Demystifying (Parsing) Your Market Export Logs

I thought I'd take a moment and teach some methods for parsing the information in the market export logs for anyone who is interested. There are two easy ways to go about this, both tested with OpenOffice.org 3.0 and Microsoft Excel. With OpenOffice.org, both methods are equally easy, but with Microsoft Excel, the first method will take some additional clicking.

The first step is to copy the data directly from the market log text file and paste it into the spreadsheet. If you're using OpenOffice.org, the text import parsing tool should automatically appear, and you should make sure to check only to separate fields by comma. With Microsoft Excel, after you paste the data, you need to select it and then go to Data > Text to Columns. When the Convert Text to Columns Wizard appears, Select 'Delimited', click 'Next', select only the comma as your delimiter, click 'Next', and then click 'Finish'.

The easier way is simply to set the file extension from .txt (text) to .csv (comma seperated values). This will tell whichever spreadsheet program you're using that the values in the file need to be parsed, and the appropriate prompts should appear automatically.

Hope this helps. =D

EDIT: Okay, due to overwhelming reader demand, I'm going to elucidate on the above subject. First, we'll go over what exactly parsing is.

Dictionary Definition
Encyclopedic Definition

When you're in the market screen, there is a button on the bottom that is labeled "Export to File." This will export the market information on the current item to a text file (on Windows, it's in your documents folder under EVE > logs > Marketlogs). Here is an example of the output:

Code:

price,volRemaining,typeID,range,orderID,volEntered,minVolume,bid,issued,duration,stationID,regionID,solarSystemID,jumps,
33999990.0,1.0,24700,32767,1164301868,1,1,False,2009-06-14 19:59:31.000,90,60009610,10000068,30005330,0,
33999990.0,3.0,24700,32767,1160130564,3,1,False,2009-06-14 23:27:24.000,90,60005212,10000068,30005302,5,
33999990.92,2.0,24700,32767,1163595648,5,1,False,2009-06-14 09:07:33.000,90,60010873,10000068,30005304,4,
33999997.9,6.0,24700,32767,1161224807,10,1,False,2009-06-12 16:20:00.000,90,60010303,10000068,30005302,5,
33999998.0,2.0,24700,32767,1151985183,5,1,False,2009-06-14 18:42:07.000,90,60010873,10000068,30005304,4,
34000000.0,5.0,24700,32767,1147120479,15,1,False,2009-06-11 12:50:30.000,90,60010300,10000068,30005304,4,
34000000.0,1.0,24700,32767,1160671949,1,1,False,2009-06-12 03:47:08.000,30,60010306,10000068,30005302,5,
34249997.99,4.0,24700,32767,1159524819,4,1,False,2009-06-11 07:22:43.000,90,60010300,10000068,30005304,4,
34400000.0,1.0,24700,32767,1162689123,1,1,False,2009-06-13 17:50:46.000,90,60010399,10000068,30005301,4,
34500000.0,1.0,24700,32767,1164214899,1,1,False,2009-06-14 18:55:03.000,90,60011908,10000068,30005323,4,
35000000.0,1.0,24700,32767,1146444282,3,1,False,2009-06-01 12:10:10.000,30,60010300,10000068,30005304,4,
36000000.0,1.0,24700,32767,1162640177,1,1,False,2009-06-13 17:09:47.000,30,60011905,10000068,30005325,6,
30750250.69,10.0,24700,4,1160139364,10,1,True,2009-06-14 00:47:36.000,90,60010396,10000068,30005304,4,
30300578.8,1.0,24700,10,1162703797,1,1,True,2009-06-13 18:02:42.000,90,60011899,10000068,30005322,3,
30300578.24,1.0,24700,10,1149427428,1,1,True,2009-06-12 14:25:32.000,30,60009556,10000068,30005304,4,
30000010.88,1.0,24700,3,1138399217,1,1,True,2009-05-26 17:28:30.000,90,60014719,10000068,30005305,5,
27500000.0,1.0,24700,3,923348480,2,1,True,2009-04-04 17:29:35.000,90,60009610,10000068,30005330,0,
362011.0,1.0,24700,32767,1046721035,1,1,True,2009-03-19 17:14:28.000,90,60009613,10000068,30005333,1,

Now, in order for the information to be intelligible or easily readable, it must be parsed. This is where spreadsheet programs come in. The tools that come with the spreadsheet programs analyze and separate the data values based on the parameters you specify.

UPDATE: Microsoft Works Spreadsheet will automatically parse the market logs without prompt when you open them.

Open office is also cheaper, i just had to buy another copy of Microsoft Office 07 *cries*

Natsume wrote:

Open office is also cheaper, i just had to buy another copy of Microsoft Office 07 *cries*

I hate any Microsoft Office suite after the 2003 edition. I'm still using MS Office 2003.

Give in to progress dude, Office 07 is sexy as hell once you get used to it.

PowerPoint 07 may be my favorite program

Do you think this would work with MS works spreadsheet? I don't use spreadsheets so Im not going to pay loads of £s for one. MS Works came with the Dell PC. 

I have literally NO idea what you're talking about

Mat are you refering to Mel or meIf it is me; when you buy a Dell Pc you get a free MS package called Works. In this package you get 3 application. A spreadsheet, a basic word processor and the 3rd I can't remember 

Yeah, Mel, what are you talking about? Can you explain in noob language?

Samual Smith wrote:

Do you think this would work with MS works spreadsheet? I don't use spreadsheets so Im not going to pay loads of £s for one. MS Works came with the Dell PC. 

I'm not quite sure. I'll have to check later, but I'll get back to you on that.

Lirael Dyrim wrote:

Yeah, Mel, what are you talking about? Can you explain in noob language?

Done. Check original post.

Thanks Mel and can't wait to use this 

Thanks Mel that makes a lot more sense!

Samual Smith wrote:

Do you think this would work with MS works spreadsheet?

I just tested this on Microsoft Works Spreadsheet and it works very easily. It will automatically parse the text file without even so much as a prompt, unlike Microsoft Office Excel.

 cheers Mel thats great 