[Gpsbabel-misc] Question on XCSV Style Files

[<sta...@pa...>]

I've been beta testing Karl Smith's Mac OS X GUI version (GPSBabel+)  
and came up with a question regarding an arc/poly .txt file that I have.

The arc .txt file I created works in GSAK, formatted using the  
example that Clyde supplies: sets of lat/long coords separated with a  
COMMA, each on a line of its own. I threw that exact same file to  
Karl's GPSBabel+ in the "Advanced" mode, but it didn't work. Finally  
discovered that GPSBabel+ DOES NOT want a comma between the lat/long  
values, only a space. If I only use a space and not a comma for GSAK,  
then GSAK won't accept it.

Came to the conclusion that perhaps GSAK is doing something internal  
to strip out the comma before it passes it to gpsbabel (under-the-hood).

But Karl said there's an XCSV style that can be created that tells  
gpsbabel what the character is -- FIELD_DELIMITER. Basically any  
character can be defined to be the field delimiter (comma, space,  
tab...)

I tried entering FIELD_DELIMITER COMMA as the first entry in my  
arc .txt file, but that didn't work.

So the question becomes: how is the FIELD_DELIMITER directive  
actually used in a real-world scenario? Is it used in ANOTHER file to  
tell gpsbabel how to read the arc .txt file. If so, does that file  
have a specifc name? Where is it supposed to be placed (same folder  
as gpsbabel)? Using Karl's GUI, will gpsbabel automatically know  
where to look?

I know, probably has a simple answer, but I can't seem to find an  
example on the gpsbabel website.

TIA for any help...

Stan