View source for TXF 2 CSV

I used to use Scottrade as my broker and they provide capital gains information in an exportable TXF format file.  I use TaxAct Online to process my tax return.  TaxAct can't be bothered to create a TXF import, however, they do provide a CSV import.  I figured it would be fairly trivial to transform the data from one format to another.  The following is a ruby script which does just that.

<code lang="ruby">
#!/usr/bin/env ruby

in_header=true
idx=0
description=nil
date_end=nil
price_end=nil
date_start=nil
price_start=nil
quantity=nil
wash_sale=''
withholding=''
ARGF.each do |line|
  line.chomp!
  line.strip!
  line.gsub!(',', '')
  if in_header then
    if line == '^' then
      in_header = false
    end
    next
  end
  idx += 1
  case idx
  when 1..4
    next
  when 5
    if line =~ /P([0-9]+[.][0-9]{4}) of (.*)/ then
      quantity = $1
      description = $2
    else
      raise "error parsing #{line}"
    end
  when 6
    if line =~ /D(.*)/ then
      date_start = $1
    else
      raise
    end
  when 7
    if line =~ /D(.*)/ then
      date_end = $1
    else
      raise
    end
  when 8
    if line =~ /[$](.*)/ then
      price_start = $1
    else
      raise
    end
  when 9
    if line =~ /[$](.*)/ then
      price_end = $1
    else
      raise
    end
  when 10
    if line == '^' then
      print "\"#{description}\",#{date_end},#{price_end},#{date_start},#{price_start},#{wash_sale},#{withholding},#{quantity},\r\n"
      idx = 0
    end
  else
    raise
  end
end
 </code>

Unfortunately, the TaxAct import only works with Internet Explorer.  This is something I found out via trial and error.  I noticed that it would reject my file so fast that it could not have possibly uploaded it to TaxAct.  Their email support was completely worthless, only sending me to a link to the one and only help page.  

I logged onto a Windows machine and was able to upload the file without issue using IE 7.  TaxAct then allows you to select which columns match which header.  If you provide a header line it will auto select all matching headers.  This is nice, but on the next screen having a header line prevents you from using the 'Import All' feature.  The whole reason I went through the import process is because I have hundreds of records to input.  I deleted the header, and the was able to import all the data.

[[Category:Ruby]]