CkCsv Ruby Reference Documentation

CkCsv

Current Version: 10.0.0

A class for reading and updating CSV files. Provides methods for accessing cell contents by name or index, updating cells, reading and setting column names, etc.

Object Creation

obj = Chilkat::CkCsv.new()

Properties

AutoTrim
# boolVal is a boolean
boolVal = csv.get_AutoTrim();
csv.put_AutoTrim(boolVal);

If true, then the strings returned by GetCell and GetCellByName are auto-trimmed of whitespace from both ends.

top
Crlf
# boolVal is a boolean
boolVal = csv.get_Crlf();
csv.put_Crlf(boolVal);

If true, then CRLF line endings are used when saving the CSV to a file or to a string (i.e. for the methods SaveFile, SaveFile2, SaveToString). If false then bare LF line-endings are used.

top
DebugLogFilePath
# strVal is a string
# ckStr is a CkString
csv.get_DebugLogFilePath(ckStr);
strVal = csv.debugLogFilePath();
csv.put_DebugLogFilePath(strVal);

If set to a file path, causes each Chilkat method or property call to automatically append it's LastErrorText to the specified log file. The information is appended such that if a hang or crash occurs, it is possible to see the context in which the problem occurred, as well as a history of all Chilkat calls up to the point of the problem. The VerboseLogging property can be set to provide more detailed information.

This property is typically used for debugging the rare cases where a Chilkat method call hangs or generates an exception that halts program execution (i.e. crashes). A hang or crash should generally never happen. The typical causes of a hang are:

  1. a timeout related property was set to 0 to explicitly indicate that an infinite timeout is desired,
  2. the hang is actually a hang within an event callback (i.e. it is a hang within the application code), or
  3. there is an internal problem (bug) in the Chilkat code that causes the hang.

More Information and Examples
top
Delimiter
# strVal is a string
# ckStr is a CkString
csv.get_Delimiter(ckStr);
strVal = csv.delimiter();
csv.put_Delimiter(strVal);

The character that separates fields in a record. It is a comma by default. If the Delimiter property is not explicitly set, the CSV component will detect the delimiter when loading a CSV. (Semicolons are typically used in locales where the comma is used as a decimal point.)

Note 1: If the default comma delimiter is not desired when creating a new CSV, make sure to set this property before adding rows/columns to the CSV.

Note 2: If the application explicitly sets the delimiter to the vertical bar character ("|"), and if the EnableQuotes property was never explicitly set, then EnableQuotes will default to false. This is because when vertical bars are used, quotes are most likely to be treated the same as other characters.

top
EnableQuotes
# boolVal is a boolean
boolVal = csv.get_EnableQuotes();
csv.put_EnableQuotes(boolVal);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

If true, then the double-quote characters cause the quoted content, including CR's, LF's, and delimiter chars to be treated as normal text when reading/writing CSVs. The default is true.

More Information and Examples
top
EscapeBackslash
# boolVal is a boolean
boolVal = csv.get_EscapeBackslash();
csv.put_EscapeBackslash(boolVal);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.44

If true, then the backslash character is treated as an escape character when reading/writing CSVs. The default is false.

top
HasColumnNames
# boolVal is a boolean
boolVal = csv.get_HasColumnNames();
csv.put_HasColumnNames(boolVal);

Set to true prior to loading a CSV if the 1st record contains column names. This allows the CSV parser to correctly load the column names and not treat them as data.

More Information and Examples
top
LastErrorHtml
# strVal is a string
# ckStr is a CkString
csv.get_LastErrorHtml(ckStr);
strVal = csv.lastErrorHtml();

Provides information in HTML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

top
LastErrorText
# strVal is a string
# ckStr is a CkString
csv.get_LastErrorText(ckStr);
strVal = csv.lastErrorText();

Provides information in plain-text format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

top
LastErrorXml
# strVal is a string
# ckStr is a CkString
csv.get_LastErrorXml(ckStr);
strVal = csv.lastErrorXml();

Provides information in XML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

top
LastMethodSuccess
# boolVal is a boolean
boolVal = csv.get_LastMethodSuccess();
csv.put_LastMethodSuccess(boolVal);

Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of true indicates success, a value of false indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:

  • Any method that returns a string.
  • Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
  • Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = true and failure = false.
  • Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.

Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to true. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.

top
NumColumns
# intVal is an integer
intVal = csv.get_NumColumns();

The number of columns in the 1st row, which may be the row containing column names if HasColumnNames is true.

top
NumRows
# intVal is an integer
intVal = csv.get_NumRows();

The number of data rows. If the CSV has column names, the 1st row is not included in the count. Also, empty lines containing only whitespace characters that follow the last non-empty row are not included.

top
UncommonOptions
# strVal is a string
# ckStr is a CkString
csv.get_UncommonOptions(ckStr);
strVal = csv.uncommonOptions();
csv.put_UncommonOptions(strVal);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.88

This is a catch-all property to be used for uncommon needs. Chilkat may from time to time define keywords, which if present, change behavior in some way. If multiple keywords are needed, set this property to the comma separated list of keywords.

