diff --git a/tools/ExperimentSynchronizer/src/gov/anl/dm/esafsync/ExperimentList.java b/tools/ExperimentSynchronizer/src/gov/anl/dm/esafsync/ExperimentList.java
index 65789f2d2f344561418d921337e777deeb766abf..0c6a47fc6230043e79fb215100e8c8f04677b45e 100644
--- a/tools/ExperimentSynchronizer/src/gov/anl/dm/esafsync/ExperimentList.java
+++ b/tools/ExperimentSynchronizer/src/gov/anl/dm/esafsync/ExperimentList.java
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ class ExperimentList extends JFrame
 					// parse experiment data
 					String[] experiment = new String[getColumnCount()+1];
 					experiment[Column.NAME.ordinal()] = cells[0].substring(j);
-					experiment[Column.DESCRIPTION.ordinal()] = cells[1];
+					experiment[Column.DESCRIPTION.ordinal()] = cells[1].replace("$",",");
 					experiment[Column.START_DATE.ordinal()] = cells[3];
 					experiment[Column.END_DATE.ordinal()] = cells[4];
 					experiment[Column.MANAGER.ordinal()] = parseUsers(cells[5]);
@@ -245,36 +245,45 @@ class ExperimentList extends JFrame
 		submitDatesBtn.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
 			public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
 			{
+				entryLabel.setVisible(true);
+				submitDatesBtn.setVisible(true);
+				importExperimentBtn.setVisible(true);
+				importAndStartExperimentBtn.setVisible(true);
+				stopExperimentBtn.setVisible(true);
+				startExperimentBtn.setVisible(true);
+
+				DateLabelFormatter df = new DateLabelFormatter();
+				final Date startSelectedDate = (Date) startDatePicker.getModel().getValue();
+				String start;
+				String end;
 				try {
-					entryLabel.setVisible(true);
-					submitDatesBtn.setVisible(true);
-					importExperimentBtn.setVisible(true);
-					importAndStartExperimentBtn.setVisible(true);
-					stopExperimentBtn.setVisible(true);
-					startExperimentBtn.setVisible(true);
-
-					DateLabelFormatter df = new DateLabelFormatter();
-					final Date startSelectedDate = (Date) startDatePicker.getModel().getValue();
-		            String start = df.valueToString(startSelectedDate);
+					start = df.valueToString(startSelectedDate);
 					Date endSelectedDate = (Date) endDatePicker.getModel().getValue();
-		            String end = df.valueToString(endSelectedDate);
-					String list = oconnection.getExperiments(sector, start, end);
-					if (table == null) {
-						tableModel = new ExperimentTableModel();
-						tableModel.setTable(list);
-						table = new JTable(tableModel);
-						scrollPane = new JScrollPane( table );
-						topPanel.add( scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER );
-						table.setRowSelectionAllowed( true );
-						pack();
-						setVisible(true);
-						table.setVisible(true);
-					} else {
-						tableModel.setTable(list);
-						tableModel.fireTableStructureChanged();
-					}
-				} catch (SQLException | ParseException e1) {
+					end = df.valueToString(endSelectedDate);
+				} catch  (ParseException e1) {
 					JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, e1.getMessage());
+					return;
+				}
+				String list;
+				try {
+					list = oconnection.getExperiments(sector, start, end);
+				}catch (Exception e1) {
+					JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, e1.getMessage());						
+					return;
+				}
+				if (table == null) {
+					tableModel = new ExperimentTableModel();
+					tableModel.setTable(list);
+					table = new JTable(tableModel);
+					scrollPane = new JScrollPane( table );
+					topPanel.add( scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER );
+					table.setRowSelectionAllowed( true );
+					pack();
+					setVisible(true);
+					table.setVisible(true);
+				} else {
+					tableModel.setTable(list);
+					tableModel.fireTableStructureChanged();
 				}
 			}			
 		});