Files relative path (source and output)

Feature request
#1

Hello,

I transfer transform data between two computers, and the paths to to the source files differ.
As I usually place the transform file in the folder in which the transform is required, the source files are either in the same folder on in subfolders.
Having the option to save relative paths would solve the problem of having to identify the source files and the destination folder for the output.

The message is:
The following 2 input files cannot be found:
/Users/…(a lot of subfolders)…/Data/Analysis/GeoData/Stats 1st 3M 2022.xlsx
/Users/…(a lot of subfolders)…/Data/Analysis/GeoData/Switzerland divisions. Level 1 2022.csv
Do you wish to choose new input files?

If there was the option to have a relative path (as the transform file path is already stored in the file itself under <doc_path value=…> ) for input and output files this would be solved (with an alert if the path to the output file does not exist).

As XLSX files may contain multiple sheets it would also really help to include in the message which sheet is the source (/Users/…(a lot of subfolders)…/Data/Analysis/GeoData/Stats 1st 3M 2022.xlsx[Sheet2]) in my transform.

Of note, when you have multiple source files in your transform, EDT offers on opening the transform to choose new source files, but it does not indicate which one of the sources you are replacing with the new file.

Would you consider the above for a next update?

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#2

Storing a path relative to the .transform file only works if the current document has been saved to a .transform file. Also you will lose your input file location if you ‘file>save as’ your .transform file to a different folder. So I am not convinced it is an improvement.

Also we try to be inteliigent about moved .transform files, looking for input files in the same folder relative to the .transform file if they aren’t in the same absolute folder.

We did implement some changes related to this in a recent version. Which version of Easy Data Transform do you have?

#3

Thank you for your reply.
The version that I am using is 1.24. I tried to move around things and EDT is reasonably good at tracking the source files!
Having the sheet information when looking up a source would be helpful.

#4

I will look into it.

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#5

I checked with v1.24.0 and it does tell you what the previous sheet name was.

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It would be more helpful if it selected that sheet (if one of that name exists).

#6

I have changed the behaviour so that it defaults to selecting a sheet with the same name in the new file (if there is one).

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#7

Brilliant!
Thank you

#8

@Admin From looking at your screenshots they seem to be the PC version. I don’t seem to get the same experience in the MAC version. Any chance that can be incorporated into the MAC version? It would be awesome to know which source file I’m looking for when things get moved around. I’m running version 1.24.0

#9

The code is the same for Windows and Mac, so they should behave the same.

For v1.24.0 on Mac, if it can’t find an expected input file you get prompted to choose another:

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Then if you choose an Excel file with >1 sheet you get:

image

Perhaps the Excel file you choose only had 1 sheet?

#10

@Admin, I have 6 different input files, and it is the input files that it’s not providing any input about. so maybe a little bit different than the specific sheet.

#11

Here is what I see when my input files are not available when I open it. notice one of the files is not even in the initial list, luckily it’s only one so I am able to deduce which file is not in the list and is the last one I need to open. I’m able to work it through, I typically just take a screenshot of the initial error in order to know which order to open the files in. I’ll post the other screen shot in the next post since I can only post one pic each :wink:

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image930×754 95 KB

#12

Next screen.

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image1029×574 67.6 KB

#13

I see what you mean. The Windows Open dialog shows you the previous file name. On Mac it doesn’t. I will have a think about how we can best handle that.

#14

it appears to be an known issue in the GUI framework we use (Qt) that you can’t show the filename in the Open dialog on Mac. You can work around it by unchecking use native file windows in the General tab of the Preferences. The non-native file open window doesn’t look great though. I will see if we can come up with a better solution.

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