The following keywords are defined:

  • QuotedCells (v9.5.0.96) Forces all cell contents to be double-quoted when emitting the CSV to a file or string
  • QuotedColumnNames (v9.5.0.96) Forces all column names to be double-quoted when emitting the CSV to a file or string
  • EMIT_BOM (v9.5.0.93) Causes Chilkat to emit the utf-8 BOM (byte order mark) when writing the CSV to a file (assuming the CSV is written using utf-8).

top
Utf8
# boolVal is a boolean
boolVal = csv.get_Utf8();
csv.put_Utf8(boolVal);

When set to true, all "const char *" arguments are interpreted as utf-8 strings. If set to false (the default), then "const char *" arguments are interpreted as ANSI strings. Also, when set to true, and Chilkat method returning a "const char *" is returning the utf-8 representation. If set to false, all "const char *" return values are ANSI strings.

top
VerboseLogging
# boolVal is a boolean
boolVal = csv.get_VerboseLogging();
csv.put_VerboseLogging(boolVal);

If set to true, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is false. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

top
Version
# strVal is a string
# ckStr is a CkString
csv.get_Version(ckStr);
strVal = csv.version();

Version of the component/library, such as "9.5.0.94"

More Information and Examples
top

Methods

DeleteColumn
# index is an integer
status = csv.DeleteColumn(index);

Deletes the Nth column. (The 1st column is at index 0.)

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
DeleteColumnByName
# columnName is a string
status = csv.DeleteColumnByName(columnName);

Deletes a column specified by name.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
DeleteRow
# index is an integer
status = csv.DeleteRow(index);

Deletes the entire Nth row. (The 1st row is at index 0.)

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
GetCell
# row is an integer
# col is an integer
# outStr is a CkString (output)
status = csv.GetCell(row, col, outStr);
retStr = csv.getCell(row, col);

Returns the contents of the cell at row, col. Indexing begins at 0. (The topmost/leftmost cell is at 0,0)

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
GetCellByName
# rowIndex is an integer
# columnName is a string
# outStr is a CkString (output)
status = csv.GetCellByName(rowIndex, columnName, outStr);
retStr = csv.getCellByName(rowIndex, columnName);

The same as GetCell, but the column is specified by name instead of by index.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

top
GetColumnName
# index is an integer
# outStr is a CkString (output)
status = csv.GetColumnName(index, outStr);
retStr = csv.getColumnName(index);

Returns the name of the Nth column.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
GetIndex
# columnName is a string
retInt = csv.GetIndex(columnName);

Returns the column index for a given column. Returns -1 if no column exists with the columnName.

top
GetNumCols
# row is an integer
retInt = csv.GetNumCols(row);

Returns the number of columns for a specific row. If the row is larger than the number of rows in the CSV, a zero is returned.

top
InsertColumn
# index is an integer
status = csv.InsertColumn(index);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.89

Inserts a new and empty column before the Nth column. (The 1st column is at index 0.)

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
LoadFile
# path is a string
status = csv.LoadFile(path);

Loads a CSV from a file. It is assumed that the CSV file contains ANSI characters.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

top
LoadFile2
# filename is a string
# charset is a string
status = csv.LoadFile2(filename, charset);

Loads a CSV from a file. The charset specifies the character encoding of the CSV file. A list of supported character encodings may be found on this page: Supported Charsets.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
LoadFromString
# csvData is a string
status = csv.LoadFromString(csvData);

Loads a CSV document from an in-memory string variable.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
RowMatches
# rowIndex is an integer
# matchPattern is a string
# caseSensitive is a boolean
retBool = csv.RowMatches(rowIndex, matchPattern, caseSensitive);

Compares the contents of an entire row to a wildcarded match pattern where "*" can be used any number of times to match 0 or more of any character. Returns true if a match was found, otherwise returns false. If caseSensitive is true, then the pattern match is case sensitive, otherwise it is case insensitive.

top
SaveFile
# path is a string
status = csv.SaveFile(path);

Saves a CSV to a file. The output file is written using the ANSI character encoding.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

top
SaveFile2
# filename is a string
# charset is a string
status = csv.SaveFile2(filename, charset);

Saves a CSV to a file. The charset specifies the character encoding to use for the CSV file. The text data is converted to this charset when saving. A list of supported character encodings may be found on this page: Supported Charsets.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
SaveToSb
# sb is a CkStringBuilder
status = csv.SaveToSb(sb);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.93

Clears the contents of sb and writes the entire CSV into sb.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

top
SaveToString
# outStr is a CkString (output)
status = csv.SaveToString(outStr);
retStr = csv.saveToString();

Returns the entire CSV as a string.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

top
SetCell
# row is an integer
# col is an integer
# content is a string
status = csv.SetCell(row, col, content);

Sets the contents for a single cell in the CSV. The content may include any characters including CRLF's, double-quotes, and the delimiter character. The Save* methods automatically double-quote fields with special chars when saving. The Load* methods automatically parse double-quoted and/or escaped fields correctly when loading.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

top
SetCellByName
# rowIndex is an integer
# columnName is a string
# contentStr is a string
status = csv.SetCellByName(rowIndex, columnName, contentStr);

The same as SetCell, except the column is specified by name instead of by index.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
SetColumnName
# index is an integer
# columnName is a string
status = csv.SetColumnName(index, columnName);

Sets the name of the Nth column. The first column is at index 0. This method would only return false if an invalid index is passed (such as a negative number).

Returns true for success, false for failure.

More Information and Examples
top
SortByColumn
# columnName is a string
# ascending is a boolean
# caseSensitive is a boolean
status = csv.SortByColumn(columnName, ascending, caseSensitive);

Sorts the rows in the CSV by the contents of a specific column. If ascending is true, the sort is in ascending order, otherwise descending order. If caseSensitive is true then the sorting is case sensitive.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

top
SortByColumnIndex
# index is an integer
# ascending is a boolean
# caseSensitive is a boolean
status = csv.SortByColumnIndex(index, ascending, caseSensitive);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.83

Sorts the rows in the CSV by the contents of a specific column index. If ascending is true, the sort is in ascending order, otherwise descending order. If caseSensitive is true then the sorting is case sensitive.

Returns true for success, false for failure.

top