of records are imported before the program crashes. The .CSV file I am importing has over 15,000 records but only getting around 350 imported? Any help would be appreciated on this
Thank You
Ian
April 11th, 2009 at 8:13 PM
hi i have got the .csv file over to the tap forms import folder then made form named movie collection press box in corner then import then .csv file is not showing up to import to form where am i going wrong can you help please thanks.
April 18th, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Hi,
I just downloaded the App and imported my DVD Collection database with no problems at all. Really a great application, great UI especially, thanks a lot! (I can’t wait for the encryption feature, which will make it even more useful…
)
In order to import my DVD list, I had to replace all Commas by something else before writing to csv. I have to admit I use Commas quite frequently, so it would be awesomesome if the were some way to mask them for the import or use a different separator if needed.
Thanks for the great programming again,
Marcus
April 18th, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Tap Forms 1.7 will let you choose a column delimiter. It will support commas, semi-colons, colons, pipes, and tabs. I think those are the most common delimiters anyway.
Thanks,
Brendan
April 24th, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Sounds great, looking forward for the next version. If you need help with German localization I’d love to help out, though I’m probably not of much use as I don’t own a Mac.
Thanks,
Marcus
April 24th, 2009 at 3:29 PM
The German translation has been done and will also be available in 1.7. Along with German, Tap Forms will now have English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. Swedish and Polish are in the works.
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:15 AM
Hi,
I have the same problem like Ian. When importing the csv it just imports rd.ab. 5% and the ends the app. With evry new try it stops at the same point. File has 918 entries, same format as anothe file which worked. When trying to edit the entries the app stops as well. Any recommendations on this?
Thanks,
rossi
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:31 PM
Hello Flo,
If you send your file to support@tapforms.com I can look to see if there’s anything obviously wrong with it. You could also try looking for any rows that don’t have the same number of columns as the header field. For example, if your header row had 5 columns, then every row should also have 5 columns (4 commas actually). If you have any fields that might have a comma within it, make sure they are quoted. Like this “Friday, May 22, 2009″.
Also, Tap Forms doesn’t deal well with files as big as Ian’s unfortunately. You could try making your files smaller and importing them a segment at a time.
June 21st, 2009 at 1:24 PM
hello
i personally love the applications; kudos on the build so far
i use the customizable forms alot because i do alot of insurance it’s nice to have clients data on the go.
i primary bought the app for the audio recording it’s hands down the best so far and plus it.
and i appreciate that fact that it will keep recording when the iphone darkens…..so awesome.
but the only issue i have is….how do you import the audio files?
i have over 25 audio recording of meeting …(one hour each conversation)
any suggestion to transfer into the computer
June 21st, 2009 at 7:12 PM
To export an audio file from Tap Forms, you will need to do a backup with SyncDocs (http://syncdocs.sourceforge.net). Once you’ve done a backup, there will be a folder on your Mac or PC in the TapForms backup folder called Audio Recordings (and one for Photos). Then you can copy the files to wherever you want them to be. Tap the Tools tab in Tap Forms and then tap Backup & Restore. There’s a help button [?] in the top-right corner that tells you how to use SyncDocs.
July 8th, 2009 at 5:38 AM
It’s taken me a while to work this computer to application thing out (as I have little experience with this sort of stuff) but with your help I’ve finally managed to create my files.
Just wondering though, on the pc, can I have separate lines within the one text field?
And, in the app, because I have a lot of text in the one field, can I view the field contents without the keyboard coming up?
Many thanks,
Kerrie.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:47 AM
Yes, you can have separate lines within a single field for your import. The important thing to note is you need to make sure your column is surrounded by quotes.
For example:
My first column,”The second column has text that is
contained on multiple lines”,My third column,”And last, but not least,
the fifth column”
Also note the fifth column has commas in it. If you use a comma delimiter, you must put double quotes around it so Tap Forms can treat it as a single column with data that just so happens to have commas inside it.
I have fixed the Notes field so you will be able to see the entire note without the keyboard popping up until you tap inside the note to edit it.
Thanks,
Brendan
September 5th, 2009 at 9:16 PM
Hello Brendan,
Of all things, your Import settings do not support dd/mm/yy date format, the most popular date format in US. Please add this.
Great app!
September 5th, 2009 at 9:16 PM
oops .. I meant mm/dd/yy.
September 5th, 2009 at 9:18 PM
Oops! Yes, you’re right.
I have just added that for the next update.
Sorry about that.
Brendan
October 1st, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Hi, Brendan! Love TapForms so far, but I have an urgent request: I have a database with a number of long (several paragraphs’ worth of text) fields. The app truncates them after four lines. Please, please, please can you enable either 1) unlimited-length text fields (can be scrollable or show all the text on a secondary screen), or 2) the ability to set a field’s length?
Thanks very much!
Nicole
October 1st, 2009 at 1:32 PM
Oops–I meant that the app truncates them upon import (the original file was tab-delimited).
October 1st, 2009 at 1:37 PM
Never mind! I see that feature is part of the “Notes” field type functionality. I’ve changed all of those field types to Note.
October 13th, 2009 at 9:27 AM
Tried to import csv file but only 19 of 72 records imported. 20th record had a “£” in text, removed and imported OK.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:25 PM
I am trying to split up my database into smaller subsets.
I have exported the database, used TextEdit to change some values and delete some rows.
When I import the data into a new, cloned database, the second field (of the type date-time) gets hosed and, in all rows, replaced with “December 31, 1969 16:00″
The date format for both importing and exporting is mm/dd/yyyy and on the iPod the import and export files look correct.
Is there something tricky about using the date-time field?
Dennis
Any thoughts
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:20 PM
I really love this app, and I’m just not discovering the import feature. So I’ve started creating a new test database using TextEditor (Mac) and everything looks right. Then once the form is imported, the first field name has an “N” in front of it. My text file is this:
Manufacturer,Model,Form,Available
Eaton,ATS Bypass Isolation Switch,Closed Transition,Y
Schneider Electric,ATS-NW,Open Transition,N
I then save that with UTF-8 encoding with a .csv extension. Once that’s converted to a form inside TapForms, the field name is displayed as “NManufacturer”. Now, encoding with UTF-16 solves this problem, so I checked and made sure that the File Encoding under Import Settings is set to automatic. Is this a bug I’ve stumbled on?
Thanks for all your help!
November 4th, 2009 at 1:16 PM
Hi
would be a good idea to have link on your website to the instructions in the coments about import and exporting with out going through the comments as it explains it well but could not find that at first search it would have saved me heaps of time
great app thanks
December 28th, 2009 at 10:59 PM
I noticed that HanDBase allowed the use of MS Internet Explorer to perform FTP upload and download. I tried it with TapForms, and it works. No need for a separate program. Due to your great support, I will now purchase the full program.
