load csv file into a javascript file

Question

Is this possible ? I am wanting to pull out a price of a product from the csv file and tie that price to its particular part number.

I am doing this for a website and I am learning script programming at the same time, and I am unsure how to do this.

The JS file would call the csv file and pull the price and part number out of it.

From there the JS file will create a form to use with a Paypal shopping cart.

This is the paypal shopping cart code for the add to cart button:

<form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="XXXXX">
<input type="hidden" name="lc" value="US">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="PartNumber1">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" >
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="hidden" name="button_subtype" value="products">
<input type="hidden" name="cn" value="Add special instructions to the seller">
<input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="2">
<input type="hidden" name="weight" value=".5">
<input type="hidden" name="weight_unit" value="lbs">
<input type="hidden" name="add" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-ShopCartBF:btn_cart_LG.gif:NonHosted">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_cart_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
<img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
</form>

Using the variable I added to this button, the JS file would look similar to this:

function CalculateOrder(form)
{

if (form.item_name.value == "PartNumber1"
{
form.amount.value = (The price variable would go here);
}

if (form.item_name.value == "PartNumber2"
{
form.amount.value = (The price variable would go here);
}
}

What I need before this code in the JS file is the code that loads the csv file and outputs the price and part number. The JS file would search for the part number labelled called "PartNumber1" and output the appropriate price from the csv file.

HELP PLEASE !!

Answer 1

Sometime ago I wrote a script which downloads a CSV and plots the points. Perhaps it's a good starting point for you.

Answer 2

It is possible, but quite possibly more trouble then it is worth.

First you have to get the CSV data. This is easy, so long as it resides on the same server as the site - XMLHttpRequest is your friend. You can get the raw CSV out of of the responseText.

Then you need to parse it.

If you have a very simple CSV file, then you can split first on new lines (to get each row) and then on commas (to get each column).

Without testing, something like this might do the trick:

var csv = myXHR.responseText;
var rows = csv.split("\n");
for (var i = 0, j < rows.length; i < j; i++) {
  row[i] = row[i].split(",");
}

You could then look for the part number you want with:

var getPart = function getPart(partNumber) {
  for (var i = 0, j < rows.length; i < j; i++) {
    if (row[i][partNumberColumnIndex] === partNumber) {
      return row[i];
    } 
  }
};

However, CSV isn't as simple a data format as it looks at first.

If any of the data has a comma or a new line in it, then you can't simply split on those characters since you have to watch out for quote characters.

If I had CSV data that I really wanted to deal with on the client, then I would use Text::CSV and JSON::Any to convert to a format that JavaScript can parse natively before sending it to the client.

For this particular task, I'd probably forget about doing it client side altogether and just do everything on the server. I can't see much benefit on pushing this work off to the client. (Although, admittedly, I don't know all the details).

Answer 3

How would you go about doing this strictly on the server side ? I do have an excel file, that is where my data is kept. I can export this into whatever is the easiest as far as coding goes, whether it be a .csv file or something else, I am not partial to a .csv.

Answer 4

David,

Also, what part of the code loads the csv file ? I will need to point to the filename correct ? I will try these today and respond with results. Thanks !!

Answer 5

Can anyone answer this ?