Parsing a Quickbook IIF format file

Question

I'm working with Quickbook's IIF file format and I need to write a parser to read and write IIF files and I'm running into some issues reading the files.

The files are simple, they're tab deliminated. Every line is either a table definition or a row. Definitions begin with'!' and the table name, and rows begin with just the table name. Here's the problem I'm running into: some of the fields allow line breaks.

When I first encountered this, I thought, okay just parse it tab by tab instead of line by line, but to do that I had to replace the line breaks with tabs, and wound up with more values than there were columns, but I wound up with the values with line breaks spread out across too many columns.

How would you parse such a file?

Edit: An example

!CUST   NAME    REFNUM  TIMESTAMP   BADDR1  BADDR2  BADDR3  BADDR4  BADDR5  SADDR1  SADDR2  SADDR3  SADDR4  SADDR5  PHONE1  PHONE2  FAXNUM  CONT1   CONT2   CTYPE   TERMS   TAXABLE LIMIT   RESALENUM   REP TAXITEM NOTEPAD SALUTATION  COMPANYNAME FIRSTNAME   MIDINIT LASTNAME    CUSTFLD1    CUSTFLD2    CUSTFLD3    CUSTFLD4    CUSTFLD5    CUSTFLD6    CUSTFLD7    CUSTFLD8    CUSTFLD9    CUSTFLD10   CUSTFLD11   CUSTFLD12   CUSTFLD13   CUSTFLD14   CUSTFLD15   JOBDESC JOBTYPE JOBSTATUS   JOBSTART    JOBPROJEND  JOBEND  HIDDEN  DELCOUNT
CUST    St. Mark    359 1176670332  Saint Mark Catholic Church  609 W Main St   City, State Zip 
!CLASS  NAME    REFNUM  TIMESTAMP   HIDDEN  DELCOUNT
!INVITEM    NAME    REFNUM  TIMESTAMP   INVITEMTYPE DESC    PURCHASEDESC    ACCNT   ASSETACCNT  COGSACCNT   QNTY    QNTY    PRICE   COST    TAXABLE PAYMETH TAXVEND TAXDIST PREFVEND    REORDERPOINT    EXTRA   CUSTFLD1    CUSTFLD2    CUSTFLD3    CUSTFLD4    CUSTFLD5    DEP_TYPE    ISPASSEDTHRU    HIDDEN  DELCOUNT    USEID
INVITEM Labor   1   1119915308  SERV    Labor                                                                                               0
!TIMEACT    DATE    JOB EMP ITEM    PITEM   DURATION    PROJ    NOTE    XFERTOPAYROLL   BILLINGSTATUS
TIMEACT 3/8/08  876 Development Jane Doe {Consultant}   Labor       00:15       Renewing all domain name for 876 Development.
REIMBURSEMENT: 44.72 for one year renewal on all domain names.  N   1
TIMEACT 3/17/08 Greg:Bridge Jane Doe {Consultant}   Labor       01:00       Preparing Studio    N   1
TIMEACT 3/17/08 John Doe and Associates Jane Doe {Consultant}   Labor       00:06       REIMBURSEMENT: Toner cartridge on ebay & Fuser from FastPrinters- ask wendell before invoicing to see if this fixed the problem
49.99 (include tax) toner
$175.18 (include tax) fuser
    N   1
TIMEACT 3/17/08 John Doe II Jane Doe {Consultant}   Labor       01:00       Fixing Kandis's computer - replaced entire computer with similar system N   1

Could you include a sample of such a file? It would be much easier if we could see it. — Paul Beckingham, Jan 10 '09 at 16:30

Malfist · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-15T15:42:11.767

I did it:

 public DataSet parseIIF(Stream file) {
            iifSet = new DataSet();
            String fileText;

            using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(file)) {
                fileText = sr.ReadToEnd();
            }
            //replace line breaks with tabs
            //fileText.Replace('\n', '\t');
            fileText = fileText.Replace("\r\n", "\n");
            fileText = fileText.Replace('\r', '\n');

