WebToData Tips
WebToData FAQs

Q1) 	When using the Multi-File Processing function I find that some files are not added to the data file.  I have checked the file structure and to the best of my knowledge all html files have the same structure.

A1)	Some html files may have data already separated by commas.  For example one file may have an address set out as street, state, zip.  Another html file may have the same data set out as street state or zip – in other words no delimiters are used to separate the data.  If the comma delimiter is used the extra commas found in the file will cause a problem.  To overcome the problem, use another delimiter.  The Tab delimiter is the most reliable because all tabs are removed from the file during preliminary processing.

Q2)	I want to use the Tab delimiter to separate data in my data file. However, because of the file structure I need to use Extended Pattern Matching.  How do I work out the data structure for the Options box when I cannot see the delimiters?

A2)	Change the delimiter to a type that you can see.  You can change your delimiter type at any time.

Q3)	Throughout the Help file I see reference to setting up Pattern Matching and Extended Pattern Matching.  How to do I get WebToData to show me the information I need to set up these features?

A3)	By opening a file and choosing to run the  “Transfer Web Page to Data” item from the Action menu you will get WebToData to attempt to process the file.  If the “Formatted Text” view is blank then the action was unsuccessful.  However, by selecting the “Text File” you see the data structure for the file.  Use this view to set up data matching options.

Q4)	Sometimes the program appears to truncate data. Is there a setting that can be changed to avoid this?

A4)	When processing data files it does not hurt to extend the “Text Length” to a large number.  I have when necessary extended the length to 2000.

Q5)	At times I wish to remove special characters or words found in the text.  How do I do this?

A5)	Use the “Clean Up” options to enter any valid character or group of characters that can be removed from the text stream.

Q6)	Can the multi-file function create a separate file for each file processed?

A6)	Multi-file processing can be set to either merge all processed files into one large file or it can create an individual file for each file processed.

Q7)	How many files can WebToData process in one batch using Multi-File processing?

A7)	Customers have reported being able to process thousands of files in one session.  The exact number that can be processed in one batch depends on a number of factors including file sizes, available memory of the computer, etc.

Q8)	Can WebToData be used to extract data from commercial sites?

A8) WebToData can extract data from any valid html file.  However, before extracting data from commercial sites, users of the program should check and understand copyright restrictions relating to particular sites.

Look for extra frequently asked questions at www.gltsoft.com