Export PM boxes as CSV

[valhallen]

What about a button you could click within your PM box to export as CSV? That way when ever your inbox is getting full you dont have to delete everything (or sit and copy and paste any you want to keep into notepad or something)

You just click click export as CSV (perhaps given option for all or just those checked)
and you are then presented with a nice CSV doc you can use to store all your PMs

heh if it gets given the go ahead I'll even write a CSV upload routine to convert the CSV back into a nice readable format (for those who dont know how to use a CSV file)

That way it could be uploaded - converted it into a nice XHTML/CSS page and the uploaded file destroyed (so no additional server space needed) and people can just save the XHTML output.


questions/comments?

[Katja]

CSV? I would prefer it if AO also has a webservice support so I could write a webservice client to connect to AO from my personally-written applications. Maybe that way I could also build my own forum-reader so I don't need a webbrowser but just integrate it in my own application. AO already has an useful RSS feed so I can use a feedreader to keep up-to-date with the forum.

I would advise against any export as CSV though. These days, XML is a much better format to send data from one place to another one. CSV isn't always working very well. With XML it is even possible to write a stylesheet and have this stylesheet format the XML data back to HTML if you want that. Or to whatever else.

So no CSV! XML!!!

[valhallen]

CSV IMHO is still just as usefull as XML - yes you can style XML using CSS but you can quickly write a routine to change CSV to XML (ok so you could say the same in reverse)

but you can also style CSV into a readable document through a simple routine. And you can also import CSV into excel etc so IMHO is better suited for easily importing into a database like Access.

Both have their own ups/downs - and I use both on a regular basis (software we have coded at work allows export/import of both CSV and XML [and excel] as different clients have different preferences)

My main reason for suggesting CSV is its easier to write an export routine for than XML

[Katja]

"Easier to write" is not a valid excuse in my opinion. Besides, technically speaking an XML file would be just as easy to write as a CSV file. The use of a DOM object or whatever other XML library isn't required to generate an XML file since basically, it's just a text file.

I have created XML files using nothing more than AssignFile/Rewrite/Write/WriteLn/CloseFile in Borland Delphi. Don't make it more complex than it actually is. XML, like CSV, is just a textfile. Yet XML allows more sophistication in the output that you generate. Multiple levels of data, for example.

[the_JinX]

As long as you design (or choose) your doctypes (and namespaces) right XML is great..

But yeah.. in whatever export format (well there are some exceptions :|) I think an export would be a good idea..