Extension Import Error

[Jessep]

I am trying to do a bulk extension import for a new Hotel Tower we have going up and am getting this error "Wrong CSV file, required columns are not found"

I exported a single existing hotel room extension and then copied and modified it to get the rest. It seems that the format is wrong but I have compared my columns to the one I exported and to the template here on 3CX that you can download (http://www.3cx.com/blog/docs/bulk-extension-import/) . We are using 3CX version V12.0.41311.996 SP.6.2

Thanks
Jesse

 

[craigreilly]

Ensure none of the columns have a comma in it.
save as a DOS CSV if possible.

Can you upload a 1 line sample for someone else to try?

 

[Jessep]

I can't find any comma's in the extension file. Attached a sample line from the one I am trying to import.

 

[complex1]

Hi,

In row A2 of the .csv file are a lot of comma's :O

 

[Jessep]

Really? I still cant find any? Do a Find & Select with a , filter and nothing. Visually look and cant see any?

Using excel 2010 to open the .csv

 

[gschwab]

try opening it with notepad or notepad++ (my favorite) you'll see 'em. I'm not positive but maybe it just doesn't like too see any null values in the file?

 

[complex1]

Hi,

Just clicking the attached .csv file, then open it with Excel 2013 and there they are.

 

[gschwab]

If you adjust the width of the columns in the above post you'll see that the commas correspond to "empty" or null fields like FirstName, LastName etc. just guessing here as I've never tried importing extensions myself.

 

[Jessep]

If that is the case, how do you denote null fields then without deleting columns. I mean those are just the Comma seperated Values r denoting a column break right? Here is what I see in Excel 2010

 

[gschwab]

I know what you mean the commas are just the delimiter and it seems like it should work, maybe try populating the empty fields with a zero or something??

 

[lneblett]

I took your sample, and changed the extension from 6150 to one that fit my extension (102) scheme using excel2010. I then saved the file using the DOS-CSV format and imported into my system running 12.5......I had no issue, it imported just fine.

You may want to try the above using the same sample file and see your results. Then if all is good, your should be able to add the others.

Commas play no part in its ability to import other than as field separators. So......if you do have any commas as a value in a field, then that will cause the import to have issues as you will be adding more fields that the system supports. When viewing in a text viewer, you will see the delimiters; oetherwise it would just be one continuous string of data.

 

[complex1]

Keep in mind that in a .csv file, all data is separated by a comma.
The columns can be very wide because they may contain a lot of data.

Column A, Row 1: contain all headers, separated by commas.
Column A, Row 2: contain the value belong to the headers in Row 1 separated by commas
Column A, Row 3: contain the value belong to the headers in Row 1 separated by commas
Column A, Row 4: and so on…

e.g. A1: Number,FirstName,LastName,EmailAddress and A2: 6150,,Test,, which means:
Number = 6150
FirstName = empty
LastName = Test
EmailAddress = empty

 

[Jessep]

After saving it as a CSV (MS-DOS)(*.csv) file I was able to import the sample. Then after copying all my data back over I was able to import the whole set of extensions! Thanks for hashing this out with me. Much appreciated.

jesse

 

[craigreilly]

And that was my recommendation from the start - save as DOS CSV.