            //split along tabs
            string[] lines = fileText.Split('\n');

            this.createTables(lines, iifSet);
            this.fillSet(lines, iifSet);

            return iifSet;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Reads an array of lines and parses them into tables for the dataset
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="lines">String Array of lines from the iif file</param>
        /// <param name="iifSet">DataSet to be manipulated</param>
        private void fillSet(string[] lines, DataSet set) {
            //CODING HORROR
            //WARNING: I will monkey with the for loop index, be prepared!
            for (int i = 0; i < lines.Length; i++) {
                if (this.isTableHeader(lines[i])) {
                    //ignore this line, tables are alread defined
                    continue;
                }
                if (lines[i] == "" || lines[i] == "\r" || lines[i] == "\n\r" || lines[i] == "\n") {
                    //ignore lines that are empty if not inside a record
                    //probably the end of the file, it always ends with a blank line break
                    continue;
                }

                if (lines[i].IndexOf(";__IMPORTED__") != -1) {
                    continue;
                    //just signifying that it's been imported by quickbook's timer before, don't need it
                }

                string line = lines[i];
                while (!isFullLine(line, set)){
                    i++;            //<--------------------------- MONKEYING done here!
                    line += lines[i];       
                }
                //now, the line should be complete, we can parse it by tabs now
                this.parseRecord(line, set);
            }
        }

        private void parseRecord(string line, DataSet set) {
            if (isTableHeader(line)) {
                //we don't want to deal with headers here
                return;
            }

            String tablename = line.Split('\t')[0];
            //this just removes the first value and the line break from the last value
            String[] parameters = this.createDataRowParams(line);

            //add it to the dataset
            set.Tables[tablename].Rows.Add(parameters);
        }

        private bool isFullLine(string line, DataSet set) {
            if (isTableHeader(line)) {
                return true;    //assumes table headers won't have line breaks
            }
            int values = line.Split('\t').Length;
            string tableName = line.Split('\t')[0];
            int columns = set.Tables[tableName].Columns.Count;

            if (values < columns) {
                return false;
            } else {
                return true;
            }
        }

        private void createTables(string[] lines, DataSet set) {
            for (int index = 0; index < lines.Length; index++) {
                if (this.isTableHeader(lines[index])) {
                    set.Tables.Add(createTable(lines[index]));
                }
            }
        }

        private bool isTableHeader(string tab) {
            if (tab.StartsWith("!"))
                return true;
            else
                return false;
        }

        private bool isNewLine(string p) {
            if (p.StartsWith("!"))
                return true;
            if (iifSet.Tables[p.Split('\t')[0]] != null)    //that little mess there grabs the first record in the line, sorry about the mess
                return true;
            return false;
        }

    private DataTable createTable(string line) {
        String[] values = line.Split('\t');

        //first value is always the title
        //remove the ! from it
        values[0] = values[0].Substring(1);     //remove the first character
        DataTable dt = new DataTable(values[0]);
        values[0] = null;   //hide first title so it doesn't get used, cheaper than resetting array
        foreach (String name in values) {
            if (name == null || name == "")
                continue;
            DataColumn dc = new DataColumn(name, typeof(String));
            try {
                dt.Columns.Add(dc);
            } catch (DuplicateNameException) {
                //odd
                dc = new DataColumn(name + "_duplicateCol" + dt.Columns.Count.ToString());
                dt.Columns.Add(dc);
                //if there is a triple, just throw it
            }
        }

        return dt;
    }

   private string getTableName(string line) {
        String[] values = line.Split('\t');

        //first value is always the title
        if(values[0].StartsWith("!")){
            //remove the ! from it
            values[0] = values[0].Substring(1);     //remove the first character
        }
        return values[0];
    }

    private string[] createDataRowParams(string line) {
        string[] raw = line.Split('\t');
        string[] values = new string[raw.Length - 1];

        //copy all values except the first one
        for (int i = 0; i < values.Length; i++) {
            values[i] = raw[i + 1];
        }

