Appendix C : Utility Programs and Extensions

Throughout this manual you will find the following symbol *. If you are reading this in the html Reader clicking on this item will take you immediately to the index.

This document contains information on all of the utility programs and extensions included with the DATAdesign package and some of the other programs that can be purchased to enhance its use.

* Section 1 : ConvExp

This utility program allows you to convert Archive export files for use in DATAdesign.
All character fields are treated as such, and numerical fields are treated as ieee doubles (floating point values).

When you run the programs, all you have to do is enter the name of the file to convert, and the name of the newly created file (including device if the data_use device is not suitable. The program can be run with a line like:

EXEC flp1_Convert
The DATAdesign engine must be loaded and Initialised.

Please note that this operation can only be performed on an Archive Export file.

* Section 2 : OLDtoNEW

OLDtoNEW is a program which allows you to convert your old DATAdesign files into files which are readable by DATAdesign v3 or v4. The operation is similar to Convert, you just have to enter the names of the old and new DATAdesign files. The program will report it if the given file is new enough, or not a DATAdesign file.

Because all old DATAdesign files were text files only, all fields are automatically converted to text field. If this doesn't suit you, you should use ConvOLD .

This program was originally written in C and the DATAdesign engine must be loaded and Initialised.

The source code of this program is included in the Application Programming Interface.

* Section 3 : ConvOLD

This is a program which does about the same is OLDtoNEW, except that it allows you to indicate the type of the new field. This program was written by Wolfgang Lenerz.

A small user manual is supplied in the file ConvOLD_txt, which can be read in any editor (e.g. QD), or with a line like.

VIEW flp1_ConvOLD_txt 
It is a compiled basic program which uses the Pointer Environment.

* 3.1 : File Size

When converting old DATAdesign files to new ones, you will notice that the size of the file will grow. There are two reasons for this increase in length. To start with DATAdesign v3/4 files have a long header in their files which defines the order in which text is compared in normal and reverse order, and a large area in which the field names are defined. This header is always equal in length and has to be provided because files can be disk-based.

On the other hand each field which is not empty will also be a bit longer. This is because all fields need a field header which states the length of the field and which field it is. The fieldid is included because not all fields have to be present in a record. This allows for adding of fields to the file. If this was not the case, then the adding of a field in a disk-based file would mean that each record would have to grow. This would in most cases prove very difficult to do.

The field length is also included because, contrary to old files, a field separator cannot be used as all values can occur within a field. This is especially true for the numerical and raw fieldtypes. Text fields don't suffer this problem, but are internally treated exactly the same as non-text fields.

* Section 4 : ConvFlBk

This is a compiled basic program which can convert any FlashBack file into a DATAdesign file. Because of the nature of FlashBack files, all fields are treated as text fields.

The source of this program is part of the Application Programming Interface.

* Section 5 : Application Programming Interface

The DATAdesign engine can be programmed from SuperBasic, SBasic, C, Assembler. If you want to make programs using the engine you should buy the API (Application Programming Interface) from us. For more information, write or call PROGS or contact the supplier of this program.

* Section 6 : PFdata

PFdata is a program specially written by PROGS to enable users to print DATAdesign files in a more sophisticated way than is allowed from the print command.

PFdata gives you the option to position text and DATAdesign fields accurately on a page and output this to your printer. Many different vector fonts can be used for this and the fontsize can be specified.

Owners of LINEdesign, the PROGS vector graphics program, can combine the designs produced with this program with data from a DATAdesign database to produce high quality printed output

* Section 7 : Pointer Environment

This space is reserved for the Pointer Environment text

* Section 8 : Menu Extensions

This space is reserved for the Menu Extensions Text

* Section 9 : ProWesS and the ProWesS Reader

If you are reading this as a printed manual then you may not have or be unaware of the ProWesS system introduced by PROGS in 1996. This is a new windowing system designed to be used by most of their programs. DATAdesign version 4 can be configured to use the ProWesS reader to display this file as a help file. For further information about this system contact PROGS or the supplier of the current software.


This document is mostly based on the original text for the DATAdesign Manual, revised and converted into html format by Roy Wood
PROGS, Professional & Graphical Software
last edited Saturday 24 August 1996