Bug 24330

Created attachment 96762 [details]
Example CSV with a BOM

Created attachment 96763 [details] [review]
Bug 24330: When importing patrons from CSV, automatically strip BOM from file if it exists

We have a partner that exports UTF-8 CSV files, and is experiencing the same thing as the author of this article: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-quick-tale-about-feff-the-invisible-character-cd25cd4630e7/

In short, Excel is inserting an invisible UTF-8 character at the start of the file, so that the column name "cardnumber" is actually named "\x{feff}cardnumber", causing "cardnumber" to be blank.

A simple solution is provided here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24390034/remove-bom-from-string-with-perl

Test Plan:
1) Download the example.csv file
2) Attempt to import it using the patron import tool
3) Note the invalid column name error
4) Apply this patch, restart all the things!
5) Attempt the import again
6) Assuming you have a branchcode MPL and a cataegory code S, the patron should import!

Created attachment 96789 [details] [review]
Bug 24330: When importing patrons from CSV, automatically strip BOM from file if it exists

We have a partner that exports UTF-8 CSV files, and is experiencing the same thing as the author of this article: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-quick-tale-about-feff-the-invisible-character-cd25cd4630e7/

In short, Excel is inserting an invisible UTF-8 character at the start of the file, so that the column name "cardnumber" is actually named "\x{feff}cardnumber", causing "cardnumber" to be blank.

A simple solution is provided here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24390034/remove-bom-from-string-with-perl

Test Plan:
1) Download the example.csv file
2) Attempt to import it using the patron import tool
3) Note the invalid column name error
4) Apply this patch, restart all the things!
5) Attempt the import again
6) Assuming you have a branchcode MPL and a cataegory code S, the patron should import!

Signed-off-by: David Nind <david@davidnind.com>

The example CSV file works correctly for me without the patch.

Do you get an error in the log?

Created attachment 98156 [details] [review]
Bug 24330: When importing patrons from CSV, automatically strip BOM from file if it exists

We have a partner that exports UTF-8 CSV files, and is experiencing the same thing as the author of this article: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-quick-tale-about-feff-the-invisible-character-cd25cd4630e7/

In short, Excel is inserting an invisible UTF-8 character at the start of the file, so that the column name "cardnumber" is actually named "\x{feff}cardnumber", causing "cardnumber" to be blank.

A simple solution is provided here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24390034/remove-bom-from-string-with-perl

Test Plan:
1) Download the example.csv file
2) Attempt to import it using the patron import tool
3) Note the invalid column name error
4) Apply this patch, restart all the things!
5) Attempt the import again
6) Assuming you have a branchcode MPL and a cataegory code S, the patron should import!

Signed-off-by: David Nind <david@davidnind.com>

Signed-off-by: Yew Chung College Library <library@yccece.edu.hk>

(In reply to Jonathan Druart from comment #4)
> The example CSV file works correctly for me without the patch.

I must admit I can no longer recreate the error, it appears I've lost the specific file that caused the error. The uploaded file no longer has the feff bom.

Created attachment 98173 [details] [review]
Bug 24330: When importing patrons from CSV, automatically strip BOM from file if it exists

We have a partner that exports UTF-8 CSV files, and is experiencing the same thing as the author of this article: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-quick-tale-about-feff-the-invisible-character-cd25cd4630e7/

In short, Excel is inserting an invisible UTF-8 character at the start of the file, so that the column name "cardnumber" is actually named "\x{feff}cardnumber", causing "cardnumber" to be blank.

A simple solution is provided here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24390034/remove-bom-from-string-with-perl

Test Plan:
1) Download the example.csv file
2) Attempt to import it using the patron import tool
3) Note the invalid column name error
4) Apply this patch, restart all the things!
5) Attempt the import again
6) Assuming you have a branchcode MPL and a cataegory code S, the patron should import!

Signed-off-by: David Nind <david@davidnind.com>
Signed-off-by: Yew Chung College Library <library@yccece.edu.hk>
Signed-off-by: Martin Renvoize <martin.renvoize@ptfs-europe.com>

I've run up against this one a few times myself.. I always wondered if we should be reading the BOM and doing something with it.. but actually I could never find any documentation as to 'what' to do.. so.. removing it makes sense to me.

Passing QA

Nice work everyone!

Pushed to master for 20.05

Pushed to 19.11.x branch for 19.11.03

backported to 19.05.x for 19.05.08

Backported to 18.11.x for 18.11.14.