When .TXT output is better for my users than .XLS
I talked last week about outputting data to Excel using HTML, so I wanted to use the technique for the afterhours site I'm working on for the primary purpose of generating mailing labels or creating an Outlook contact list.
Oh, Excel is so intelligent!! Give me a friggen' stupid spreadsheet package, please. The problem is that I live in Vermont. All zip codes start with a “0.” So instead of a nice list of zip codes that look like, say, 05429 on the mailing labels, we've got the Excel value-added version “5429.” Yeah, I used the Format Code-->Special-->Zip Code option in Office 2003. Not a problem. Everything looks good. Now I'm going to save the file as the pretty .XLS file it is and point Word 2003 to it. OH NO, MR. BILL! THE ZEROS ARE GONE AGAIN!
That's okay. I don't need to go to sleep yet. It's not even 2AM yet. I'm going to use the Format Code-->Special-->Zip Code option and save as a CSV file, or hey, a TXT file too while I'm at it! They work. So I have to add a couple of paragraphs to Grandma's Mailing Label Generation Instructional Guide. I can do that.
Ya know what, this process is way too hard! I can do it start to finish in 2 minutes, but I'm a nerd. This is not going to be apparent to anyone using the system, and heaven forbid if they're not using Office 2003! So I went back to outputting the datafile as a comma-delimited .TXT file. That way Uncle Henry won't even have to look at the output file, and Word loads it up with a zip code that won't get rejected by the US postal service.
I wonder if any of those lauded Superstars in the MS Office commercials ever succeeded in generating mailing labels that started with a “0”?