It has been a few years since I created my FLD file but I learned the secret and I am sharing it here.?ÿ I saw the other thread on F2F and thought of this.
The FLD File is a CSV with | as a separator.
Create a FLD file with a few varying codes, 2d, 3d, linework, block insert, layer, etc.?ÿ Import the FLD into Excel using | as a delimiter.?ÿ Now create all your codes in a spreadsheet.?ÿ There are two options for saving.
Save as CSV and replace all , with |.
Or change the universal setting from , to | in windows and save as CSV.?ÿ Be sure to change it back.
Rename your file to FLD and run it.
I've followed this approach (I tend to use Microsoft Access so I can query and update various codes as needed) but the process is generally the same.
Some "gotcha's" that Excel might throw at the unsuspecting user are the injection of "" string separators so the sage advice is not to use fancy characters in Excel (e.g. commas in descriptions and " symbols in descriptions, etc) as you might wind up making more work for yourself.
Also note that if you categorize your codes, the categories are prefixed in a certain way (I won't delve into that here) so the best advice is to do your best to keep it simple in the spreadsheet and let the Carlson interface handle the rest.