XML and Yahoo

mepbmlist
#1

Regarding the problem with Yahoo and XML file attachments, this is
something that MeGames can hopefully work out with them. However, for
the short term, people are going to have to work around the problem.
(This generally means copy/pasting data from the E-Mail.)

Unfortunately, the problem with XML files and Yahoo is that when Yahoo
(or whoever) converts the attachment into E-Mail embedded text, it
inserts a whole bunch of paragraph marks. (When you hit the <ENTER> key,
you instert a paragraph mark.) Well, when Excel imports a file, it
treats paragraph marks as a new row, which completely screws the data
harvesting method up. This means even if you saved this without fixing
it, AutoMagic still couldn't import it.

AutoMagic doesn't actually care whether it's an XML file or a TXT file
or whatever. What it needs is a continuous string of characters WITHOUT
any paragraph marks. So, the way to get this to work for now (and it's
rather clunky) is to highlight and copy the inserted XML data within
your E-Mail and paste it into a word processor with the ability to
find/replace paragraph marks. (MS Word has this ability... Wordpad and
Notepad do NOT.)

MAKE SURE YOU COPY STARTING FROM "<METurn>" onwards.

Once it's in a document, do a global find/replace (shown as "Replace..."
on the EDIT menu of Word).
In the "Find What:" box, type in the paragraph-mark code. That's an
up-carrot followed by a P. For example: "^p" (no quotes). (^ is a
capital 6)
Leave the "Replace With:" box blank and click on the REPLACE ALL button.

SAVE the resulting file as a "Text Only" file (.txt) in the "Save as
type:" box. Name it whatever you want, just remember where you put it.

MAKE SURE YOUR RESULTING FILE STARTS WITH "<METurn>"!

Now, when AutoMagic asks you where your XML file is, just select this
text file, and MOST everything should work OK. Your capital hex may be
messed up, but you can just type this in. (This will be fixed in the
next revision, but the capial hex works OK with normal XML files.)

If MeGames and Yahoo can't get things straightened out, there might be
other options, (like sending it as a straight text file which Yahoo MAY
not screw with). If it can't be resolved, I may be able to come up with
an easier way for you to copy/paste the data from your E-Mail directly
into AutoMagic, but this will be a work-around at best.

Mike Mulka

#2

I was wondering anyone was having the same minor problem that I keep
having with the XML files. It just never seems to import the due
date....instead I have #!VALUE#! instead. The same thing happened for
4 XML files from 3 different games.

Not a biggie but worth mentioning if you are already working on a new
version.

--- In mepbmlist@y..., "Urzahil" <Urzahil@o...> wrote:

Regarding the problem with Yahoo and XML file attachments, this is
something that MeGames can hopefully work out with them. However,

for

the short term, people are going to have to work around the problem.
(This generally means copy/pasting data from the E-Mail.)

Unfortunately, the problem with XML files and Yahoo is that when

Yahoo

(or whoever) converts the attachment into E-Mail embedded text, it
inserts a whole bunch of paragraph marks. (When you hit the <ENTER>

key,

you instert a paragraph mark.) Well, when Excel imports a file, it
treats paragraph marks as a new row, which completely screws the

data

harvesting method up. This means even if you saved this without

fixing

it, AutoMagic still couldn't import it.

AutoMagic doesn't actually care whether it's an XML file or a TXT

file

or whatever. What it needs is a continuous string of characters

WITHOUT

any paragraph marks. So, the way to get this to work for now (and

it's

rather clunky) is to highlight and copy the inserted XML data within
your E-Mail and paste it into a word processor with the ability to
find/replace paragraph marks. (MS Word has this ability... Wordpad

and

Notepad do NOT.)

MAKE SURE YOU COPY STARTING FROM "<METurn>" onwards.

Once it's in a document, do a global find/replace (shown

as "Replace..."

on the EDIT menu of Word).
In the "Find What:" box, type in the paragraph-mark code. That's an
up-carrot followed by a P. For example: "^p" (no quotes). (^ is a
capital 6)
Leave the "Replace With:" box blank and click on the REPLACE ALL

button.

SAVE the resulting file as a "Text Only" file (.txt) in the "Save as
type:" box. Name it whatever you want, just remember where you put

it.

MAKE SURE YOUR RESULTING FILE STARTS WITH "<METurn>"!

Now, when AutoMagic asks you where your XML file is, just select

this

text file, and MOST everything should work OK. Your capital hex may

be

messed up, but you can just type this in. (This will be fixed in the
next revision, but the capial hex works OK with normal XML files.)

If MeGames and Yahoo can't get things straightened out, there might

be

other options, (like sending it as a straight text file which Yahoo

MAY

not screw with). If it can't be resolved, I may be able to come up

with

an easier way for you to copy/paste the data from your E-Mail

directly

ยทยทยท

into AutoMagic, but this will be a work-around at best.

Mike Mulka