January 9th, 2010 at 4:33 PM
On Snow Leopard, and possibly Leopard I’d imagine, I select Go/Connect to server in the finder, enter the http 8080 address for WebDav and use a username and password – works OK, though I’ve had a couple of occasions when it hangs and sometimes the iPhone app crashes too (this is just on file transfer, not import).
On the import itself, no luck yet
I’m trying to import a database of poems, so I have several text fields for title, author etc. and one for date, then a field called “text” at the end, which is of “note” type. Some of the values are pretty long, of course, so I was doing a test import with just three poems. The CSV is 102 lines altogether. The import appears to work (it thinks there are 4 records, probably my trailing newline?). However, on opening the form I find no records! If I customize the form there are no fields in it either. If I add a text field called “Title” to match the CSV file I then see four records, but all of them are blank titles.
I assumed that the import should create a new form each time with all the field names and types I specified. Am I right? What’s wrong?
P.S. I have tried both pipes and commas for separators, and I have placed commas around the fields as in the example above. Also, this may be relevant – my date format is “yyyy-mm-dd”.
Oops, I’ve typed too much. I do that
January 9th, 2010 at 4:35 PM
Oops. When I said “commas around the fields”, of course I meant “quotes” !
January 10th, 2010 at 3:33 AM
Well that was great! Brendan emailed me within minutes of my post – thanks Brendan!
It turns out my problem was the character encoding hadn’t been set. In case anyone else has this problem, here’s a summary:
I created the CSV in Windows XP, copied it to iMac, then downloaded to iPhone. In this instance, importing with character encoding set to “Auto” didn’t work. When I changed to “Windows Latin 1″ it was fine.
February 6th, 2010 at 7:05 AM
I managed to import some csv files okay, but the largest failed to get as far as the forms list, but it was visible in the form list. When I tried to delete it, the app hung and since then I have not been able to open Tap Forms at all. Can I reinstall the app and start over. It is a great app, so I really want it back please.
February 6th, 2010 at 7:12 AM
Apopa! My earlier posting didn’t show a plus sign I put in. It should have read… ‘failed to get as far as the forms (ie main) list, but it was visible in the plus (ie new) forms list’…
March 18th, 2010 at 4:20 AM
I am using Tapforms to store the photography tips I read about and to make entering this info easier I am using Excel.
A couple of tips:
1. If you perform an export from TapForms first, this will create a CSV file that you can then edit on your PC or Mac with all of the field names and types in place.
2. Make sure you turn on “Export Record ID” in the import/export settings. If you do not have this on, when you next import your csv file into TapForms you will end up with duplicate records. When editing the csv file on your PC or Mac, leave this field blank for new records and TapForms will import it as a new record.
This is a truely excellent app Brendan – Can’t wait for the desktop app to go with it
April 24th, 2010 at 6:26 AM
I can’t seem to import more than 2 records in my CSV file, what am I doing wrong? My CSV reads like this:
Title,Year,Price,Size,Medium,Copies Available?,Framed?,Notes
Adoration,2009,200,8×8 unframed, 16×16 framed,Ink Painting on canvas,,Yes,
After Dinner,2009,50,Approx 8×8,Ink Illustration on Paper,No,,
Balance,2010,200,8×8 unframed, 16×16 framed,Ink Painting on canvas,,Yes,At Baden Hound
Blue Heeler,2010,200,8×8,Ink Painting on canvas,,Yes,At Baden Hound
My import settings are File Encoding=Automatic, Date Format=default, Column Delimiter=Comma
I have tried everything except the Japanese File Encoding, and get either zero or 2 rows of 10. In the initial import screen, it sees 10 rows, but stops importing at 2. If I View instead of Import, I see all 10 records.
Eventually I would like to import hundreds of records, this is just my test. Any advice?
April 24th, 2010 at 7:12 AM
Hello Sue,
Your header row has 7 commas in it, but not all your data rows have 7 commas. Some have 8. That’s probably the problem. They have to match.
Thanks,
Brendan
June 16th, 2010 at 7:14 PM
I am making a DB of airports with fields including text, numbers and photos. I can export the DB and modify it on Excel on my Mac. I then export the modified file to csv.
However when I import the modified version the text and numbers import correctly, but the photo fields are now empty in all the records and I have to reselect which photo goes with each field.
Any solutions as inputting on the Mac is a lot faster than the iphone.
June 16th, 2010 at 8:02 PM
Hello Glenn,
You should remove the photos column from the CSV file before you import them back into Tap Forms. The photos will not be removed then.
Thanks,
Brendan
June 17th, 2010 at 4:01 AM
So do I need to leave a blank column in my desktop csv file where the photo field would be or do I just need to delete it completely and have less columns (fields) in the desktop v iphone file?
Thanks for the quick reply. I really like how your app keep the photos at good resolution which can be zoomed and are still readable.
June 17th, 2010 at 4:28 AM
I have just tried this with a sample database. I used export settings of Export Record ID both ON and OFF. When I exported the form/DB I could modify it with Excel and create another record. The original form had a picture in it and the photo ID seems to be in the CSV (lots of alpha numeric & .jpg under the photo field). However when I import the CSV, both the original and the new record appear (which is good) but the photo field of the original record no longer has the photo I had put there.
I tried with deleting the photo column in the CSV before I imported it and also just deleting the data in that field prior to import to Tap Forms but in both cases the photo in the original record gets lost.
June 17th, 2010 at 10:13 AM
Hi Glenn,
I’ll look into this issue. But if there’s no photo column, and there exists a record ID, then I’m not sure why it’s removing the photo. But hey, it’s possible. I’ll look into it to see what the problem is.
Thanks,
Brendan
July 7th, 2010 at 11:37 AM
Hi
OK, I count myself as very computer literate coming from the Acorn platform then to Mac’s – but I am stumped.
I am trying to get my Filemaker database into TapForms, I have a .csv file in the correct format waiting, but I cannot connect. I have the IMPORT screen ion my iPhone4 with an http:// address at the bottom. Putin gthat into Speed Download or CyberDuck gives ‘connection failed’
How do I get the file onto the iPhone – PLEASE HELP me
I have read all the comments above but nothing helps IAF – At the moment my paid for App looks like a dead duck.
Cheers
Colin
July 7th, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Hello Colin,
Have you tried visiting the website address displayed on the Files tab using Safari?
There you will see a web page which allows you to upload files. Alternatively if you need to use FTP, then you need to switch Tap Forms to use the FTP server. This you do on the Tools tab. Also alternatively you can signup for a free Dropbox account and transfer files to Tap Forms that way.
Thanks,
Brendan
July 7th, 2010 at 11:52 AM
Thanks for the prompt reply
Firstly – there is no web page detailed on the Files tab, when you click the question mark it gives you details on how to connect using CyberDuck (Ia am) or via DropBox. I have tried all these to no avail. I just get the message – ftp://anonymous@192.168.1.70:8021 failed, connection refused.
This is great
July 7th, 2010 at 12:31 PM
To all you struggling with the use of TapForms – the support is EXCELLENT !
