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

If I can get the field names, sizes, & types automagically filled in, I'm
halfway there.  I'm not looking to press a single key and expect a finished
DDS member; I realize I'll have to inspect it.  Even if I do nothing else, I
now have something I can use (easily) in query and DBU/WRKDBF-type tools,
not to mention any new apps I write.

Actually, what I'm finding for this client is that they have the F&I specs
for each physical file in its own separate member.  Field description in
columns 75-120.  So there's my TEXT( ) right there.  Just a little tweaking
to the automagic app.

- Dan Bale
(I am *NOT* "Dale"
http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l/200105/msg00281.html )
SAMSA, Inc.
989-790-0507
DBale@SAMSA.com <mailto:DBale@SAMSA.com>
  Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
  (Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com
[mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Pat Barber
Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 10:43 AM
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: Re: Tool to convert s/36 RPG I-specs to DDS???


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.