Convert HTML Table to Comma Separated Values

[mkswanson]

I have a file that is uploaded by the user that has a series of rows of data in an html table.

 

The columns are always a constant, but the number of rows in the file can change.  These rows of the html table are the only information in the file when I am processing it.

 

I need to either convert the file to a CSV file or write the values to a CSV list so that I can then insert them into a database.

 

Any suggestions would be wonderful...I've spent the last three hours spinning my wheels.

 

Here is an example of one row of data from the file:

 

<tr><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >5 (Excellent)</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >5 (Excellent)</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >5 (Excellent)</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT > </td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT > </td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >DATA</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >1015020</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >155498322</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >DATA</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >4731751</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >2011-09-25 11:18:33  (-5:00)</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >2011-09-25 12:16:50  (-5:00)</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >0:58:17</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >0:58:16</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >DATA</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >DATA</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >DATA</td><td bgcolor=#dddddd class=dataFT >Resolved</td></tr>

[oyster12]

as i think, convert the file type into suitable type is the best way to do it.

else, you can get the HTML content by a little php code, and then insert to the database

[cunoodle2]

I know that there is a much more efficient way to do this but this is the way that I know best..

 

You will need to start off reading in the file.  I will assume that you know that and that you will store said items in the variable $contents.  You will need to modify the loop I use too.  This is very very rough code.

 

<?php

//start the CSV for your file
$csv_string = "";

//create a position counter for how far you are in the file
$position = 1;

//create a temp value to store temp strings in
$temp_string = "";

while (//you will need something here to determine the end but again that will depend on the method you are reading with)
{
//determine the starting location of the variable you are trying to strip
$string_begin = strpos($contents,"dataFT", $position);
$string_begin = strpos($contents,">", $string_begin) + 1;

//determine the ending location of the variable you are trying to strip
$string_end = strpos($contents,"<", $string_begin);

//now you have the positions so you can strip out the variables
$temp_string = substr($contents,$string_begin,$string_end-$string_begin);

//now clean up any white space on the variable and then add it on to the end of the csv variable.
$temp_string = trim($temp_string);
$csv_string .= $temp_string.", ";

//reset the position variable so you advance in the loop
$position = $string_end;

} //end of the loop

//echo out your item here..
echo $csv_string
?>

 

Again, I know that this is not the most efficient way to do it but it does get you the results you need.

[mkswanson]

Thanks for the start here.  I've been trying to use get_file_contents to read in the file, but it seems to be dropping any of the characters I'm trying to use to parse this.  Is this because I should be using a different command?

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question - I don't have a lot of experience working with files since most of my work like this has been directly with a database and not an intermediate flat file.

 

Thanks for the assistance! 

[cunoodle2]

Post the code you have so far and I'll take a look