ancient version compatibility
Brian K. White
bw.aljex at gmail.com
Mon May 13 15:12:53 PDT 2019
Yes to get the raw data is simple.
Awk has a simple syntax for defining fixed-length fields & records, and
it would be straight-forward to read a map file to get those field
lengths and names automatically, and let that tear through all your
files by itself, and generate the equivalent csv, xml, json, sqlite,
mysql, whatever.
Beyond that you could keep going somewhat further if you wanted, add a
little more to it to get at least the basic edit types from the map, get
@cb @cd etc from the header, ignore deleted/free records, etc.
In fact I wonder of Bob Stockler or somebody didn't already write
something that does all that already.
It's probably existed already a few times over, like the old php module
for reading filepro files.
The core task of just reading the records according to the map is simple
and lots of tools are ready to do it, not just awk.
For a simple end-user home-grown app, just dumping out the raw data is
probably good enough. Meaning, there probably isn't too much in the way
of complex relationships between the data in different files.
--
bkw
On 5/13/19 4:22 PM, Laura Brody wrote:
> Ken, Ron and I worked on a version of filePro for Deskmate. The map,
> key and index files are compatible with DOS/Windows filePro. The
> screens and output formats are not compatible. It had prc tables. I
> don't recall details about processing, but it had it to some degree.
>
> Brian was talking about grabbing the data with AWK or with filePro I/O
> commands. Totally doable to pull the data out.
>
> Laura Brody
>
> On Mon, May 13, 2019 at 12:19 PM Jeff Harrison
> <jeffaharrison at yahoo.com <mailto:jeffaharrison at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
> I may wrong, but I seem to recall that deskmate was a Tandy
> product that was not related to filepro/Profile. Perhaps the data
> can be imported or read as a non-filepro file though.
>
> Jeff Harrison
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
> <https://go.onelink.me/107872968?pid=InProduct&c=Global_Internal_YGrowth_AndroidEmailSig__AndroidUsers&af_wl=ym&af_sub1=Internal&af_sub2=Global_YGrowth&af_sub3=EmailSignature>
>
> On Mon, May 13, 2019 at 12:12 AM, Laura Brody via Filepro-list
> <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> <mailto:filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>> wrote:
> The key file and indexes are compatible (old style indexes,
> obviously). I
> don't think that screens and reports are. It has prc tables.
> It knows about
> export. No print code tables. It used whatever the Deskmate
> default printer
> was.
>
> Have fun playing with it.
>
> Laura Brody
>
> On Sat, May 11, 2019 at 7:14 PM Brian K. White via Filepro-list <
> filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> <mailto:filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>> wrote:
>
> > Thanks much.
> > That's about what I was hoping. At least, it's worth trying
> even if it
> > doesn't pan out.
> > They have an installation that they started as a kid on
> their dad's
> > model II with deskmate 2, then migrated to tandy1000 / PC
> deskmate 3,
> > and by now it's running in virtualbox on linux. Originally
> he was asking
> > if there was a deskmate driver to print postscript to file, to
> > eventually get pdfs... Only later it came out he's using
> filepro.
> > Apparently he's been using the app for caving data all that
> time.
> > Worst case I can whip up a little awk program to dump the
> key files into
> > csv or xml or post into a mysql db.
> >
> > I have no idea what features filepro for deskmate had. Like,
> did it even
> > have prc tables? The export command? Print code tables (such
> that I
> > could supply him an hplaser one)? Could you print to file or
> print to a
> > script of your choosing via the command field in printer
> config like you
> > can today? Apparently the unknown version he has is new
> enough that all
> > the data is in the key files.
> >
> > Until this question, I had no idea that Deskmate was a
> distinct OS with
> > it's own executable format etc. I thought it was just a ui
> shell like
> > DosShell, or Desqview which adds multitasking on top of DOS,
> but is
> > still DOS runs DOS executables. But I figured the files might be
> > compatible with the dos version simply because that's
> probably what you
> > would have been porting from.
> >
> > Now I want to play with it just because it's so odd.
> >
> > --
> > bkw
> >
> >
> > On 5/11/19 7:47 AM, Laura Brody wrote:
> > > As I recall, the data files would be totally compatible
> with the
> > > DOS/Windows version of filePro. I am pretty sure that the
> screens
> > > would be too.
> > >
> > > Wow, that was a long time ago....
> > >
> > > Laura Brody
> > >
> > > On Sat, May 11, 2019 at 5:33 AM Brian White via Filepro-list
> > > <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> <mailto:filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
> > > <mailto:filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> <mailto:filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>>> wrote:
> > >
> > > Here's a good one.
> > >
> > > Someone on a facebook vintage computer group has a
> bunch of data in a
> > > Deskmate version of fp.
> > >
> > > Anyone know if the files would be directly usable by a
> dos/win
> > > version, or
> > > would they need xfer like if you were going from win to
> linux?
> > >
> > > --
> > > bkw
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