home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Ham Radio 2000
/
Ham Radio 2000.iso
/
ham2000
/
satellit
/
orbits
/
sat_db13
/
readme.1st
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-02-24
|
2KB
|
33 lines
A Note on SAT-DB13 Structure 24 February 1994
In order to satisfy requests that the SAT-DB database be provided in an
ASCII format and in smaller blocks, the database has now been written out in
dBase II SDF (System Data Format). In addition, the file has been broken up
into five-year blocks according to the year of launch. For example,
SAT57-60.TXT contains all the satellites launched from 1957 through 1960.
The SDF represents a compromise which should be acceptable to all users.
Unfortunately, as with most compromises, there are some limitations.
The first limitation (for non-dBase users) is that in the ASCII file,
some of the fields run together. However, the data remains in a tabular
format with the fields (as described in SAT-DBF.DOC) beginning at columns 1,
11, 36, 41, 47, 56, 61, 70, 77, 82, 88, and 94. This should present a minor
inconvenience. If you do not agree with this assessment, please let me know
what problems it presents for your application.
The second limitation impacts dBase users. It requires that you
build the SAT.DBF from the SDF files. To do this, use the BUILDSAT.PRG
file. Simply type DBASE BUILDSAT. It will start with the empty SAT.DBF
(which contains the structure only) and APPEND from each of the SAT??-??.TXT
files using the SDF option. Again, since this procedure need be performed
only once, it should present only a minor inconvenience, provided you have
sufficient disk space.
Dr TS Kelso, SYSOP
Celestial BBS, (513) 253-9767
300/1200/2400/4800/9600 Baud, 24 Hrs
8 Data/No Parity/1 Stop
tkelso@afit.af.mil