[LifeTimer]

When I’m using the CSV / TSV / DSV modes in EmEditor to view a file, its often some kind of log file, or some other column-based file (obviously).

Such files often have a title row at the top of the file, containing column titles for all the columns. However, it is very easy to get lost between the columns when scrolling down in the file, so a very useful option would be to be able to lock the first line when using CSV / TSV / DSV mode, in order to always see the column titles even when scrolling down into the file. This is actually quite a common feature i table-based viewers like Excel etc.

So, could you please implement this?

It would make my lifetime license so much more fun to have if I knew this was coming in a future version. ;-)

[Meir]

I’ll second this!

[Stefan]

>>Option to lock first line when using CSV / TSV / DSV mode

It’s already possible:

– execute Window > Split
– split to two horizontal panes (put the vertical delimiter far to the right to not split vertically),
—- while making the top of both panels very small, so you just see the first lines.

Now you can scroll the file in the lower pane as far as you like, while seeing the header line still in the upper pane.

.

.

[LifeTimer]

Thanks for the reply!

As far as I can see though, there isn’t a way to lock the side-scrolling for the two split windows? This sadly makes it impossible to use for me, since I use files with many columns, that always need side-scrolling, and in that case I would need the column headers to move in sync when I scroll the bottom window with the contents, otherwise I still can’t know which column is which.

Is this also possible?

Could you otherwise add an option for it?

It would be a very useful addition to this already nice split feature!

[Meir]

Dear Stefan,

Yes, you are right, as long as no horizontal scrolling is required what you suggest can indeed work. And this has an extra benefit when a file has some extra header lines before the column headers. It keeps the complete upper portion of the columnar file stationary and visible and allows one to scroll vertically and bring just the column headings into view.

But sadly enough, “LifeTime” is right too! There is probably no possibility to lock the side-scrolling for the two split windows.

So Yutaka, I would strongly suggest that your implementation of such a feature will:
1) take into account an arbitrary number of extra header lines, and
2) enable horizontal scrolling,
otherwise its usefulness will be rather limited.

Regards,
Meir

[Yutaka Emura]

Hello,

The next version will add an ability to fix the first line as the Header.

Thanks!

[Meir]

Dear Yutaka,

Please see my comment above. Just one line will make it useful for me only rarely…

Thanks
Meir

[Meir]

EDIT:

How about checking the first lines and only locking the first line that is actually CSV/TSV/DSV?

In my case these extra header lines are not CSV/TSV/DSV.

Regards
Meir

[LifeTimer]

Thanks a lot Mr Emura for adding this!

Oh, and in order to make it as flexible as possible, i.e. in order to e.g. please the opinions mentioned in this thread, I could suggest to make the number of locked rows configurable, or perhaps even more simple than that, do what I suggested above already, i.e. simply add the boolean option to synchronize the side-scrolling of split windows, and people could then split however they like and achieve this themselves, just like you originally suggested in this thread?

[Yutaka Emura]

Hello LifeTimer,

There is already the “Synchronize Horizontal Scrolling when Split” command available on the Window menu.

Thanks!

[Meir]

Dear, dear Yutaka!

1) Case closed, as far as I am concerned!

2) Which brings to me an old issue: “Tip-of-the-day”. Please make a bank of tips to be presented as part of the opening splash screen. The tip selected might be random but in a perfect world it might be based on the user’s profile and forum participation. It might require a more expanded profile (Languages used, features liked, etc.) It might also require attaching tags to forum posts.

For your consideration…

[David]

Yes, I agree ” locked rows configurable”. Sometimes we only need lock first line, but perhaps others would like to lock two or more lines. It’s better to give users the options to decide how many lines the would like.

[LifeTimer]

I’m afraid I just noticed one big disadvantage of the split window solution, and that is that it’s not scriptable/recordable to a macro, which is very handy to have instead of constantly having to do some 5-10 mouse click routine to activate it when necessary, so a custom option for it, with a configurable number of locked rows, which is in turn scriptable/recordable to a macro, would indeed be the best solution I think.

[Yutaka Emura]

v14.6.0 beta 1 includes this feature (Heading).

https://www.emeditor.com/emeditor-core/emeditor-professional-v14-6-0-beta-1/

https://www.emeditor.com/forums/topic/emeditor-professional-v14-6-0-beta-1-released/

Thank you!

[Thomas]

Even though this topic has been resting for three years, I would like to come back to the comment by Meir (July 13, 2014 at 11:18 am):

How about checking the first lines and only locking the first line that is actually CSV/TSV/DSV?
In my case these extra header lines are not CSV/TSV/DSV.

I generally work with files with extra header lines. The number of those lines is not constant, but they are clearly marked (starting with ‘# ‘). Is there a possibility to ignore comment lines (e.g. as specified in the ‘Highlight (2)’ section) for the header definition? If not, is it possible to implement this feature in an upcoming release?

Example data:
# Date=2017-10-30T16:37:58.155000+00:00
# BaudRate=115200
# ComPort=32
Column1;Column2;Column3
1478.165;725;1246
1478.815;749;1273
1479.394;765;1291

[Yutaka Emura]

Hello,

I am not exactly sure what the feature and purpose that you are requesting are. Can you please define your requested feature? Do you want EmEditor to select the correct CSV mode looking at the 4th row (ignoring 1st – 3rd)? Is this only for the “auto selection” of the CSV?

Thanks,

[Thomas]

Dear Mr. Emura,
Thank you for your reply. The problem arises when there are too many comment lines that get in the way of viewing the tabular data. In particular, there are two problems:
1) Scrolling behaviour: scrolling fixes the first comment line(s), and not the actual table header. The optimal scrolling behaviour would be: normal scrolling at the top of the file, until the header line (first non-comment line) is the uppermost displayed line. When scrolling further down, this line is locked and stays at the top of the display (as in current CSV mode).
2) Visibility of comment lines: the comment lines are cut off at the edge of the first column (making the first column wide enough to fit the comments is not a viable solution, since they can have up to a few thousand characters). This problem is not as important as the first one, but seeing the complete line would be “nice to have”.

Auto-recognition is not so important in my case, since the files have a specific ending. For column selection, CSV merging etc. the comment lines could be completely ignored and just the tabular data used.

Best regards,
Thomas

[Yutaka Emura]

I think I understand your both feature requests, but I don’t want to make EmEditor too complicated.

As for 1), you can use the Filter feature to filter out the comment lines (for instance, filter with # with negative option).

Thanks,

[Thomas]

Dear Mr. Emura,

Unfortunately the filter feature has a lower priority than the fixation of the header, i.e. the first (comment) line is fixed and the actual table header disappears when scrolling. Is there a possibility to invert that behaviour?
I understand your concern on making EmEditor complicated, one of the great things about EmEditor is the huge functionality in a user-friendly interface. However, I personally think that the option to ignore comment lines in CSV files is not a too complex feature, and hope that it may still be integrated in a future release.

Best regards,
Thomas

[Author]

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