data omisson while using ms ace driver to read csv file - csv

Question

There must be some explanation for this. My csv file is something like this:
CustomerID,FirstName,LastName,EmpID,EmployeeName
1,John,Smith,2,Smith
2,Wilber,Wright,3,Shaney
3,Gloria,Johnathan,4,Dick
Notice that some field names have ID on them. I execute the below code and try to view the datatable during debugging using the DataTable visualizer (in VS).
using System;
using System.Data.OleDb;
using System.Data;
namespace caOledbFileOpen
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
OleDbConnection cxn = new OleDbConnection();
cxn.ConnectionString = #"Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=c:\tools;Extended Properties='text;HDR=No;Delimiter(,)'";
cxn.Open();
OleDbCommand cmd = cxn.CreateCommand();
cmd.CommandText = "Select * from [OUt.csv]";
DataTable tbl = new DataTable();
OleDbDataAdapter adp = new OleDbDataAdapter(cmd);
adp.Fill(tbl);
Console.WriteLine("End");
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
I observe on the cells where it should show CustomerID or EmpID it appears blank.

Answer 1

The problem is that the OLEDB text driver infers the data types of your CSV 'columns' based on the data in the first rows of your data file. It sees the numbers in the first and fourth columns in your data and assumes that those columns are numeric even though the data in these columns' first row are not numeric. What you're seeing is the really annoying part of all this: columns with data that does not match the data type infered for those columns are not imported.
The solution here is to specify the data types of your columns by using a text file driver file with your CSV. A text file driver file is a text file that you create in the same folder as your CSV. The file is always named schema.ini. In the file you specify the CSV file name on the first line and the following lines define your CSV.
A schema.ini like this should work for you:
[test.csv]
ColNameHeader=False
Col1="My Field 1" Text
Col2="My Field 2" Text
Col3="My Field 3" Text
Col4="My Field 4" Text
Col5="My Field 5" Text
Here and here are links to more info on using schema.ini files

Answer 2

Also, in your schema.ini file add:
MaxScanRows=1
example:
[hdrdtl.txt]
Format=TabDelimited
ColNameHeader=True
MaxScanRows=1