Leading zeros removed when exported to Excel!

Hi everybody.

I´m having trouble when exporting to Excel. I have columns in my report that are strings but starts with zero. Example: "0234", "0099", etc. When I export to Excel, those codes are transformed to "234" and "99" because Excel recognizes them as "General" format, not "Text" format. How can I force those fields (they are strings on my database) to be recognized by Excel as "Text" fields or, at least, "Customized" fields?

I´m using BIRT 2.3.2.

Help, please!

Regards,
Suri

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mwilliams

Hi Suri,

What version of Excel do you use? I used BIRT 2.3.2.2 with a computed column of type string with the value "00000123". When I exported to Excel 2007 from the web viewer, I got the string version of 00000123 as expected in Excel.

Suri

Hi Michael,
I´m using Excel 2000. I ´m using the tribix emitter for xls too (version 2.3) because it´s not possible to upgrade to Office 2007 or higher. May the problem be with this emitter? I posted this message at tribix forum but had no answer...

Thanks!

Regards,
Suri

mwilliams

Suri,

I don't have the Tribix emitter installed, so I can't check with it with my setup. I do have another computer with Excel 2003 on it. I'll download BIRT to it and see what I get with an older version of Excel. If that doesn't show the issue, I may try the Tribix emitter.

Suri

Any news about this issue?

Thanks!
Suri

mwilliams

Suri,

Sorry for the delay. I just tried it out on the other computer. Excel 2003 also recognizes the 0's in the string with the BIRT 2.3.2.2 XLS emitter. Sounds like it may be the Tribix emitter. Is there any way you can try the standard XLS emitter?

Suri

Hi Michael,
no, I can't use Excel 2003 (no license). I do have to use Excel 2000. That's why I'm using the Tribix emitter.
I will try another way.

Thanks for your support!

Regards,
Suri

mwilliams

Suri,

With the holiday, I haven't had time to try out the Tribix emitter. I'll try to get it done here soon and let you know what I see with the newer office version I have.