Bug #11519
closedUnknown File Format error
100%
Description
(Describe what you were doing)
1) Exported the original radio channel list to a local .csv file
2) added entries for repeaters as listed by RadioReference.com
3) modified the original copy with the repeater entries to make a “master”
that is be loaded back into the radio.
4) ensured that the organization of the “master” was compatible with the
instructions at ‘chirpradio.com’ How to use CSV files.
(Describe what you expected to happen)
1) launch CHIRP on my MacBook laptop running M2/Ventura 13.6
I’ve just downloaded the latest version as of Sep 2, 2024.
2) File -> Open to bring up navigation popup
3) select my “master” .csv file
4) and, of course, fully expected to see my master copy in CHIRP
(Describe what actually happened instead)
I repeatedly get the simple popup “An Error Has Occurred” “Uknown File Format”
Folks, this simple message simply isn’t useful. I’ve all the mods to my file I know how to make.
There was even some feedback from someone asking about a log message with a “…a blob” issue.
People, if there’s something about a .csv file that CHIRP doesn’t like spitting out a more detailed message (even just row/column number) would be helpful.
My file is 60 row .csv file. Can I forward a copy of my file for someone to look at tell me precisely what’s wrong with it?
TIA,
R
Files
Updated by R Merritt 11 months ago
- File config.txt config.txt added
- File debug_log.txt debug_log.txt added
[Uploaded from CHIRP next-20240901]
Updated by R Merritt 11 months ago
- File CHIRPsample.csv CHIRPsample.csv added
- File FinalSet.csv FinalSet.csv added
Dan,
Thanks for the quick reply. I’ve sent two attachments. The first (smaller) attachment is a copy of a File -> New CSV file from CHIRP. As you’ve discussed in your online Help documentation, I used this at my starting point.
The second attachment is the CSV I’m trying to get into CHIRP. This is the most recent iteration in trying to make CHIRP happy. I’m happy to make what changes are needed, I could just use a little help in figuring what those changes are.
I’m using the most recent CHIRP version.
Thanks,
Randy


On Sep 3, 2024, at 5:01 PM, Dan Smith redmine@chirpmyradio.com wrote:
Updated by Dan Smith 11 months ago
The problem is that the header has had the field (name)s quoted which causes chirp not to recognize it. Since these fields don't have spaces or special characters in them, they shouldn't be quoted. These are items 1 and 4 from CSV_HowTo.
Note the difference between the sample file (first line) and yours (second line):
-Location,Name,Frequency,Duplex,Offset,Tone,rToneFreq,cToneFreq,DtcsCode,DtcsPolarity,RxDtcsCode,CrossMode,Mode,TStep,Skip,Power,Comment,URCALL,RPT1CALL,RPT2CALL,DVCODE
+"Location","Name","Frequency","Duplex","Offset","Tone","rToneFreq","cToneFreq","DtcsCode","DtcsPolarity","RxDtcsCode","CrossMode","Mode","TStep","Skip","Power","Comment","URCALL","RPT1CALL","RPT2CALL","DVCODE"
The reason the message is vague is because the CSV driver didn't recognize it as a matching file at all, and thus didn't provide more detail (as it would have if there was an error on one specific line once it started processing it).
Updated by Dan Smith 11 months ago
Let me also point out that once you fix that, you'll also find it fails to parse all of your channels since they all have errors related to having spaces for what should be empty strings. It will point this out (on every line) and then it will complain again about "unknown format" since it couldn't extract a single valid channel from the whole file. So things like your duplex and skip fields are " " when they need to be empty (or at least quoted empty "").
Updated by Dan Smith 11 months ago
I've pushed a few related changes to the next build which should make our detection logic tolerate the quoted fields. I can't say I've seen that complaint in all the years we've been doing CSV files, but I'm assuming there's some opinionated spreadsheet application you're using that won't respect the input format or something. Hopefully that helps.
Updated by Dan Smith 11 months ago
- Status changed from New to Closed
- % Done changed from 0 to 100
Applied in changeset github|3cd0c3dbb059396c2e48d99247e099e9613af248.
Updated by R Merritt 11 months ago
Dan,
Thanks for your help! I’m afraid I got tripped up by Apple’s fetish about “looking pretty” and I’m experienced enough to know better. I took my copy of the CSV file (I sent you) and dumped it out in the good ol' CLI Terminal program; sure enough, there were “". When you do a Preview of such a file on a Mac, they do not show the “". My bad.
You are correct below. Once I killed the “” the CSV file loaded into CHIRP but then registered messages that were easier to follow, and I made those corrections. [“...you'll also find it fails to parse all of your channels since they all have errors related to having spaces for what should be empty strings…]
Once all corrections were made, my CSV loaded into CHIRP just fine!
I again thank you for your quick attention to this. I’ve got my file into CHIRP; now onto the steps to get it into the radio. Keep up the good work.
R
On Sep 4, 2024, at 11:49 AM, Dan Smith redmine@chirpmyradio.com wrote: