How to specify the semicolon as separator in Eclipse with ADT ABAP Development Tools plugin

[Vlad_Ghitulescu]

Hey,

I'm using Eclipse Version: 2023-12 (4.30.0) with ADT 3.34.1 on a MacBook Pro 13" (M3, 2022) running macOS Ventura Version 13.6.3.

I need to download the table GT_ADRSTREET from Eclipse (see the attached screenshot) 

with the fields separated by semicolon.

Unfortunately there is no setting for the separator in Eclipse and the downloaded TXT-file looks like this:

Is there any other way to specify the separator in Eclipse?

Thanks!

Note: Trying to output the table directly as semicolon-separated CSV with the function module SAP_CONVERT_TO_CSV_FORMAT leads to a TSV_TNEW_PAGE_ALLOC_FAILED - error due to the size of the table.

Regards,
Vlad

[Vlad_Ghitulescu]

> Your title is highly misleading then, concerning "in Eclipse with ADT ABAP Development Tools plugin". That would be the same question with SE80. You are simply asking how to convert an internal table into CSV with semicolon (which has been asked a hundred times in the forum by the way).

I'm sorry if my title is not clear enough.

I don't want to be pedantic - only to clarify: I was NOT asking how to convert an internal table into CSV with semicolon - I already know and did this already, as I wrote in the note to the original posting.

I wanted to know if there is a way to specify another separator in Eclipse with ADT. This is what I'm using, so any reference to SE80 would not be relevant. 

BTW my very question is still unanswered 😀

[Vlad_Ghitulescu · Accepted solution]

I solved my problem - getting the table GT_ADRSTREET as a semicolon-separated CSV-file - by replacing the TAB with semicolon in the file I downloaded from Eclipse.

[Sandra_Rossi]

ADT debugger downloads tables with tabulations to separate fields, as you can see with an advanced text editor (here notepad++):

Why is it a problem to have tabulations as field separators, instead of semicolon?

Why are you talking about the function module SAP_CONVERT_TO_CSV_FORMAT if your question is about the ADT debugger?

[Vlad_Ghitulescu]

> Why is it a problem to have tabulations as field separators, instead of semicolon?

The generated CSV is loaded in Excel for the customer. It happened a couple of times that the TAB-separated CSV led to an unwanted shift where the fields were empty. This never happened with semicolon-separated CSV-files.

[Vlad_Ghitulescu]

> Why are you talking about the function module SAP_CONVERT_TO_CSV_FORMAT if your question is about the ADT debugger?

My question was how to change the default separator in Eclipse for the CSV-file.

This was only an aside to the question and positioned / marked as such.

[Vlad_Ghitulescu]

> ADT debugger downloads tables with tabulations to separate fields, as you can see with an advanced text editor (here notepad++):

Here a better screenshot of a similar TAB-separated CSV-file in the same BBEdit-editor, this time with the invisible chars made (sort of) visible:

[Sandra_Rossi]

Eclipse ADT debugger is for developers, not for customers. Again, I don't understand why you're talking about Eclipse ADT debugger for customers. If someone could tell you a solution how to download the internal table with semicolon via the ADT Debugger, it wouldn't help the customer.

[Vlad_Ghitulescu]

> Eclipse ADT debugger is for developers, not for customers. Again, I don't understand why you're talking about Eclipse ADT debugger for customers. If someone could tell you a solution how to download the internal table with semicolon via the ADT Debugger, it wouldn't help the customer.

What I need is a semicolon-separated CSV-file.

Since I work in Eclipse ADT I asked specifically if it is possible to change the default delimiter from TAB to semicolon.

I mentioned the customer only in reply to your question about why the TAB would be a problem - not in my original posting.

I didn't talk about Eclipse ADT debugger for customers.

[Sandra_Rossi]

Your title is highly misleading then, concerning "in Eclipse with ADT ABAP Development Tools plugin". That would be the same question with SE80. You are simply asking how to convert an internal table into CSV with semicolon (which has been asked a hundred times in the forum by the way).

[Sandra_Rossi]

Also, tabulations are better internationally-supported by Excel, along with characters encoded according to UTF-16LE and the file must be preceded with the corresponding Byte-Order Mark. It avoids having the problem of different user's regional settings, which can be either semicolon or comma.

[Vlad_Ghitulescu]

> Your title is highly misleading then, concerning "in Eclipse with ADT ABAP Development Tools plugin". That would be the same question with SE80. You are simply asking how to convert an internal table into CSV with semicolon (which has been asked a hundred times in the forum by the way).

(while editing the comment my browser crashed - apologize in advance if double posting!)

I'm sorry if the title is not clear enough.

I don't want to be pedantic, only to clarify: I was NOT asking how to convert an internal table into CSV with semicolon. I know how and did this already, as I mentioned in a comment above.

My question was how to change the delimiter in Eclipse with ADT - not in SE80, since I'm developing in Eclipse with ADT.

BTW: This question is still unanswered! 😀

[Vlad_Ghitulescu]

> Also, tabulations are better internationally-supported by Excel, along with characters encoded according to UTF-16LE and the file must be preceded with the corresponding Byte-Order Mark. It avoids having the problem of different user's regional settings, which can be either semicolon or comma.

Good to know!

Nevertheless, as previously mentioned, we had problems with Excel from TAB-delimited CSV-files when empty fields / cells, so that the requirement is a semicolon-delimited CSV.

[Sandra_Rossi]

Your ABAP question is about how to generate CSV (with semicolon) from an internal table, it's not related to ADT, SE80, VS Code or whatever IDE is used, I don't understand why you continue mentioning it, and why it's still mentioned in the title.