Just ask.
Thanks Brendan
July 7th, 2010 at 12:35 PM
Thanks Colin,
And just to let others know, Colin’s issue was with Cyberduck automatically filling in port 21. Changing that to port 8021 as is required by Tap Forms fixed the problem for him.
Thanks!
Brendan
July 7th, 2010 at 1:34 PM
Hi all
I have just had the import stop importing at 30 records out of 3235 – I firstly got rid of all the double quotes that Filemaker puts into the .csv export and made sure the first line contained the field names separated by a comma! The solution was to change import settings to ‘automatic’ and try Mac Roman for the encoding (if you use a MAC
) and that seemed to work for me.
Just discovered a cool feature that is not clear from use. You can drag the order that the fields are displayed in (in customise setting) , mine was showing the Title first which was kind of useless- I just dragged Surname to the top and now it is easy to see my contacts.
I guess when the manual come out all will be clear
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:41 PM
Hi
I’m having a problem importing a column of type date_time from CSV into a form. I have exported my form to csv, and tried to import a line in exactly the format, with the same header column except form_record_id (I also tried it with, and left it blank). For some reason even though the date_time format I am using is mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm it imports into the database as 1 January 1970 01:00 every time. I’m not sure why as it is in exactly the same format as the exported csv, and the import/export format settings are the same. Any ideas?
Thanks, Ian.
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:47 PM
Hello Ian,
Yes, that’s a problem. Unfortunately I haven’t added the ability to import date/time or time fields. Only importing date fields is supported at this moment. That’s something I need to add.
Sorry for that.
Brendan
August 4th, 2010 at 3:59 AM
Hi Brendan
Thanks for the fast response. That’s not a major problem for me right now, however, as far as features go I’d say it’d be pretty important (at least for me) to be able to import the time for accurate time-stamping. Liking it so far, replaced a few other apps on my phone. Keep up the good work!
Thanks,
Ian
August 21st, 2010 at 8:41 AM
Please outline the steps involved in setting up a web server file transfer from PC to Tap Forms. When I try, at the point of connection with server I receive the following message. However I have no idea what username and password it is looking for.
A username and password are being requested by http://192.168.0.253:8080. The site says: “defaultRealm@host.com”
August 21st, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Hello Paul,
I think you may have set a password on the Tools -> Web & FTP Settings area. Just go in and clear the username and password fields out and tap Save if you don’t want a username or password. Otherwise you can set them to whatever you like and then when your web browser asks you for them, just type whatever values you set for them.
Thanks,
Brendan
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:11 AM
Brendan:
Thank you for a prompt reply. It was, as you suggested, a password issue in settings that caused the problem. I am enjoying my experience with Tap Forms, it is a well-developed product. I have for years used HanDBase on windows based PDAs and have developed many of my own databases. However, when I transitioned to the iPhone (iOS platform) I can no longer use my HanDBase applications. One thing I would like to see incorporated into Tap Forms would be a general number field that could be incremented or decremented by one number (ie +1 or -1) by each tap on the field. For my applications I use this type of field extensively.
Thank you again for a great product.
Paul Fain
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:05 AM
Hello Paul,
Do you have an example screenshot of what this increment field would look like?
Thanks,
Brendan
September 14th, 2010 at 2:49 PM
Okay, I’ve googled, read the help screens, and searched through this forum… I give up. I was hoping to be able to export to excel. I’m guessing it’s not direct, and that I need to export as a csv, but I just really need it to be spelled out how to do it! Whenever I export (using the backup button, is that correct?) I just get a file of type .sqlite. What am I doing wrong, please?
September 14th, 2010 at 10:24 PM
Hello Phoebe,
When you’re on the record list view (that’s the view where you see multiple records for the form that you’re viewing), tap on the action menu and select “Export Records”. That’ll generate a CSV file for you. The file will be stored in the Exports folder on the Files tab. Go there and then tap the “power” button at the bottom-left. That will turn on the web server built-in to Tap Forms. Then you just need to connect your favourite web browser up to the website address Tap Forms gives you. Type it in exactly as it says. When you see the web page that Tap Forms generates, click on the Exports link. You should see your CSV file there. Then click on it to download it. You may need to right-click on it to actually download it to your computer rather than just viewing it within your web browser.
From there you can just open the file up within Excel.
Hope that helps!
Brendan
September 21st, 2010 at 8:15 PM
Hi, I have been looking for a small db program to which would allow me to import a subset of my Filemaker Pro db. It sounds like this is quite possible. However, the imported data is of a sensitive nature (such as names, social security numbers & credit cards). Is it possible to import the csv file from a mac without using the internet? I may not understand FTP all that well, but doesn’t it send my data via the internet? Thanks.
Brian
September 21st, 2010 at 8:40 PM
Hello Brian,
Well, if you use the built-in FTP server or the built-in web server (the easier solution), your data will only be transmitted from your desktop, to your WiFi base station and then to your iPhone. It won’t go out onto the Internet. You should have a secure WiFi network though. Since you’re quite concerned about security, I imagine you already have locked down your WiFi network. Anyway, unless you have other people on your WiFi network, there’s no chance that your data will go out onto the Internet.
Thanks,
Brendan
September 21st, 2010 at 8:46 PM
Thanks for the quick reply. I am reassured. Another question regarding backup using SyncDocs. Can you possibly backup and restore an encrypted version of your databases?
Brian
September 21st, 2010 at 8:49 PM
Hello Brian,
If you have encrypted fields in the database, they will still be encrypted when stored on your computer. But please note, any fields not set as encrypted will be readable when stored in the database by external programs.
Thanks,
Brendan
November 15th, 2010 at 4:17 PM
Been using Tap Forms for year or two now. Very good application, but there are a couple of features that I really miss.
1) Is there a way to keep specific databases automatically synced between multiple iPhones? That would increase the utility of Tap Forms.
2) Is there a way to auto-fill fields? Fields like Record Creation Date/Time. Or Sequential record numbers.
November 15th, 2010 at 4:48 PM
Hello Chuck,
1. Well, you can sort of synchronize individual records from one device to the other by using the Beam Record function. I say sort of because I don’t handle deletes in a beaming situation. That means if you were to delete a field from a form on one device and beam it to the other, I won’t delete the field on the other device. But if a new field is added, I’ll add that. And if values are updated, I’ll update those values. At the moment it also won’t transmit photos, audio or file attachments, or linked records.
2. My next update has exactly these new features (plus more).
Thanks!
Brendan
December 8th, 2010 at 12:17 AM
I love being able to build my CSV and them import it via Dropbox! Great work!
I would love to see additional field capability specifically date_time and email. Also, I would love a way to link a “pick list” by prior to uploading my CSV by adding that info into the header or something.
Not a huge deal, but I use your app to preset my work-orders for the day and it’s a mild bummer to have to relink all my pick lists every day, considering I’m using a blank version of the same CSV file each day.
