T
E C H N I C A L
R
E F E R E N C E
Importing WeatherLink Data into Other Programs
101
I
M P O R T I N G
W
E A T H E R
L
I N K
D
A T A
I N T O
O
T H E R
P
R O G R A M S
When you create an export file (see “Export Records” on page 63) the software
creates a tab delimited text file. All that means is that the software creates a text
file which places each record on a separate row and inserts a tab between each
piece of data in that row. If you open the file in a text editor, it will look like this:
T
AB
D
ELIMITED
E
XPORT
F
ILE
Most popular spreadsheet and database packages have the ability to open or
import tab delimited text files while maintaining the structure of the original
database. Consult your program’s documentation for instructions on importing
tab delimited text files. You may also open or import the file in most popular
word processor programs as a text file. Because the data columns are separated by
tabs, you may generally choose any desired font.
L
E A P
Y
E A R
C
O R R E C T I O N
The weather stations which work with the WeatherLink software do not read Feb-
ruary 29 (Leap Day). Therefore, you will need to correct your database during a
leap year. The most important thing to remember is this: do not change the date
on the weather station from the station itself
. Instead, follow one of the two pro-
cedures below, depending on whether or not your computer keeps track of leap
years (which you can determine by checking the date on your computer after Feb-
ruary 29 to see if it has the correct date).
When you are within one week of February 29th in a leap year, the program will
automatically open a help file which informs you of the procedure for correcting
data in a leap year whenever you load the software.
Computer Keeps Track of Leap Years
If your computer keeps track of leap year itself, all you need to do is download on
or after February 29. The program will prompt you to confirm that you want to
correct data as it writes it to your database. Choose Yes to correct the data. When
finished, use the Set Time command to set the station to the correct date.
