Defining Columns in Columnar ASCII Files

Columnar ASCII files can be used to import wells, horizons, faults, and culture, as well as when gridding and cross plotting XYZ files. In all cases you will be required to define the columns.

To begin the process you must first press the  button. When the Define Columns dialog opens you will immediately see the Original Text display in the lower text box. The data that will eventually be imported, or used in a process, will appear in the upper data box, which must be set up before you can continue.

How do I define the columns in a columnar ASCII file?

1. Use the Advanced Parameters Dialog to remove any unnecessary header rows.

2. Select the Input Format and:
   

• select the Delimiter or
  
• size the columns

3. Define the columns:
   

• manually or
  
• using First line is column labels

4. Optionally save the format file.

Using the Advanced Parameters Dialog

Use the Advanced button to if you need to remove header rows from the data to be imported. Often an import file can contain descriptive information at the top which can be removed from the file without having to edit the file in a different program.  To import correctly, the first line that is read must contain values for import.

1. Press the  button.
   

2. Enter the number of lines to skip at the top of the file. In some cases you may wish to leave the column labels visible to help when defining columns, or if you want to use the First line is column labels toggle. Alternately you can enter a Comment Character whereby any row which is preceded by the specified character will be ignored and will not appear in the data box.

With this set properly you should now see all of the columns in the data box lining up below the column header buttons.

Variable Width Columns

In some cases using a character delimited format won’t work and you must use either Fixed width columns or Variable width columns.Notice that when either of these is selected the Delimiter field will become grayed out because these options are no longer necessary.

Defining Columns

When all the data columns have been lined up you can define the columns. There are two options when defining columns:

Option 1 – Manually Define Columns:

1. Left click on the header button.
   
   
   
   
2. Select from the list of available Column Names. In some cases, like when importing horizons or tops, you will have to type in the name, or select it from the drop down list.
   
   
   
   

3. Press .
   

4. Continue defining columns until all of the columns of data that you want to import are defined. If any column is NOT defined the data contained within it will be ignored in the loading process.
   

5. If you have mistakenly labeled a column left click on the header and press .

Option 2 – First line is column labels:

1. Place a check mark next to First line is column labels. The column headers will be populated with the header information from the import file.
   
   
   
   
   

2. If you want to remove any labels simply left click on the header and press .

Note: When using the First line is column labels option double check all of the Column Names. If the name in the original file is not recognized by SeisWare it will not be used to populate the field. In addition if you are importing horizons or tops the column label must match exactly what is already in the project in order for it them be considered the same item. Changing a top name to match what exists in SeisWare already is a good way to avoid top duplication.

Saving Format Files

Saving format files is useful when you are always receiving information from the same source, and the import files are always being saved the same way. The Fformat file will save the Input Format, Delimiter, Advanced and Column Header information replicating the saved format.

A format file can also be as a starting point if you have a similar but not identically formatted file. After the format file is loaded further manipulations can be done.

• To create the format file, after setting up the columns but before exiting the dialog press .

• To use the format file, before starting any formatting press .

Finishing

1. Click to close the Define Columns dialog.