December 14th, 2010 at 7:13 PM
Similar to Ryan’s request …
How can I import 2 CSV files, one a “child form” with records linked by a “Link to Form” field in the other form?
December 14th, 2010 at 10:53 PM
Hello Greg,
You would have to do that from the linked field itself. Tap on the linked field from the parent record. You’ll see the list of records linked to that field. In the beginning it will say “0 records”. Tap the action menu button at the top-right and select “Import Records”. Then select the file that matches the structure of the form you’ve linked to. Note, you’ll have to make sure the CSV file is at the top-level of the Files area and NOT inside the Exports or Imports directory. That’s due to a bug I’ve fixed in my next upcoming release.
I know that it would be more ideal to be able to import one file which links to all the parent records. I just haven’t had a chance to build that yet, so for now you need to import your linked file’s records into the parent record one parent record’s field at a time.
Thanks,
Brendan
December 15th, 2010 at 6:59 AM
thx for prompt reply, Brendan
Not really practical for 1000+ records, but hopefully possible sometime in the future.
great product anyway
January 9th, 2011 at 1:22 PM
Hi i’m realy sad you took SyncDocs out of the app. It was the only thing working for me. I don’t get it. Why remove something that worked.
January 9th, 2011 at 1:28 PM
Hi JJRock,
Because SyncDocs was a constant problem for many people. It didn’t reliably backup and restore. The new system works better because it’s more reliable. Simply create a backup file and copy it to your computer using either iTunes File Sharing or the built-in web server or FTP server in Tap Forms.
Have you tried the new system yet?
Thanks,
Brendan
January 9th, 2011 at 3:10 PM
Hi Brendan
Thanks for the quick replie.
I’ve tried using a browser and a FTP client with no luck. Hm! I have to go through my network settings and firewall again. The only thing that was working was syncdoc that was running on my NAS.
Thanks!
January 9th, 2011 at 5:41 PM
Hello JJRock,
I’m not really sure a firewall running on your computer would have anything to do with accessing the web page generated by Tap Forms when you’ve turned on the web server. The address you use should be something like http://10.0.1.5:8080 for the web server. Remember the :8080 part. That’s important.
What error messages do you see when you try to connect?
Thanks,
Brendan
January 19th, 2011 at 2:10 PM
Brendan
Please can you advise whether Tap Forms can do this and also how to do it- . I have a range of MS Access databases which I Sync between my PC and my HP IPaq Pocket PC. I use the ‘Data on the Run’ program (from Biomobility) to do this – which is old software but truly robust and really easy to use ..but it does not work with iPhone/iPad. As my Ipaq is getting rather elderly I need to move on. I want to sync my databases between the PC and my IPad and iPhone4 – initially using the existing MS Access databases on my PC and then updating (wirelessly?) records regularly typically from the iPhone or iPad and keeping the PC up to date as a desktop option and permanent backup.
Can Tap Forms do this? And are there instructions on how to do this?
Many thanks
Gary
January 19th, 2011 at 4:11 PM
Hello Gary,
I’m sorry, but there’s no desktop equivalent of Tap Forms yet. And Tap Forms does not read MS Access database files natively. You would have to export your data as a CSV file from MS Access and import them into Tap Forms. If you made a change to a record in Tap Forms, you would have to export that and import that into MS Access. If you turn on the Export Record ID function in Tap Forms, the unique identifier for each row will also be exported. But then your MS Access program would have to know how to deal with it. If you were to just edit the data in MS Access, then you could then export the data as a CSV file again from MS Access and then import that file again into the same form you exported from last time. In that scenario, as long as the Record ID is there in the CSV file, Tap Forms will perform an update to your records instead of inserting new ones.
Thanks,
Brendan
January 20th, 2011 at 1:24 AM
My God the directions for importing a file are mindboggling! I’ve been working with computers since 1984. I’ve made a ton of money teaching others how to use computers and using them myself. I was a highly paid consultant until I retired. And what I see here is pure garbage. You must have never heard the word “elegant” because your software certainly isn’t. Change formats, drop back 3 yards and punt, go kiss your girlfriend and when you come back maybe it will actually work (about one in a million chances. That’s about how your directions sound. “Beam” the files onto my iPhone. I don’t have a transporter. It won’t import CSV files at all. There’s a standard for CSV files and you totally ignored that.
I have data I have collected for decades I wanted access to. I certainly picked the wrong program to get it. I have a free program that will let me view the data with ease. I wanted to be able to edit it. Fat chance. Go ahead and tell me I’m the one that’s stupid. You must have translated your instructions into Chinese and then back again using a program you designed.
Your program SUCKS! I want my money back.
January 20th, 2011 at 1:30 AM
I have more to say. I am VERY good at computers and I have been for 26 years. But your software is like following a blind monkey through the jungle at night. I know how to create a CSV file. You expect extra stuff to be added to that file apparently. No matter what I do your software doesn’t recognize a simple comma delimited CSV file. That’s what you said to do. But it doesn’t work. And why on earth would you use a browser to transfer files? Maybe because you wrote the program in Braille and didn’t realize everyone else transfers with WiFi or through the USB cable. A BROWSER???? I feel like you should pay me for the last 3 hours I spent trying to get this thing to import a simple bit of data.
Your program might be fine for saving data but it sure as heck won’t import any. Is your only market people that started using computers last week? Because those of us that have been at it a while have actual data files that include more than 2 recipes. Freaking moron.
January 20th, 2011 at 1:37 AM
Hello Jeff,
I’m sorry you feel this way.
It’s really quite simple to import a CSV file into Tap Forms. The instructions at the top of this blog post simply tell you how you can format your CSV file in case you want to have Tap Forms auto-generate the field types for you during the import process. As far as standard CSV formats, there really isn’t one other than how to handle delimiters and carriage returns within a column by using quoting around your data. There’s also the issue of encoding.
If there’s anything specific I can help you with I’m very happy to help. Did you get stuck somewhere during the CSV import process?
“Beaming” is just a way to wirelessly transmit a form template and single record from one device to the other. It’s quite simple to use actually. You simply put one device into “Receive Beam” mode and the other into “Beam Record” mode. You will see a list of devices that are in “Receive Beam” mode (normally just one). Tapping on it will then wirelessly transmit the form template and record to the other device. It’s very simple.
If you’re referring to the file encoding issue as being overly complex, I agree that file encoding can be a complex idea to understand. It’s really too bad that UTF-8 wasn’t created in the early days because it’s quite a good universal standard and can be used to store data in any language. That’s something that the old ASCII format just can’t handle.
Thanks for your comments. I take all feedback into consideration whether they’re positive or negative. The important part for me is to engage with my customers to see if there’s something I can do which will help them to increase their satisfaction with Tap Forms. If there’s anything I can do in this regard to help you out, I’m all ears. Just email me at support@tapforms.com and we can further discuss your concerns.
Thanks!
