Export or Extract All Data
 

Is there any way to export *all* of the data in the OF file or extract it in readable text from the XML file?

I have looked at the products of all the "Export" options. None of them (except perhaps the OF file which I can't decipher) include any of the information from the optional column fields or the note field. I would like to be able to archive completed actions, but what I am getting is less than the full data.

The backup and exported .ofocus documents are simply a directory containing a gzipped XML. You can do:

xmllint --format My.ofocus/contents.xml

to see the whole shebang.

There is a RelaxNG grammar inside the application that covers most of the file format; it should be fully covered before we ship. I think the only thing that isn't covered right now is the format of styled text and that is mostly the same as the OO3 XML file format, if you've dealt with that.

Once you've extracted the XML file; the next question is what you want exactly -- it would be pretty easy to use XSL to transform it to whatever you have in mind (well, as "easy" as XSL gets, anyway).

[QUOTE=Tim Wood;25434]Once you've extracted the XML file; the next question is what you want exactly -- it would be pretty easy to use XSL to transform it to whatever you have in mind (well, as "easy" as XSL gets, anyway).[/QUOTE]

What I want exactly is all the data for each action -- action, project, context, start date, due date, estimated time, flagged state, note -- preferably in a comma-delimited or tab-delimited file.

[QUOTE=Tim Wood;25434]xmllint --format My.ofocus/contents.xml
...
it would be pretty easy to use XSL to transform it to whatever you have in mind (well, as "easy" as XSL gets, anyway).[/QUOTE]

I read the terminal manual on xmllint. Using the xml file from the Omnifocus.ofocus file I made through export, I ran the command "xmllint --format OmniFocus.ofocus/contents.xml" and received the error "warning: failed to load external entity "OmniFocus.ofocus/contents.xml".

So, I pulled out the xml file from the package, renamed it d.xml, and ran the command "xmllint --format d.xml". That resulted in an enormous amount of unreadable text, but with English alphanumeric characters and + signs at the start of most of the lines of text. I saved the file as a txt file. It is not in the indented format that is described in the terminal manual or that is typical of XML files.

I read the tutorial on how to use XSL to transform XML on the [url]www.w3schools.com[/url] website. As I mentioned above, the file that resulted from the xmllint command does not look like the xml files shown there. Nonetheless, I tried using the FireFox browser to transform the file, which, of course, did not work, though viewing the source does produce a few recognizable English words in the sea of random-looking characters.

I would appreciate any additional help you are willing to provide.

P.S. Wouldn't it be easier just to add the other fields to the csv export function?

[QUOTE=dhm2006;25507]P.S. Wouldn't it be easier just to add the other fields to the csv export function?[/QUOTE]

The plan is to add all the other fields to the CSV export function (but it's worth noting that the exported notes in that format won't include any rich text formatting or attachments).

[QUOTE=Ken Case;25537]The plan is to add all the other fields to the CSV export function (but it's worth noting that the exported notes in that format won't include any rich text formatting or attachments).[/QUOTE]

Excellent. Thank you. I personally don't care about the formatting or attachments. I just want to archive old data in an easily readable form. I will wait for that function rather than fool around with the xml file any further. Thanks again.

[QUOTE=dhm2006;25491]What I want exactly is all the data for each action -- action, project, context, start date, due date, estimated time, flagged state, note -- preferably in a comma-delimited or tab-delimited file.[/QUOTE]

I left out the completed date data. That would be very important for an archive of completed actions. Added and modified dates would be nice as well. Data regarding repeating and reviewing would not be important to me, though someone else might like to preserve that data.