[Qgis-user] csv import issue

[Telmo Nunes]

I have a recurrent issue when loading csv files.
When one of the fields is a text field only with numeric characters qgis
allways imports that field as numeric. You might ask why would I want a
field with numeric characters to be a text field, and the answer is that
one dataset I usually use, the administrative regions regions are coded
with numeric characters as text...for example 011312 that is converted to
11312 even if the values in the csv file have the quote markers (" or ')
and I define that on the csv import dialog (see below a csv example)

I have found diferent workarround solutions for this issue like:

- converting the code on the original shapefile to numeric
- importing the csv to a database and loading from the database
- creating a dummy record where i put a letter character in that field

They all work, but is just annoying to do this over and over and adds some
unecessary steps in the data analysis workflow (for example when importing
a satscan gis file output to map the clusters). My question is:

- Am I missing something here?
- If not, is it possible to fix that?

Below is a portion of a csv file, if you manage to import the file and keep
the LOC_ID field as text please let me know.

'ID';'LOC_ID';'CLUSTER';'P_VALUE';'CLU_OBS';'CLU_EXP';'CLU_ODE';'CLU_RISK';'LOC_OBS';'LOC_EXP';'LOC_ODE';'LOC_RISK'
1;'070105';1,00;1,0e-17;283,00;72,06;3,92;13,44;0,00;0,00;0,00;0,00
2;'070101';1,00;1,0e-17;283,00;72,06;3,92;13,44;0,00;2,58;0,00;0,00
3;'070103';1,00;1,0e-17;283,00;72,06;3,92;13,44;0,00;2,72;0,00;0,00
4;'071002';1,00;1,0e-17;283,00;72,06;3,92;13,44;47,00;3,12;15,03;17,07

My best regards

Telmo Nunes
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-user/attachments/20130907/91598f66/attachment.html>