Strange characters in custom item data

[I][edited from support email][/I]

We experimented a bit with the responses.xls file and custom functions and principally it works BUT there seems to be a ML error while intercepting or interpreting the data.

As you can see (see attached files) we generated a website with a textarea (named message). The questionnaire has a custom item (the website) with the exact same variable name. Also we have this variable in our excel file. But it seems to us, that the data send by our website isn't reproduced the way it should. Spaces are presented as "+" and newlines as "%0%0%0%0". Because this same error occurs in the excel data file, we suppose it's happening within ML.

Generally, we think that it would be a very neat way of doing things. But participants should be able to actually read what they wrote: Do you have any idea why this happens? We tried different regional settings but that did not affect the outcome... also we formatted the cell as text/string (in excel) but that also did not change a thing.

Your help and hopefully a solution to this problem is as always very much appreciated!

[I][follow-up email][/I]

The way our programmer explained it to me, it is not intended with HTML. You just don't leave blank spaces when sending information.... so probably it will be hard to find a way. I tried different language types (in the header) but there was no difference. It would be great if ML could translate spaces and special characters and stuff BEFORE writing the data.

It seems like if I could have MediaLab do a search and replace with these special characters, then all would be ok. Probably best to do it before the stuff gets inserted into the xls file or even into the data file for that matter. Will see what I can do..

-Blair

OK, try this revision of the main medialab.exe file (see attached). In this revision, I search for any special character codes embedded in the form text and replace it with the actual characters. This way, when the data are saved (or re-displayed in your case) all the text should appear normal. Try it with your sample (above) and see if it works ok for you now.

I have to warn you though that I found a bug.. If a user types a "&" in their response, MediaLab will see that as a variable delimiter which will generate an error.. I need to think of a solution for this. This is not a new problem but I just discovered it and thought you should know.

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Works like a charm :) Thank you very much!
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[I]Note from Moderator[/I]

As of v2006.2.32 (posted 12/13/06), the problem with subjects entering an ampersand (&) in their custom item text responses has been fixed. Additionally, all upper and lower case information is properly saved.

See: [URL]http://www.empirisoft.com/support/showthread.php?p=1305[/URL]