[jwol]

As a new user (in Demo right now while I evaluate Retail Store) I must get existing inventroty and customer data imported from Excel. I've tried everything with inventory... both *.txt and *.csv I've studied the posts (6/16/06 and 4/5/07) from: http://retailedge.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p ... light=redi
But, I get the error: "Invalid Data File: Missing Start and/or Closing tags."
Looking at the records in REDI format I can see nothing wrong. I have data in all required fields including the ~~Unassigned~~, TRUE or FALSE, etc.
I don't have a clue what the "Start Tag" or "Closing Tag" is supposed to be.


I would sincerely appreciate anyone's suggestions, hints, solution source, etc. ASAP as I'm extremely frustrated.
Thanks in advance,
jw

[RetailEdge Moderator]

Most likely you are running into an issue caused by saving the REDI file as a CSV file from Excel. The structure of the REDI file looks something like what you see below.


<REDI_Invent>
Inv_Sku,Inv_Desc,Inv_ItemID,Loc_Settings_LocID,Inv_Quan,Inv_DepartID,Inv_VendorID,etc .........
000045,"OIL SOAP",103482,Main,0,"SOAP WORKS",.......
</REDI_Invent>
<REDI_Depart>
Dept_DepartID,Dept_Desc,Dept_Margin
"SOAP WORKS","SOAP WORKS",50
</REDI_Depart>
<REDI_Vendor>
Vend_VendorID,Vend_Desc,Vend_Contact,Vend_AccountNum,Vend_Street1,Vend_Street2,etc ..........
MISC,MISC,,,,,,,,,,,
</REDI_Vendor>

The REDI (RetailEdge Deta Interchange) file format was created to allow RetailEdge Users to take a laptop on the road and create new data in the laptop and then import this data back at the store. There are different sections of the file broken up by other starting and ending tags (e.g, Starting Tag:<REDI_Invent>, Ending Tag:</REDI_Invent>). These different sections are setup so that if on the laptop a new inventory item is created that has a new vendor, class, or department, that the information about this department can also be brought over.

This format although it is meant to import/export data between copies of RetailEdge has been used for importing data for new users who have already created data in another program. The problem is that most people create this data in Excel or another spreadsheet program and then export it as a CSV file. A spreadsheet will not know anything about the REDI file format and so will do something like the following:

<REDI_Invent>,,,,,,,,,,
Inv_Sku,Inv_Desc,Inv_ItemID,Loc_Settings_LocID,Inv_Quan,Inv_DepartID,Inv_VendorID,etc .........
000045,"OIL SOAP",103482,Main,0,"SOAP WORKS",.......
</REDI_Invent>,,,,,,,,,
<REDI_Depart>,,,,,,,,,
Dept_DepartID,Dept_Desc,Dept_Margin,,,,,,,
"SOAP WORKS","SOAP WORKS",50,,,,,,,,
</REDI_Depart>
<REDI_Vendor>,,,,,,,
Vend_VendorID,Vend_Desc,Vend_Contact,Vend_AccountNum,Vend_Street1,Vend_Street2,etc ..........
MISC,MISC,,,,,,,,,,,
</REDI_Vendor>,,,,,,,

This is because the Excel export will take the longest number of fields (Usually the second row in the REDI file with the column names) and then place commas where it thinks there should be data on the other lines. CSV just stands for Comma Separated Values and so if Excel thinks there should be 14 columns and only finds one filled out (like with the start tags <Redi_Invent>), then it will put 12 commas after the start tag.

RetailEdge is only expecting the start tag and not the commas. So these commas must be stripped off manually. You can do this in a couple of ways. Either open the file in a text editor like Notepad and delete the commas. Or RetailEdge has a text editor built into the import function and so when you get the error you can view the file as text and then edit it there.

One other quirk in some versions of Excel is that after about the 14th row of the file if Excel does not find data in all the columns (say only the first 10 of 20) then Excel will not add the proper amount of commas and actually strip the commas. RetailEdge will not allow this in the import file. So the best thing to do is in your Excel spreadsheet put a value like a dash (-) in the last column (in the redi invent file Inv_Loc_BinShelf). This will make sure that the commas continue to be filled in properly.

Hope this helps.

[jwol]

Thanks so much for giving me a teaching moment and Happy New Year!

I understand the REDI format now (I think) and ALL I have to do is figure an easy way to import our data. We have a large number of inventory items AND customers that are in our Quikbooks accounting package. All I know to do is export the data into either a *.txt or *.csv Excel file. Retail Edge obviously doesn't like tha format. I would hate to have to edit/add/delete every Excel record only to have it erased when Excel saves the format. Opening with NotePad only allows manipulation of each record too but saving doesn't screw it up like Excel does.

Any suggestions for a large data file?

jwol

[RetailEdge Moderator]

I know that we have already resolved this through e-mail, however, I thought some comments might help out our other potential/existing customers.

The best way to work with a large data file is:

1. Open the file in Excel. Move the columns around to match the column order of the REDI file.
2. Add the Header and Footer Tags for the various sections. The REDI Inventory file will allow you to import the Vendors, Departments, Classes and Matrix definitions all at once, but when saving the file as a CSV in Excel you will get extra commas placed at the end of the Header tags and at the end of data field in the Department/class/vendor subsections. So sometimes it is easier to create Department/Class/Vendor REDI files separately and import these by themselves. But the choice is yours.
3. Open the file in Notepad or Wordpad or some text editor. This will allow you to easily strip commas off the Starting and Ending Tag values <REDI_Invent>, etc. Sometimes is easier to just do a search and replace to do this.
4. Then try the import. If you get errors at this point you can open the file from RetailEdge and make any small changes you need to the file to make it import correctly. If you find you are encountering large numbers of errors, then sometimes it is better to stop and go back to step 2 or 3 and manage the file in Excel or Notepad.

This should do it.

Thanks so much for giving me a teaching moment and Happy New Year!

I understand the REDI format now (I think) and ALL I have to do is figure an easy way to import our data. We have a large number of inventory items AND customers that are in our Quikbooks accounting package. All I know to do is export the data into either a *.txt or *.csv Excel file. Retail Edge obviously doesn't like tha format. I would hate to have to edit/add/delete every Excel record only to have it erased when Excel saves the format. Opening with NotePad only allows manipulation of each record too but saving doesn't screw it up like Excel does.

Any suggestions for a large data file?

jwol

[jwol]

Thanks a bunch! I think I've now learned the REDI format and am ready to move.
Having expertise in a forum like this is a real asset.
You are appreciated!
jwol