Manipulate predefined data type/field format in customised Import Filter (X7)

Hi everybody,

first of all, sorry for my English but I’m a non-native speaker.

So here is my problem:

I would like to create a customised import filter with Endnote X7. In general I know how to define a new filter by editing the Import Filter Template by matching a tag (in my case a specific database field/field abreviation from MEDLINE) with the specific field(s) I want to be displayed in Endnote.

My problem is that MEDLINE has different predefined data types/field formats concerning the date. There are fields in MEDLINE where the field format for a date is defined as:  YYY/MM/DD but there are also fields where the field format for a date is defined as: YYYYMMDD. If I import these two different date fields with my customised import filter I have the problem that these two dates will be imported and displayed 1:1 as they where defined in MEDLINE (e.g. one field will be displayed in Endnote as: 2017/08/10 whereas the osther will be displayed as 20170810), which is in general not a big problem because I still get the information needed. BUT since I want to process these information it would be very important to me to find a way how I could manipulate the predefined field format YYYYMMDD so that it will be displayed and imported as YYYY/MM/DD in Endnote.

Is there any chance/way to modify or change the predefined data type setting for a field in Endnote or would I rather have to import the fields as given in Endnote and later maybe write a script which changes my dates to the format needed?

Many thanks in advance

Sabine

Do the two dates have the same “tag” or do they have different tags? It seems unlikely they’d be sharing the same tag if there are two different date formats. However, if they do share the same tag it will be a problem trying to differentiate and importing just one version into Endnote.

Could you attach a text file with a sample of 5 to 10 MEDLINE records showing the data to be imported and their respective tags?

Thanks for your reply.

The dates do have two different tags and would be imported as two separate fields into Endnote which works acutally fine.

My problem is that one date tag is predifined by MEDLINE as YYYYMMDD and the other one is predifined as DD.MM.YYYY which leads to the fact the the imported data is (‘just’) displayed in different formats (as designated above) in Endnote. So far so good.

As I want to process the imported data further I would like to know if there is any option of making them both beeing imported and displayed in the same date format (preferably) DD/MM/YYYY? 

Thank you

When you refer to “the other one is predefined as DD.MM.YYYY” are you referring to the “Last Updated” date field? The “Last Updated” date is determined by the Endnote software and the Endnote developers made the “Last Updated” field inaccessible to users so users cannot change the data within the software program.

It might be possible, however, to manipulate the exported Medline text by using either MS Excel or Word to find and replace the periods with slashes prior to importing the data into Endnote.

Actually by adding a screenshot I just wanted to illustrate the two different ways how the dates in the specific fields are displayed…

In my case I want to export the MEDLINE field DEP - which is predifiened as YYYYMMDD and the Medline PHST field - which is predefined as YYYY/MM/DD and I was wondering if I can change these two differently predifined field formats so that both fields are displayed in one consistent way without having to use Excel or Word or even writing a VBA script which manipulates the data automatically the way I would want it to…

So any chance to manipulate the way Endnote displays the predifined dates the way I want it to be displayed or is Endnote ‘just’ able to import fields the way they are predifined by the database provider?

Is the date the same in both tagged fields - it’s just that one omits the slashes? If so, then the simplest thing is to import the field with the correct date format then use Endnote’s Change/Move/Copy function to copy the correct date from the Endnote receiving field into whatever second Endnote field you want to have the date placed. If, however the date is different then there is nothing within Endnote (apart from manual correction) that you can do.

Unfortuantely the dates are (if they do exist) different. So I guess we have to change it manually.

Thanks a lot for your help!