Silly Question?

[Bill Thurber]

I am a relatively new user and am new to the forum. I have a situation I thought someone in this forum could easily address. I am extracting detailed accounts receivable data and the first data point I am capturing is invoice number. In some cases the invoice number does not "sit" in the same position, and I am wondering how to capture all line items even though they may be several character spaces different. I thought perhaps a floating trap? But I haven't been able to get that to work. Can someone help? I would appreciate it!

[OllyInMunich]

Hello Bill,

Yes, the floating trap is the right approach, but it will need careful handling if you rely on multi-line detail templates or "numeric OR" trap characters.

Can you post a sample of the report in between [ CODE] [ /CODE] tags here?

Best wishes,

Olly

[Grant Perkins]

Hi Bill and welcome to the forum.

As Olly said a sample cut and past from the eport file (data changed if privacy is vital) usually makes it easier to understand and advise.

Is this a formated report or lines of data?

Does the invoice number move along with other data positions on the line or is it independent of its positional relationship with other data?

Cabn you trap on something with a more consistent position (maybe decimal point alignment or similar) and then make allowances for the Invoice number variation when you capture the field?

HTH.

Grant Perkins

[Bill Thurber]

Basically it would look something like this:

BR00033331-A
BR00033672

Where the "-A" is the cause of the "out of position" state to the left. The rest of the detail data on each line is in the same position, so it seems to me that I need to find a way for Monarch to capture both lines to get what I want. Does that help?

[Grant Perkins]

Bill,

If you need the -A in the field (I assume you do) just make the field bigger - via the verify process if that suits you best.

(I am taking your word that all the other data in the line is not shifted and stays in the correct horitinal position! ;))

Your trap does not have to be complete to the defintion of a field or fields. In fact keeping them simple is a good idea most often.

Since you have V10, what does the autotrap feature give you?

HTH


Grant

[Bill Thurber]

Grant -
My example didn't bring the spaces over. The record that has the "-A" in it is actual shifted to the left by the 2 characters. So, that's the issue. Thoughts? Thanks for your help!

[Data Kruncher]

Can you paint the entire field so that it begins two positions to the left?

Then to fix the invoice numbers that get leading spaces, you can either choose, through the Input Options, to have Monarch automatically trim all leading and trailing spaces, or handle the Invoice number with a Trim(InvoiceNum) calculated Character field.

[Grant Perkins]

Grant -
My example didn't bring the spaces over. The record that has the "-A" in it is actual shifted to the left by the 2 characters. So, that's the issue. Thoughts? Thanks for your help!

OK.

So it would seem to be a right justified text field - unusual but not unheard of - and my solution would be the same as Kruncher's and depend on what you might need to do with the Invoice Reference string (!) at some future point.

If it is just a field it could probably stay as it is. If is will be a link for an external lookup or something you may need to manipulate it to make the link work. Kruncher's suggestion would be the way to go.


HTH.


Grant