Brendan
January 20th, 2011 at 1:44 AM
Hello Jeff,
There are a number of ways you can transfer a file to Tap Forms. Using the web browser is just one way. You can also FTP the file to Tap Forms or you can use Dropbox. I really like using Dropbox because it’s very easy to drag a file into my Dropbox folder and then have immediate access to it from within Tap Forms.
You don’t have to put the special codes into the header row if you don’t want to. If you don’t though, Tap Forms will assume all your columns will be text field types when auto-creating your form.
However, if you first create your form in Tap Forms, you can use the Import Records command from the Customize Form screen to import your records into that specific form. Tap Forms will look at the header row for columns with the same names as your fields in your form. When it finds that, it will simply import the data into the existing form adding to the list of records you already have in that form.
I hope some of this information is useful to you.
Thanks again,
Brendan
January 20th, 2011 at 12:42 PM
What’s the point of having iTunes have a place to drag files for your program when they will not show up on the iPhone? I’ve been creating CSV files for at least 15 years and probably longer. I know what a comma delimited file is. Like I said I’ve been doing this for many years. I started with an original Mac with no hard drive and it had only been released a week when I got it. I ran a successful business with that Mac back in 1984. I even had a scanner that replaced the printer cartridge. That tells you how far back I go. I should have realized when you didn’t tell how files and data was imported that you would be using some totally off the wall method of doing it. I shouldn’t have to install other programs, run an FTP or run a web page just to transfer data. Just FYI both an FTP and a web page would require me to completely change the setup on my computer since I have a satellite internet connection and networks are practically impossible to run when you have that setup. Believe me I’ve been down that road. It’s not just a matter of connecting directly to my computer over wifi or bluetooth or anything else. My computer will only run from a router unless I connect directly to my modem and I had to go through 10 different routers to find one that would even do that. I don’t have a wireless setup on my computer and I’m not changing everything about my computer system to import data into your program. Sure I could run my computer directly off the satellite modem and then stick a wireless card in my computer and take up one of my two PCI slots but there’s no guarantee I’ll get a network to run anyway because the satellite modem is still likely to interfere with any network like it always has. I’ve tried this method before and it wouldn’t work but it has been a while. I could spend the next several hours trying to change what works now and hope I can change back if it doesn’t work. Instead I’ll just buy a modern program that actually transfers data through iTunes and consider the money I spent on your program a waste. Why is it so many other programs will let you transfer data so easily yet yours requires a full day of setup work to even start? What is the point of having iTunes show a box to transfer data to your program then not actually work? I know. I can transfer all my data to my web page on a server who knows where and transfer the data in using that IP address. And everytime I want to update my data on your program I’ll just delete the entire database and create a new one and import data after I upload it to that server again. Oh wait. It has to use wifi. So much for that. If you don’t see how complicated it is to do this you need to take the blinders off. I can transfer data to several program through iTunes and be using it on my iPhone in seconds. Yours will take hours to setup and it still probably won’t work like you say. Your program is obsolete. I don’t want to spend my life figuring out how to do something that should be incredibly simple.
January 20th, 2011 at 1:42 PM
Hello Jeff,
I’m very sorry you also don’t like the way files get transferred to Tap Forms. The iTunes File Sharing feature is a great new addition to iTunes. When they didn’t have that option, I had to come up with other ways of transferring files to Tap Forms. So I put in a web server, an FTP server, and I added Dropbox integration to make it very easy for users to get files in and out of Tap Forms.
I don’t really know why you need to be so harsh with your criticisms though. I do my best to support all my customers and I take their feedback and criticisms into consideration for all future updates. If you are requesting a new feature to be implemented whereby you could use iTunes File Sharing to easily transfer CSV files into Tap Forms, then that’s a good feature request and I’ll consider it for a future update. I agree, it would be a good feature to have.
But to simply go on and on about how good of a computer user you are while at the same time telling me how terrible my app is, then I think maybe you should seriously consider whether Tap Forms is the right app for you. I’m not asking you to reconfigure your entire network just to use my app. I was merely providing you with a few different ways you could get your files into Tap Forms.
Here’s another way, using iTunes File Sharing:
You could create a backup file in Tap Forms on the Backup & Restore screen and then copy that backup file to your computer using iTunes File Sharing. Then unzip the file on your hard drive, copy your CSV files into the Share folder within the backup folder, then re-zip the backup folder, then copy it up to Tap Forms using iTunes File Sharing. Then in Tap Forms, go to the Backup & Restore area to restore that backup. Now the CSV file will be available to you on the Files tab. Tapping the blue circle icon on the right of the file will present to you the option to import the file. No changes to your network would be necessary.
Many users ask me for many different features. I can’t implement them all. But everyone else who has requested a new feature has done so in a very polite and considerate way. They love using Tap Forms and only want it to get better with time, as do I, so they request feature enhancements. I decide which features would benefit the most users and decide when I can fit those into my development schedule.
Have you considered just asking nicely if a particular feature could be implemented for you? Or do you find you get better results by insulting developers?
Thanks again for your comments and criticisms.
Brendan
January 20th, 2011 at 2:28 PM
Look I gave you money for a program that is way more complicated than need be. Part of the reason I bought it was because it was advertised to accept imported data. If I’m impolite it’s because I don’t like spending money on things that were misrepresented. I find it hard to believe I’m the only one who’s had a problem with this. I only told you the stuff about my computer experience because it’s been part of my experience that programmers like to blame users for the faults of their programs. You won’t dismiss my claims by calling me a newbie. Just for the record why is it every review of your product that I can read comes from someone who gave it 5 stars? That makes me think you are hiding something. It makes me think you knew people had a problem and you covered it up. That’s what makes me impolite. If you were truly such a nice guy (as you claim) you would include a true list of reviews of your product. I feel like I was kept in the dark about a glaring problem with your software and now I know what it is. So how about this. Have you considered upgrading your product to the standard that has been the standard for quite a while now? Even simple, free programs can use iTunes to transfer data. And instead of hiding the problems with your software and hiding the way data transfers work you might include something in the description telling people how it works instead of letting them find out the hard way. I’ve bought a great many programs for my iPhone and yours is the only one I’ve found the need to be impolite about. And you claim it is “very easy for users to get files in and out of Tap Forms”??? Ha! That sounds about as honest as your description of your program. You’re right that your program is not right for me. I suspect that a lot of people feel that way but since you only include positive reviews it’s hard to say for sure. I know it is NOT easy to transfer files to your program.
I don’t doubt there are some who have nothing better to do with their time than to setup complex systems to transfer data. I know a good program when I see one though. I’ve been paid to determine just that information for 15 years. Trust me your program would not be one I would recommend. Yes there are people who will go through the trouble to make it work. But I know it isn’t necessary to go through such complexities now. At least it isn’t for much more simple programs than yours.
