ESB Formatting¶
ESB File Structure¶
The CSV file must be comma-delimited, UTF-8 (with BOM omitted) .csv files, named according to the CSV documentation.
Header Row¶
The first line of the file, or header row, must conform to the following:
- The CSV file must include a header row containing a comma-delimited list of all data fields. NB: All data fields must be included in the header row, even if those fields are never used.
- All fields names must be in the same letter casing as they appear in the CSV documentation, e.g.
BallotReturnDate
is acceptable, butballotreturndate
is not. - All fields must be emitted in the order they appear in the CSV documentation.
Control Characters¶
The CSV file must be free of control characters, except for newlines, which should
follow UNIX syntax, i.e. \n
.
Missing Values¶
If a data point specified by a field is unavailable, place the value na
in
that field. Note that:
na
should not be used in a field when a value is not expected, such as anOtherType
, when the base field is not set toother
.na
must not be used in required fields.
Data Types¶
Each field
belongs to a particular data type. These data types constrain
the allowed values for a particular field. For example, a field of type date
must follow the conventions of a ISO 8601.
array¶
An array
is used to store multiple values in a single field.
[""first-value"",""second-value""]
NB: Even if a single value is to be emitted, it still must be surrounded by brackets.