Csv C Reference Documentation
Csv
Current Version: 10.1.0
A class for reading and updating CSV files. Provides methods for accessing cell contents by name or index, updating cells, reading and setting column names, etc.
Create/Dispose
HCkCsv instance = CkCsv_Create(); // ... CkCsv_Dispose(instance);
Creates an instance of the HCkCsv object and returns a handle ("void *" pointer). The handle is passed in the 1st argument for the functions listed on this page.
Objects created by calling CkCsv_Create must be freed by calling this method. A memory leak occurs if a handle is not disposed by calling this function. Also, any handle returned by a Chilkat "C" function must also be freed by the application by calling the appropriate Dispose method, such as CkCsv_Dispose.
Properties
AutoTrim
void CkCsv_putAutoTrim(HCkCsv cHandle, BOOL newVal);
If TRUE, then the strings returned by GetCell and GetCellByName are auto-trimmed of whitespace from both ends.
topCrlf
void CkCsv_putCrlf(HCkCsv cHandle, BOOL newVal);
If TRUE, then CRLF line endings are used when saving the CSV to a file or to a string (i.e. for the methods SaveFile, SaveFile2, SaveToString). If FALSE then bare LF line-endings are used.
topDebugLogFilePath
void CkCsv_putDebugLogFilePath(HCkCsv cHandle, const char *newVal);
const char *CkCsv_debugLogFilePath(HCkCsv cHandle);
If set to a file path, causes each Chilkat method or property call to automatically append it's LastErrorText to the specified log file. The information is appended such that if a hang or crash occurs, it is possible to see the context in which the problem occurred, as well as a history of all Chilkat calls up to the point of the problem. The VerboseLogging property can be set to provide more detailed information.
This property is typically used for debugging the rare cases where a Chilkat method call hangs or generates an exception that halts program execution (i.e. crashes). A hang or crash should generally never happen. The typical causes of a hang are:
- a timeout related property was set to 0 to explicitly indicate that an infinite timeout is desired,
- the hang is actually a hang within an event callback (i.e. it is a hang within the application code), or
- there is an internal problem (bug) in the Chilkat code that causes the hang.
Delimiter
void CkCsv_putDelimiter(HCkCsv cHandle, const char *newVal);
const char *CkCsv_delimiter(HCkCsv cHandle);
The character that separates fields in a record. It is a comma by default. If the Delimiter property is not explicitly set, the CSV component will detect the delimiter when loading a CSV. (Semicolons are typically used in locales where the comma is used as a decimal point.)
Note 1: If the default comma delimiter is not desired when creating a new CSV, make sure to set this property before adding rows/columns to the CSV.
Note 2: If the application explicitly sets the delimiter to the vertical bar character ("|"), and if the EnableQuotes property was never explicitly set, then EnableQuotes will default to FALSE. This is because when vertical bars are used, quotes are most likely to be treated the same as other characters.
topEnableQuotes
void CkCsv_putEnableQuotes(HCkCsv cHandle, BOOL newVal);
If TRUE, then the double-quote characters cause the quoted content, including CR's, LF's, and delimiter chars to be treated as normal text when reading/writing CSVs. The default is TRUE.
EscapeBackslash
void CkCsv_putEscapeBackslash(HCkCsv cHandle, BOOL newVal);
If TRUE, then the backslash character is treated as an escape character when reading/writing CSVs. The default is FALSE.
topHasColumnNames
void CkCsv_putHasColumnNames(HCkCsv cHandle, BOOL newVal);
Set to TRUE prior to loading a CSV if the 1st record contains column names. This allows the CSV parser to correctly load the column names and not treat them as data.
LastErrorHtml
const char *CkCsv_lastErrorHtml(HCkCsv cHandle);
Provides information in HTML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.
topLastErrorText
const char *CkCsv_lastErrorText(HCkCsv cHandle);
Provides information in plain-text format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.
LastErrorXml
const char *CkCsv_lastErrorXml(HCkCsv cHandle);
Provides information in XML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.
topLastMethodSuccess
void CkCsv_putLastMethodSuccess(HCkCsv cHandle, BOOL newVal);
Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of TRUE indicates success, a value of FALSE indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:
- Any method that returns a string.
- Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
- Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = TRUE and failure = FALSE.
- Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.
Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to TRUE. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.
topNumColumns
The number of columns in the 1st row, which may be the row containing column names if HasColumnNames is TRUE.
topNumRows
The number of data rows. If the CSV has column names, the 1st row is not included in the count. Also, empty lines containing only whitespace characters that follow the last non-empty row are not included.
topUncommonOptions
void CkCsv_putUncommonOptions(HCkCsv cHandle, const char *newVal);
const char *CkCsv_uncommonOptions(HCkCsv cHandle);
This is a catch-all property to be used for uncommon needs. Chilkat may from time to time define keywords, which if present, change behavior in some way. If multiple keywords are needed, set this property to the comma separated list of keywords.
The following keywords are defined:
- QuotedCells (v9.5.0.96) Forces all cell contents to be double-quoted when emitting the CSV to a file or string
- QuotedColumnNames (v9.5.0.96) Forces all column names to be double-quoted when emitting the CSV to a file or string
- EMIT_BOM (v9.5.0.93) Causes Chilkat to emit the utf-8 BOM (byte order mark) when writing the CSV to a file (assuming the CSV is written using utf-8).
Utf8
void CkCsv_putUtf8(HCkCsv cHandle, BOOL newVal);
When set to TRUE, all "const char *" arguments are interpreted as utf-8 strings. If set to FALSE (the default), then "const char *" arguments are interpreted as ANSI strings. Also, when set to TRUE, and Chilkat method returning a "const char *" is returning the utf-8 representation. If set to FALSE, all "const char *" return values are ANSI strings.
topVerboseLogging
void CkCsv_putVerboseLogging(HCkCsv cHandle, BOOL newVal);
If set to TRUE, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is FALSE. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.
topVersion
Methods
DeleteColumn
Deletes the Nth column. (The 1st column is at index 0.)
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
DeleteColumnByName
Deletes a column specified by name.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
DeleteRow
Deletes the entire Nth row. (The 1st row is at index 0.)
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
GetCell
const char *CkCsv_getCell(HCkCsv cHandle, int row, int col);
Returns the contents of the cell at row, col. Indexing begins at 0. (The topmost/leftmost cell is at 0,0)
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
GetCellByName
const char *CkCsv_getCellByName(HCkCsv cHandle, int rowIndex, const char *columnName);
The same as GetCell, but the column is specified by name instead of by index.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
GetColumnName
const char *CkCsv_getColumnName(HCkCsv cHandle, int index);
Returns the name of the Nth column.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
GetIndex
Returns the column index for a given column. Returns -1 if no column exists with the columnName.
topGetNumCols
Returns the number of columns for a specific row. If the row is larger than the number of rows in the CSV, a zero is returned.
topInsertColumn
Inserts a new and empty column before the Nth column. (The 1st column is at index 0.)
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
LoadFile
Loads a CSV from a file. It is assumed that the CSV file contains ANSI characters.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
topLoadFile2
Loads a CSV from a file. The charset specifies the character encoding of the CSV file. A list of supported character encodings may be found on this page: Supported Charsets.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
LoadFromString
Loads a CSV document from an in-memory string variable.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
RowMatches
Compares the contents of an entire row to a wildcarded match pattern where "*" can be used any number of times to match 0 or more of any character. Returns TRUE if a match was found, otherwise returns FALSE. If caseSensitive is TRUE, then the pattern match is case sensitive, otherwise it is case insensitive.
topSaveFile
Saves a CSV to a file. The output file is written using the ANSI character encoding.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
topSaveFile2
Saves a CSV to a file. The charset specifies the character encoding to use for the CSV file. The text data is converted to this charset when saving. A list of supported character encodings may be found on this page: Supported Charsets.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
SaveToSb
Clears the contents of sb and writes the entire CSV into sb.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
topSaveToString
const char *CkCsv_saveToString(HCkCsv cHandle);
SetCell
Sets the contents for a single cell in the CSV. The content may include any characters including CRLF's, double-quotes, and the delimiter character. The Save* methods automatically double-quote fields with special chars when saving. The Load* methods automatically parse double-quoted and/or escaped fields correctly when loading.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
SetCellByName
The same as SetCell, except the column is specified by name instead of by index.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
SetColumnName
Sets the name of the Nth column. The first column is at index 0. This method would only return FALSE if an invalid index is passed (such as a negative number).
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
SortByColumn
Sorts the rows in the CSV by the contents of a specific column. If ascending is TRUE, the sort is in ascending order, otherwise descending order. If caseSensitive is TRUE then the sorting is case sensitive.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
topSortByColumnIndex
Sorts the rows in the CSV by the contents of a specific column index. If ascending is TRUE, the sort is in ascending order, otherwise descending order. If caseSensitive is TRUE then the sorting is case sensitive.
Returns TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
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