I only responded here because you seemed to want to help. But I see it didn’t take long for you to start insulting me either. Funny how you do the exact thing you say I shouldn’t do. I have a right to complain. I paid money for a program that was borderline falsely represented. Why did you hide all the negative comments? You don’t have a 5 star rating but all the reviews you listed gave you 5 stars. Funny how that works. That’s not being the upright programmer you claim to be. That’s misrepresentation. That’s why I complained.
January 20th, 2011 at 9:05 PM
Jeff, as an iPhone developer myself, I can assure you Brendan has zero control over what ratings appear at the top within iTunes or the App Store app on the iPhone. To suggest the positive reviews Tap Forms has received are related in any way to Brendan being anything other than an upright programmer or as being a misrepresentation of the Tap Forms app is outrageous. I do agree, if for whatever reason you don’t have a wireless LAN, and if you choose not to use the simple synching via DropBox, the task of importing a CSV file is not as simple as it can be. That is a great feature request. Your resume, combined with your belligerent, pompous attitude, really serves no useful purpose though.
January 21st, 2011 at 11:54 AM
Your comments about me serve no purpose either hot shot. And it’s funny how other programs have negative reviews available but not this one.
January 21st, 2011 at 12:54 PM
Jeff, I didn’t say your comments serve no purpose, I said your negative attitude serves no “useful” purpose. The purpose of my comment, which you still don’t get, was to inform you that the developer has no control over the order in which reviews appear.
January 22nd, 2011 at 7:42 PM
Tap Forms is really slick. I like to use my iPod Touch to track my inventory related to various hobbies. For some hobbies I am able to find and use specialized collection managers which export to the iPod Touch. But when I can’t I am using Tap Forms and it is really nice. After I make updates on my Windows PC copy (Excel), I export to CSV (using pipes). Then I go to my iPod and delete all records in the form, and re-import. The web server to upload the exported files works very nicely. I have two question:
1) In my file on one of the records in a description I have the word Cafe where Cafe has the accent over the letter e — like this Café
That letter seems to cause Tap Forms import tool to immediately stop importing. Is there some config parameter I need to set to handle this? (I tested changing it to cafX and it continues to import fine.
2) I have two fields that have a dollar amount (e.g., $19.95, $14.50). So in the form I set that field as Number with a Currency style. Those two fields after import all contain the value “NaN” in all records. I could fix the problem in these two cases by changing the field to text. But I would like to use currency style fields on other forms where I import, so I’d like to understand what I am doing wrong.
Thanks in advance, and thanks for creating a great utility!
January 22nd, 2011 at 7:51 PM
Hello Michael,
1. Yes, you need to make sure you’re using the correct import file encoding in Tap Forms. Since you’re exporting from Windows Excel, you should probably use “Windows Latin 1″ file encoding on the Import File Encoding settings screen. That will tell Tap Forms the encoding of your CSV file and how to properly handle the accented characters in your file.
2. What you’ll need to do is make sure you simply have the raw numeric number (e.g. 19.95) instead of $19.95. Then you can tell Tap Forms to apply a currency number formatter to your Number field type which will add the $ when the value is displayed. This is something I could probably handle a little better in the future by automatically stripping out the $ before I import into a Number field type.
Thanks!
Brendan
January 23rd, 2011 at 4:13 AM
I’ve been going through the comments here and I’ve found a LOT of limitations. First I’m not the only one that didn’t like the fact that things weren’t explained before the program was purchased. Certain claims were made that turned out to either require additional software or didn’t work right at all. There’s a limit on the field size and a limit on the amount of data that can be imported. There’s the need to know the format of the CSV file which I’ve never seen any program include in the creation of a CSV file although I’ve been creating those files for transferring data from one program to another sucessfully for at least 17 years that I remember. Possibly more. There seems to be some “need for a username and password” that I’m not aware of. A great deal of people have had problems here importing data into this program. I’m sure it will create a new database easy enough and you can start entering data into a brand new database. My problem is I have databases with 45,000 cells that would need to be updated to contain all the data in just one of my files. But that’s a small database. I have another that has about 725,000 cells of data. It’s taken me a very long time to accumulate the data in these files and I suspect keying the data in would take at least a year. That large database is only 1.34 meg in the current format it’s in. Considering I have well over 6 gig of free space on my iPhone I would think it could contain the data. But now I’m hearing there is a limitation on the data.
And the iTunes store is just one source of information about this program. The website is not controlled by Apple I don’t believe. But nothing was said about those limitations on the website either. No mention of the method of transferring data was mentioned either.
I strongl suspect this program was Maccentric in it’s design with the emphasis on the file format of the CSV file. Mac has always insisted on using file formats that were different than the vast majority of the installed base of computers created. But I couldn’t swear to that since I abandoned the Mac platform by 1986.
Yes there are people who are acquainted with the methods used prior to the modern method of transferring data onto a device through iTunes. I have never heard the term “dropbox” in any of my computer experiences. It wasn’t hard to figure it out (haven’t tried to see if it works yet) but I will still be at the mercy of a third party and I’m very suspicious of anything “free” on the net. I smell spyware coming or other malware. Nothing is free.
No mention has been made of accessing files through a website I currently maintain either. I’m left to guess if that’s possible.
So your lack of documentation skills have left many in the dark but you seem to not want to admit that. Instead your fanboys tell me I’m in the wrong for pointing out glaring omissions. Writing code for a simple database that will keep 100 records isn’t hard. I’ve done some programming myself. But when we start talking about taking up more than a small amount of resources the problems get bigger faster. I just don’t think it would have been too much to ask to have these issues brought up before money is collected. Up until I bought your program that’s how it’s been with every program I’ve bought through iTunes. Instead I’ve already sent my money in and I just now find out there are serious limitations and misrepresentations that have been around since before I bought this program.
January 24th, 2011 at 6:01 AM
Hi Brendan,
Thanks for the prompt reply you provided — I really appreciate the excellent & quick support. I’ve already tried these out, and together your two points addressed my issue. It allowed me to very quickly move even more data onto TapForms on my iPod Touch.
I must say that I really impressed at the amount of functionality you provide for such a low-priced app. Even when I compare it to to other mobile devices tools I’ve used in the past, Tap Forms comes out ahead.
I also appreciate your use of the CSV file format as the import/export standard. For anyone who has worked in the Windows world with Microsoft Excel, Access, etc. this is a standard format we’ve all come to know and understand. It really helps ease the movement of data when such a common format is used.
So thanks for all the work — now I can have my key data with me, and when I need more I can easily pop open my netbook and have it all. But thanks to Tap Forms I don’t always need to carry my netbook along.
January 24th, 2011 at 2:58 PM
Hi Brendan
Sorry for the time lack of reply.
I went through my network settings, rearranged it and bingo it now works and I can use the FTP or web up/down load feature.
My next project is my old flexwallet. Export the data and arrange it to fit Tabform csv.
By the way. Enjoy your program very much. Use it every day.