        //remove last line break from the record
        if (values[values.Length - 1].EndsWith("\n")) {
            values[values.Length - 1] = values[values.Length - 1].Substring(0, values[values.Length - 1].LastIndexOf('\n'));
        } else if (values[values.Length - 1].EndsWith("\n\r")) {
            values[values.Length - 1] = values[values.Length - 1].Substring(0, values[values.Length - 1].LastIndexOf("\n\r"));
        } else if (values[values.Length - 1].EndsWith("\r")) {
            values[values.Length - 1] = values[values.Length - 1].Substring(0, values[values.Length - 1].LastIndexOf('\r'));
        }


        return values;
    }

    private string[] createDataRowParams(string line, int max) {
        string[] raw = line.Split('\t');

        int length = raw.Length - 1;
        if (length > max) {
            length = max;
        }

        string[] values = new string[length];
        for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
            values[i] = raw[i + 1];
        }

        if (values[values.Length - 1].EndsWith("\n")) {
            values[values.Length - 1] = values[values.Length - 1].Substring(0, values[values.Length - 1].LastIndexOf('\n'));
        } else if (values[values.Length - 1].EndsWith("\n\r")) {
            values[values.Length - 1] = values[values.Length - 1].Substring(0, values[values.Length - 1].LastIndexOf("\n\r"));
        } else if (values[values.Length - 1].EndsWith("\r")) {
            values[values.Length - 1] = values[values.Length - 1].Substring(0, values[values.Length - 1].LastIndexOf('\r'));
        }

        return values;
    }

Your code seems to be raw even on the first glance. For example, `fileText.Replace("\r\n", "\n");` has no effect since you are not handling the returned string. — AdelNick, May 15 '12 at 05:25

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 10 '09 at 17:29

1

It has been a while since I have done IIF but unless they have fixed it QuickBooks will barf on those line breaks anyway. It seems these folks have the same issue and they handled it with spaces.

Personally I would lean toward pipes or something that will clearly delineate the line break when it comes into QuickBooks. If you absolutely positively must have the line breaks, join the Intuit Developer Network and use the SDK to send these values to QB once your program imports them.

answered Jan 10 '09 at 17:29

nshaw

2,585
2
19
22

These line breaks come from Quickbooks itself, and it will not barf on them. Using the qbXML isn't an option for this program, I wish it was :( – Malfist Jan 10 '09 at 17:51
Oh OK. So you are exporting from QB? Sorry. Everyone is usually trying to import so I assumed you were doing the same. In that case I would probably parse by token - just capture everything between one TIMEACT and the next. – nshaw Jan 10 '09 at 17:53
well I'm doing both exporting and importing. That snippit above came from a file that quickbooks has already imported. – Malfist Jan 10 '09 at 18:04

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 09 '15 at 21:57

0

I found this on CodePlex. you can get it using the nugget package. https://qif.codeplex.com/

I tested it and I was able to read and write quick book format.

answered Jul 09 '15 at 21:57

Andre DeMattia

631
9
23

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 10 '09 at 16:31

0

Why not replace line breaks with spaces instead of tabs?

answered Jan 10 '09 at 16:31

Dmitri Nesteruk

23,067
22
97
166

because I want to retain the line breaks – Malfist Jan 10 '09 at 16:38

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 10 '09 at 17:49

I run into this sort of thing all the time. The key is to handling special cases like this when you're doing parsing is to replace the special case with something that's extremely unlikely to occur in the text, and then replace it again when you're done.

For example, you have line breaks in the output which can be readily detected with a Regex. Use Regex.Replace to convert them to something like LINEBREAK. Make it something that stands out in an editor for debugging. Then do the rest of your parsing as normal, and as the last step, replace the special token with the original value (or something new).

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 23 '09 at 14:06

Ideas:

Preprocess your file, replacing line break (assuming it's a single CR or LF) with some high-ascii character. Then parse by tab and finally replace said high-ascii with the line breaker afterwards.
Rather than process line by line, process character by character. Mind you, that still only works if the embedded line breaks are somehow different from the standard CRLF at the end of a record.

Parsing a Quickbook IIF format file

6 Answers6