Re: Tool to convert s/36 RPG I-specs to DDS???

[Pat Barber <mboceanside@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK... the "average" file can be done in a few minutes, but a 200 field
file is going to take a little longer. I don't believe I have ever seen
a S/36 F&I spec that accounted for every single byte in the file and
this normally can't be handled by a program. By the time you get a
"clean" version of the F&I, you could have written the DDS....

The tools will not create those wonderful(taken for granted) field
descriptions that we are all used to. This feature alone is worth
the time it takes to do it correctly.

I did a ton of S/36 conversions and found that the tools that were
offered were usually too crude to suit my taste. A typical S/36 file
set can be converted(and cleaned up) in a controlled manner and the
results will be much better. Mass changes create "mass mess" in my
opinion. I don't care for field names like: fld001,fld002,etc,etc.



Dan Bale wrote:
>
> You can do 200 field specs in "just a few minutes" ?!?!?  How 'bout I send
> those F&I specs to you, Pat?  You're a lot faster than I am.  <vbg>
>
> Also, I can see the potential where all of the client's QS36F files will
> need to be externally described someday.  Gotta drag them into the 21st
> century somehow.
>