January 24th, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Hello JJ,
That’s great to hear! I’m glad the file transfer is working for you now.
And Michael, thank you too. I’m glad that Tap Forms is working well for you and you are able to use your CSV files without trouble. That’s one of the main reasons I picked CSV files for import/export as they are very standard across all platforms. Now, with special accented characters and anything outside the normal 127 character ASCII range, you do have to know a little about file encoding due to the 14 (soon to be 16) different languages in the world that Tap Forms supports.
Thanks!
Brendan
January 25th, 2011 at 9:20 PM
Hi Brendan,
Quick question — when you first open a Form that has records, you get a screen that shows each record and appears to show the first two fields on the form. I found I can control which field appear just by adjusting the field order. Is there a spot where I can set a config variable on the form so that on that screen you would see the first three fields, instead of just the first two fields?
If not would you consider this option or something similar for a future issue.
I’d like to be able to use this screen for an inventory reconciliation activity occasionally and it would be nice to not have to go one screen deeper. For example in one form I have:
Manufacturer
Item Number
Quantity
… other fields
Would be nice to have all three of the first three fields on that screen.
Thanks
Michael
January 25th, 2011 at 9:28 PM
Hi Michael,
I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time actually. But there are some performance issues with the more fields I display on the list view at once. I’ll take another look at it to see what can be done. The other issue is where to display the third field. On the bottom, on the right? etc.
It would be pretty cool if you could define a custom layout for the cells in a form. But that’s for another day perhaps.
Thanks!
Brendan
January 28th, 2011 at 1:23 PM
Hi again Brendan
Now working on the structuring of my csv. file.
My question is: Is there any way to mark a csv. line, which categorie to use when importing the line into TAPform.
Or are all imported data marked as uncategorized.
Thanks
JJ
January 28th, 2011 at 1:32 PM
Hello JJ,
Forms are categorized. Records are stored underneath a form. So all you need to do is import your records into your previously created/categorized form and that’s all you need to do.
You can import your records directly into a previously created form by tapping on the Action menu button on the Edit Form screen and selecting “Import Records”. You’ll be presented with the list of files from the Files area. Just choose the file that matches the structure of the form you want to import. You can also do this from the records list view for your selected form. Same procedure. Action menu -> Import Records.
When you import right off the Files screen, Tap Forms always creates a new form. But importing from the record list or Edit Form screen always imports right into the selected form.
In this way you can also append records to a previous set of records you already have in your form.
Thanks!
Brendan
February 8th, 2011 at 7:46 AM
Failed to import traditional Chinese from Windows excel. I tried different settings of codes ,e.g. UTF8….
February 8th, 2011 at 10:43 AM
Hello Jesse,
Can you email me a sample file to support@tapforms.com so I can see what the encoding should be set to?
Thanks!
Brendan
February 17th, 2011 at 7:32 PM
I’m trying to transition from an app that’s used on my BB that exports a csv file, much like yours does, HOWEVER, I love your app way more and I’d like to not have to reinvent the wheel. Is there a way to have the imported csv create a new form based on that original csv?
If so, how to I “send” it from the import folder to have it become a new form?
After I get the form created, it will be easier to edit each item and make the custom improvements I need, like hiding some fields, changing the default state of check boxes, etc.
February 17th, 2011 at 7:47 PM
Hello Milly,
Once you get the CSV file into Tap Forms (either by the built-in web or FTP servers on the phone or by using Dropbox), you only need to tap on the blue-circle icon to the right of the CSV file name. That will bring up a menu giving you the opportunity to import the file. Tap Forms will auto-create a form for you based on the name of the file. The first row will be used to define the fields that will make up the structure of your form. Tap Forms will treat each column in the CSV as a Text field type unless you tell it otherwise.
You can edit the CSV file on your computer to add the following tags to the header row:
<text>
<number>
<date>
<time>
<date_time>
<check_mark>
<web_site>
<note>
<phone>
<rating>
<location>
<email>
<file>
For example, if you were to have a CSV file containing your favourite movies, you could do something like this:
Movie Name<text>,Year<number>,Release Date<date>,Actors<note>,Synopsis<note>,Rating<rating>,Studio<text>
Then just add the rows down below to fill in your data.
Let me know if you have any troubles with this.
Thanks!
Brendan
February 17th, 2011 at 7:57 PM
Oh, one more thing. It isn’t necessary to add these special tags to the header row. This is just so that Tap Forms knows how to properly deal with importing your data. By default, Tap Forms will just create Text fields for all your imported data.
Thanks!
Brendan
July 27th, 2011 at 3:29 PM
BENTO USERS, NOVICE, BEGINNERS
I was totally new to csv files
8 hours later (and I mean 8 hours of frustration) at last I seem to be getting somewhere.
My bento file was not recognised in TapForms.
I am a CSV beginner, so i went right back to a simple text edit file.
I pasted in the Movie Name,Release Date…… text at the top of page but still NO success?
My advice to anybody (on a mac) who is having trouble understanding how tapforms handles csv files and also wants to experiment and test the import settings (so you become happy with it),
then trace my steps here:-
1. on iphone>tapforms>toolsimport/export settings
file encoding:mac os roman date:yyyy/mm/dd time format:HH:mm column: comma,
2. copy and paste these lines into textedit
Movie Name,Release
The Dark Knight,Y
The English Patient,N
then in textedit>format>make plain text
then file>saveas (name file test.csv , plain text encoding box = western (mac os roman)
I imported file into tapforms (& its recognised)
NB also this format of text also worked
“name”,”food”
wayne,fish
So i had success following these steps and I got confidence with the exact csv header layout (and i was a complete beginner)
I am now looking at my raw bento file to see what changes (if any) i need to make to get that into tapforms (i will report back…………)
July 27th, 2011 at 3:51 PM
Hi Wayne,
Thanks for posting this information. Another way to figure out the CSV format that Tap Forms expects is to create a few records, then use the “Export Records” function. Tap Forms will generate a CSV and store it in the Exports folder. You can download that to your computer and examine it to see the format.
Thanks!
