What Is This?
Our data files use a five-digit CAP ID to identify the vehicle. Ever-increasing manufacturer makes/models/derivatives means we’ll need a six-digit CAP ID next year. The current ASCII file format we deliver our data in will not allow us to easily increase the field length to incorporate six-digit CAP IDs.
To change ASCII to include extra digits only delays the inevitable – it does not fix the problem and customers will STILL need development time to accommodate. Also, we are already truncating other areas of data to force it to fit into the existing fixed field lengths and reducing the quality of our data.
By moving to CSV, we move away from ASCII that is a legacy format and adopt more future-proofed solutions with the added benefits of higher quality data.
Below is a list of Product Name, Archive and File name with its respective documentation. The missing documentation will become available as it is completed, so keep checking back.
What Does This Mean?
Unfortunately our ASCII files will no longer be supported from End of May 2021 in favour of the more modern CSV format, to enable the future proofing of our data supply. As a result, all customers need to move to this new format as the ASCII format will be retired after the End of May.
How Will This Work?
The CSV files are compressed inside zip files, and no longer have the self extracting version that the ASCII files use.
For each ASCII file, a corresponding CSV will exist and will conform to the following:-
- The CSV file will have a corresponding Meta Data file, that will contain the same information that is held in additional leading / trailing lines in the ASCII files, such as the number of rows.
- The CSV file will have a corresponding Schema file that accurately represents the structure, order and data types of the CSV file.
- Fields are in the same order
- Blank text values in ASCII will appear as either an empty text values in CSV, or a quote blank (“”)
- Dates are always in the format yyyy/mm/dd in the CSV
- Boolean fields contain either True or False in the CSV
- Decimal fields contain a maximum of 2 decimal places for prices, and technical data fields will match the ASCII equivalent.
- The value should be equal when all leading and trailing spaces are removed from both values
- Some text fields contain a quotation mark in ASCII, and the corresponding text field in CSV will be wrapped in quotation marks, and the original quotation will appear as a double quote “” to escape it
- Some text fields that contain descriptive data, may have a longer version of the text than the ASCII content, listed below:-
- Short Derivative Name
- Derivative Name
Further Details
If you like like to see more details specifications of the files and their changes, please use the links below:-
- Phase 1
- Phase 2
- Phase 3
- Phase 4
If you have any further questions, please consult our FAQ
