SDF import / decimal separator problem

Hi,

since version 5.6.0.2 of IJC (not sure for 5.6.0, didn't test) the sdf import seems to be broken. During the import numbers like "12.34" or "98.2" are recognized as text. When importing into an existing table already having the same columns formatted as decimal numbers IJC refuses to import due to a type mismatch. So far I didn't find an option to change this behaviour.

The import is working fine if one replaces the "." by a "," manually using an text editor.

This might be related to issues that other people have posted concerning the handling of decimal separators that has changed between version 5.5 and 5.6.

The OS is a French Windows XP with default regional settings.

Best regards

Hi, could you try setting your regional settings on your computer to English and checking if it works?

I think the data conversion options now use the settings on your computer, and so import of files using "english" format (e.g. using dot as decimal place) may not be handled with "french" settings (e.g. using comma as decimal place).

We will investigate how to improve this.

Tim

Hi Tim,

maybe I wrote the initial message too quickly. The problem was demonstrated by a colleague. Just now I could not reproduce the problem on my own machine. I have to double-check this on Monday, because I need the user's password.

However, when IJC respects Windows' regional settings import/export should work fine if all computer in the company use the same version of IJC and the regional settings are the same. To be sure I'll check this on Monday, maybe there is just one configuration messed up.

Don't you expect problems when people from different countries exchange SDF files? Well, the "CTFile Formats"-documentation doesn't mention neither the comma/point nor the charset question.

Best regards

Hi again,

unfortunately I did not notice that in my case warnings or error messages were omitted, the file was imported, but the fields for decimal numbers remain empty. Maybe I have disabled something.

To track this issue down I repeated the test in a VM with a "clean" French Windows XP (only MS updates + JRE), once with default regional settings and once with settings for English (UK). Instant JChem was installed using default options. I exported a table to SDF and reimported it with the same regional settings, always leaving the default options untouched.  Some screenshots are attached.

Import works fine with UK settings, but fails with settings for France. In both cases SD files were created with dots as decimal separator.

HTH

Hi,

indeed there is a problem. The import works when the application is running US/UK or any locale using '.' as a decimal separator. Running with french locale (or any other that uses ',') I see that it doesn't detect field type correctly and think that there is some text.

We will try to fix it in next version. Sorry for the problem.

-Radim Kubacki

Hi Radim,

Obviously this issue is not fixed in 5.6.0.2.1.

Can you give me a hint what "next version" means? Are we talking about days, weeks or months?

Best regards

Nope, so far this was not prioritized as a critical problem and thus it was not released as a patch.

Surely it will be in 5.8 and maybe sooner.

-Radim

Hi,

I can confirm these problems, am having similar issues using Swedish regional settings. IJC only accepts comma as decimal separator, while I want it to use dot (which I manually changed in regional settings - Swedish has comma as default).

Importing SD files with dot separators in decimal number fields results in the fields being recognized as text upon import, and this cannot be changed.

Please fix ASAP, as this has been an issue before that presumably was fixed.

The problem will be fixed in IJC5.8. At the moment we are considering a port to 5.7 update to make it available sooner.

-Radim

This would be great!

Daniel

Thanks a lot for fixing this in 5.7.

Also many thanks for reenabling the use of the "." on the numpad.

Hi,

Is this supposed to have been fixed in 5.7? On my Win7 PC I upgraded to IJC 5.7 but am still stuck with decimal comma despite setting decimal point in Locale.

Thanks

Hello,

to HomerE: can you be more specific what exactly is your problem after the upgrade to IJC5.7.0? It is value editing, import to create a new entity, or import into an existing entity? Anything else? Can you point us to an example of an imported data if this related to import? I suppose we still talk about IJC running using Swedich locale settings. What OS?

Thanks,

Radim Kubacki

Hello,

I'm using Win7, 64-bits, local install of IJC 5.7.0.

I have Swedish locale settings, but manually adjusted decimal separator to point (because Swedish default is comma - I want point). This works fine in Excel, but not in IJC. If I create a new database, add a molecule by drawing, the calculated molecular weight gets decimal comma.

Thanks!

Thanks for your detailed explanation. Now we see what's happening there. The Java runtime component that is used to run IJC ignores your customization of number formats and only cares about the locale (and language variant). That's why you see commas used as a decimal separator.

-Radim

Thanks a lot, finally a solution. Especially welcome because something was evidently changed in 6.3 and this bug reappeared https://www.chemaxon.com/forum/ftopic9950.html

While on the topic of locale (mis)handling, I think a general export option to switch off digit grouping would be very useful. Grouping is convenient on screen, but works terribly when you need to import tab-separated file in Excel.

You are welcome! And thanks, we appreciate your feedback about the other issue.