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CARDBUILD Utility V1.0
OVERVIEW.
The CARDBUILD utility will translate a text file into a format readable
by the DECWindows OOTB CARDFILER application. The purpose of this utility
is to allow quick migration from an existing database to CARDFILE format.
This is no limit on the size of the input file; there are, however, certain
limitations on the size of each text line within the input file. There are
also certain delimiters that are required, so that CARDBUILD can differentiate
between the title and the text of a card.
The input file must consist of alternating title and text lines (you can
have more than one line of text, but each text block must be preceded
by a title line). For best results, you will want to make sure that the
input is in ascending order by title (this is strongly suggested, but not
required).
THE INPUT FILE.
Here are the rules for the input text file:
> The Card Title:
o Must be preceded by an "&" (ampersand).
o Must be less than 40 characters (actually, it can be up to
eighty, but will be truncated at 40).
o Must be followed by at least one text line.
> The Card Text:
o Must be preceded by a "|"
o Can be up to eighty bytes per line. Please note, however, that the
default width of text displayed by CARDFILER is 38 bytes. Text longer
than this will wrap onto the next line. You can resize the window
within CARDFILER manually after loading the newly-created cardfile.
o Can consist of multiple lines, as long as each is preceded by the
text delimiter ("|") and the entire text block is preceded by
a title line.
o NEWLINEs are imported into the cardfile. This is the only way to
provide the user with some formatting capability.
o CANNOT BE BLANK. At this time you cannot use CARDBUILD to create
a cardfile consisting of titles without text.
> PLEASE NOTE:
o Results will be unpredictable if each title is not following by
one of more lines of text - i.e. there should be a 1:1
correspondence between titles and text.
o NO BLANK LINES in the input file.
HOW TO RUN CARDBUILD.
> Installation:
o @ORCAS::CARDBUILD_INSTALL
This procedure will copy CARDBUILD.EXE, CARDBUILD.OBJ,
CARDBUILD.DOC (this help file), and CARDBUILD.SAMPLE
(a sample input file). The executable is linked under
SDC V5.1; the object is provided if you need to relink.
> Invocation:
o CARD*BUILD:==$your_dev:[your_directory]CARDBUILD
You must define a foreign command to invoke CARDBUILD.
o $ CARD textfile cardfile
You must specify the textfile following by the cardfile.
Please specify full filenames, as CARDBUILD will not supply
the default .CARD extension for the output file.
> Build the sample cardfile (if you wish):
o $ CARD CARDBUILD.SAMPLE CARDBUILD.CARD
Creating the cardfile...
Records processed: 5
SUPPORT:
Like many other utilities, CARDBUILD is a midnight hack. Support
and maintenance, therefore, are at the mercy of my normal workday
schedule. I will endeavor to make changes and enhancements as
required by popular demand. Please send suggestions or questions
to ORCAS::HORMAN.
Thanks! I hope you find CARDBUILD a useful utility.
Craig Horman
ORCAS::HORMAN
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I should add that a large file will take a long time to load. A
cardfile with 500 cards, each with 5 lines of text, took 3-4 minutes
on my VS2000 (6 MB). Once it is loaded, of course, you can navigate
within it at a rapid rate.
To amend my base note: I will monitor this topic for feedback,
so respond here as well as via E-mail with suggestions, etcetera...
Craig
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