Replace Accented Characters in Export Fields

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When importing fields containing names or other text, accented or other special alphabetical characters (e.g., á, æ, î, ò, ü, etc.) can be included. If these characters are incompatible with the system you're importing your data into, you may need to replace them with their non-accented counterparts. The JavaScript configuration below allows you to swap these characters, leaving you with a usable export file. This configuration works with all of the following character types, along with their capitalized versions:

grave: à è ì ò ù
acute: á é í ó ú ý
circumflex: â ê î ô û
tilde: ã ñ õ
umlaut: ä ë ï ö ü ÿ
other characters: æ Æ ə đ ł ı þ œ Œ ø Ø § ß

Setting Up the Export

To complete this configuration, you'll need to add a Calculated Field to a Tabular/Spreadsheet Export. You can do this while configuring your Export by dragging a Calculated Field into the Columns to export.

After dropping in the Calculated Field, use the JavaScript Expressions option by clicking the function icon and dropping the code listed below into the Expression field.

Then, update the code to indicate which field you are exporting.

JavaScript Code

While following the steps above, use the following code in your JavaScript Expression:

{
    /* * * * * * * * * * * * *
     * * USER INPUT SECTION * *
     * * * * * * * * * * * * */

    let field = enter.fieldname.here;


    /* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     * * DO NOT EDIT BELOW * *

     * NOTE: This function takes two inputs and return a single question response from the
     * Admissions Application Data Object. This response is modified to replace accented characters
     * with their non-accented/normalized counterpart
     *
     * (available types [capitals included]:
     * * grave - à è ì ò ù
     * * acute - á é í ó ú ý
     * * circumflex - â ê î ô û
     * * tilde - ã ñ õ
     * * umlaut - ä ë ï ö ü ÿ
     * * additional characters - æ Æ ə đ ł ı þ œ Œ ø Ø § ß )
     *
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */

    function replaceAccents(field) {
        try {
            if (field == null || typeof field == "undefined") {
                return "";
            }
        } catch (e) {
            return "";
        }

        //remove accented char
        let noAccents = field.normalize("NFD").replace(/[\u0300-\u036f]/g, "")
            .replace(/[ø]/g, "o")
            .replace(/[Ø]/g, "O")
            .replace(/[æ]/g, "ae")
            .replace(/[Æ]/g, "AE")
            .replace(/[ə]/g, "e")
            .replace(/[Œ]/g, "OE")
            .replace(/[œ]/g, "oe")
            .replace(/[ß]/g, "ss")
            .replace(/[§]/g, "s")
            .replace(/[łı]/g, "l")
            .replace(/[đ]/g, "d")
            .replace(/[Đ]/g, "D")
            .replace(/[þ]/g, "p");
        return noAccents;

    }
    return replaceAccents(field);
}

Modify the Code

Once you've added this code to your JavaScript expression, you'll need to modify it.To do so:

Indicate which field you want to remove the accented characters from. Each form in the software has a key associated with it. Each field within each form also has a key. Find the key for the specific field you want to export. Use that to replace enter.fieldname.here on the let field = line.
After modifying the JavaScript Expression, click Update.
If there are other fields you need to remove accented characters from, continue adding Calculated Fields and repeat the steps as described above. Then run your export.