You can select any combination of fields in any order, but there are certain combinations of fields which are often used together, and some that are incompatible with one another.

 

Dates

If the dates in the ASCII records are expressed in everyday date format (e.g. “31 Dec 1957” or “Dec 31 1957” etc.), then it will usually be possible to use the Date (String) field, and there is no need to use any of the other date related fields. However, if the dates in the ASCII records are split up into year, month and day parts, then the Year, Month and Day fields should be used instead.

 

Times

If the times in the ASCII records are expressed in everyday time format (e.g. “12:17pm” or “18:23:59” etc.), then it will usually be possible to use the Time (String) field, and there is no need to use any of the other time related fields. However, if the times in the ASCII records are split up into hour, minute and second parts, then the Hour, Minute, Second and AM/PM Indicator fields should be used instead.

Note: If no time field is present in the record definition, then the time defaults to 12:00 (Midday) when data is imported.

 

Zone Times

If the zone times in the ASCII records are expressed in everyday time format (e.g. “-9:30” or “+5:00” etc.), then it will usually be possible to use the Zone Time (String) field, and there is no need to use any of the other zone time related fields. However, if the zone times in the ASCII records are split up into hour, minute and second parts, then the Zone Hour, Zone Minute, Zone Second fields should be used instead. If the zone times are expressed in decimal hours, then only the Zone Time (Numeric) should be used.

Note: If no zone time field is present in the record definition, then the zone time defaults to 0:00 (GMT or UT) when data is imported.

 

Longitudes and Latitudes

If the longitudes and latitudes in the ASCII records are expressed in everyday time format (e.g. “84W59 59”, “34S55 21” etc.), then it will usually be possible to use the Longitude (String) and Latitude (String) fields, and there is no need to use any of the other longitude and latitude related fields. However, if the longitudes or latitudes in the ASCII records are split up into degree, minute and second parts, then the Longitude and Latitude Degree, Minute, Second and Hemisphere fields should be used instead. If they are expressed in decimal hours, then only the Longitude (Numeric) and Latitude (Numeric) should be used.

Note: If no longitude or latitude field is present in the record definition, then they default to 0W00 and 0N00 when data is imported.

 

Fillers

Filler fields must be used in the following circumstances...

•Importing Data - when the input records contain an item which is not relevant to the data required for import

•Exporting Data - when the output record needs to contain an item which is fixed in every record

Filler fields may have a default value specified for them. This default value is ignored when the record definition is being used for imported data, but if the same definition is ever used to export data, then that default value is inserted into the output record in the position where the Filler field appears in the definition.

 

Example

Import data record: “John Smith”,”1 Jan 1972”,17.834,”12:13pm”,85.6312,42.9832

 

The 3rd field in the record (17.834) is not relevant to the chart data, so the third field in the definition of the CQD definition should be a Filler.

Suitable record definition for above record format:

•Name/Description

•Date (String)

•Filler “0.0”

•Time (String)

•Longitude (Numeric)

•Latitude (Numeric)

If the same definition was used for exporting data, then this would produce the following output record:

“John Smith”,”1 Jan 1972”,0.0,”12:13 PM”,85.6312,42.9832