From: John Mcleod <john.mcleod@...>
Date: 2009-11-18T01:24:12+09:00
Subject: Special characters in csv header using fastercsv

Hello all,
I'm kind of new to fastercsv and only have 2 months with Ruby on Rails.
So this my sound a little newbie.

First, I read a csv file (approx. 6,000 lines). This file comes from a
different department, so I have no control over the headers.

Second, while reading or parsing the file, the rows are inputted into a
database.

My problem is my database columns can not have special characters, but
the csv headers have the special characters.

Is there a way to remove the special characters before inserting in
database?

Here is a view of my code.

def import_irb_file
     # set file name
      file = params[:irb][:file]
      rowcount = 0

      Irb.transaction do
        FasterCSV.parse(file,
                        :headers => true,
                        :header_converters => :symbol,
                        :converters => :all,
                        :encoding => 'u' ) do |row|
                          Irb.create!(row.to_hash)
                          rowcount += 1
                        end
      end
      # if successful then display, then redirect to index page
      flash[:notice] = "Successfully added #{rowcount} project(s)."
      redirect_to :action => :index

    rescue => exception
      file_name = params[:irb]['file'].original_filename
      file_parts = params[:irb]['file'].original_filename.split('.')
      ext = file_parts[1]

      if ext != 'csv'
        error = "CSV file is required"
      else
        error = ERB::Util.h(exception.to_s) # get the error and HTML
escape it
      end
      # If an exception in thrown, the transaction rolls back and we end
up in this
      # rescue block

      flash[:error] = "Error adding projects to IRB table. (#{error}).
Please try again. "

      redirect_to :controller => 'irbs', :action => 'new'

  end

Thank you for any advice.

JohnM
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