Brendan
July 27th, 2011 at 4:58 PM
BENTO USERS, NOVICE, BEGINNERS (part ii from above)
ts all making sense to me now
My bento export file is a complete mess (comas ,,,,,,, everywhere and large spaces and semicolons ;;;;; ,,,,,,, ………… paragraphs of writing etc
Bento has 3 csv export options , ; and tab (useless for my content as i got commas and ; everywhere)
Bento has export to excel 2008 option (but i only got 2003 and it didn’t work)
Bento has export to numbers
So I exported to numbers (looks great), but then numbers export options are very basic = PDF, excel (any 2003 or 2008) and csv (comma only)
So stuck with excel export
Then opened in excel (looked fine). Then export from excel lots of choices (space deliminator, tab delim, csv comma wk1-4, Wks, DBF 2, 3 ,4 , unicode text , DIF (data interchange) , SYLK, MS excel add-in but NO pipe (or anything useful that would import into tapforms
CONCLUSION: The only choice i think im left with to clean up my data is to go with the pipe format | this | | as i now that’s going to be the easiest way to clean up my data …it will take time because i’ll have to do it manually
If your bento database is clean then yours may just work without needing to do a manual cleanup like i have to
or anyone suggest anything else
July 28th, 2011 at 6:53 AM
BENTO USERS, NOVICE, BEGINNERS (part 3 from above)
Following Brendan’s advice, quote “create a few records, then use the “Export Records” function”
I exported file as a csv pipe ( like this | ) and this is what i got
Movie Name|Release Date
The Dark Knight|Y
The English Patient|N
so im going to have to manually go through my bento export putting these pipes | | | | | | in the right places
chore
July 28th, 2011 at 1:17 PM
BENTO USERS, NOVICE, BEGINNERS (part 4 from above)
well that was mightily difficult (After 2 days solid -20 hours)
I’ve finally done it but i’m exhausted.
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
HOW I CLEANED UP MY DATA IN BENTO?
I Put a semi-colon ; in the searchbox and it found any record with a ; in it – delete all semi colons found (Bento can only search 1 library/folder)
Then export from bento (right click on a library/folder & export as a ; csv = semi-colon csv
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
IMPORT INTO TAPFORMS
Tapforms>tools>import settings>
file encoding:automatic date:yyyy/mm/dd time format:HH:mm column: semi-colon
then get file into taprooms by either tapform>files>click on dropbox icon or by FTP here http://www.tapforms.com/2009/03/15/how-to-ftp-a-file-to-tap-forms/
If the file is in correct format then data should be displayed on iphone when clicking on file (its in the “files” list)
If ok so far….then go to my part 5 below
July 28th, 2011 at 1:51 PM
Hello Wayne,
Oh my. That’s a bit of a runaround for creating a form from a CSV file. The easiest and quickest way is to go to the Files area where your CSV file is, then tap on the action button next to the file name. Then tap “Import Records”. Tap Forms will auto-create the form for you (using the name from the CSV file without the file extension) and import the records (after you press the Import button).
That’s all there is to it!
Thanks!
Brendan
July 28th, 2011 at 2:00 PM
brendan your right
was it just as simple as that.
Tapforms is a lovely app but so unintuitive……..
Can you remove 108 above, that’s all wrong…….
[BD: Wayne, I've removed your comment above as per your request so that it doesn't confuse other users]
July 28th, 2011 at 2:15 PM
import only appeared after i was successful with the formatting of a file
upto that point all my files that had reached the files folder were incompatible and so import was never shown (it shows only view file, email file or upload to dropbox)
I never bothered to look there again, because it appeared to me that there were NO import options from there and only import options from “forms” folder. and this was 8 hours later so i felt i knew the app inside out
its all making sense to me now
as a SUGGESTION – Can the “import file” option appear always even if the file wont actually import (do you see what im saying)
What a torrid/frustrating time ive had
ah well
thanks brendan
July 28th, 2011 at 2:18 PM
Hi Wayne,
One thing to note, you need to have either a .csv or .txt file extension for the Import Records function to show up. That’s probably where you got tripped up. Sorry about that.
Brendan
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February 6th, 2012 at 9:58 AM
I am not able to import csv files into my iPad. I have been using your product with my iPhone with no issues, however I am not seeing the files on my iPad when I do a file transfer. Please advise.
Thanks,
Ray
February 6th, 2012 at 10:49 AM
Hello Ray,
How are you doing the file transfer? Where are you putting the files in Tap Forms? If you email support@tapforms.com I can take your issue offline.
Thanks!
Brendan
March 3rd, 2012 at 12:56 PM
Hi,
I haven’t used this great app for a while.
Now I want to import an updated file but it’s not recognized.
I have an Excel 2007 file which I exported to CSV (Excel: File-Save as-Other formats-CSV)
I then entered the app on my iPhone (iOS 5.01) and selected the following settings:
Tools: Import export settings
Import: auto encoding (also tried Unicode UTF-8, Unicode UTF-16)
date DD/MM/YYYY
delimiter comma
Export
encoding ASCII
end of line windows CRLF
delimiter tab
I then went to iTunes and added the CSV file to the TapForms app (in the Apps folder).
But the file is not seen on the iPhone. Again, the issue is not incorrect import, but the file is not seen in any of the 2 directories.
What am I doing wrong?
Thank you.
Daniel
March 3rd, 2012 at 1:03 PM
Forgot to mention, I also exported the Excel file as unicode.
March 3rd, 2012 at 4:37 PM
Hello Daniel,
You will need to put the files inside the Imports folder. But you can’t see that from within iTunes. You will need to either email the file to your device, use Dropbox to transfer it, use the built-in FTP server, or use the built-in Web server to transfer the file to Tap Forms. Once you have that done, then you should be able to import the file just fine.
Thanks!
Brendan
March 3rd, 2012 at 9:38 PM
OK
After posting here I tried using Dropbox, it worked.
Thanks.
April 6th, 2012 at 6:48 AM
Love this app!! Quick question though. Is there a way to import custom pick lists or do you have to create them within the app itself?
April 15th, 2012 at 11:29 PM
Brandon: Quick question on importing CSVs. What if on of the fields has much text (so it will become a “note” I suppose) including paragraph breaks, tabs and … worse yet…. one or more excerpts with quotes? Thus, if I manually put quotes around the entire field of text, it’s going to have quotes within quotes. Is this oing to create an import error? Thanks in advance of your reply!! PS congratulations on the Leo Laporte mention.
April 15th, 2012 at 11:32 PM
Hello Stuart,
Was the Leo Laporte mention recent? I know that he talked about Tap Forms on iPad Daily many months ago, but I don’t know if he’s mentioned it recently. Which show was it on?
Anyway, you can deal with your quote issues by making sure you put two double-quotes around the quotes within your text.
For example:
“This is my “”amazing”" text line”
Something like that will work for you in those situations.
Thanks!
Brendan
April 16th, 2012 at 8:52 AM
Brandon:
Thanks. No, the Leo reference was probably an old show. Sorry.
One more question: is here a character limit in the “notes” field?
April 28th, 2012 at 7:26 PM
I’ve had trouble downloading as well. I managed to do so once, using Dropbox, but it was a while ago and I’ve forgotten the account name and whether the email address is my computer or the phone. While trying to sort that out, I thought I’d try iTunes files sharing and duly imported the document into the Tap forms box, then synced.
According to the iTunes box, the document has been transferred. So I opened TapForms to look for it – but where is it? Not in the Imports file. Where else can I look?
April 29th, 2012 at 11:07 AM
Hello Terry,
You’ll need to stick your files inside the Share folder for Tap Forms to see them. You can use the built-in web server or the FTP server, or use Dropbox to transfer your files into the Share folder. You can also email them to yourself onto your device.
Thanks!
Brendan