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Database Import Facility
Version 1.2
March 28, 1990
Copyright(c) 1990
by
John L. Dove III
DATABASE IMPORT FACILITY Page ii
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
1. What is it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Let's run it! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
a. Database Import Facility Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
b. Input Filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
c. Output Filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
d. Main Work Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
(1) Output Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
(2) Cut and Snip Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
(a) Buffer Pop-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
(b) Field/Records Pop-up . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
(c) Mark Block Pop-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
(d) Help Pop-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
(e) Quit Pop-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3. What keys do I use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
a. Cursor movement keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
b. Buffer keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
c. Fields/Records Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
d. Marking Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
e. Help Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
f. Quit Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4. CardWare, or How do I register? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
L I S T O F F I G U R E S
Figure 1 - Input Filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Figure 2 - Choose File Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 3 - Output Filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 4 - Append/Overwrite Existing File . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 5 - Database Fields/Cut & Snip Area . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Figure 6 - Buffer Pop-Up Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Figure 7 - Fields/Records Pop-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Figure 8 - Mark Block Pop-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 9 - Help Pop-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 10 - Quit Pop-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 11 - Quit after all Records Loaded . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Figure 12 - Quit after all Records Loaded . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Figure 13 - Input Line Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Database Import Facility
by John L. Dove III
Version 1.2
March 28, 1990
1. What is it?
Database Import Facility is a utility to take unstructured ASCII
information and simply and easily get it into a comma-delimited
format for easy import into word processors or database managements
systems. It uses the keyboard to highlight blocks of characters and
place the blocks into user-specified fields. You monitor your
progress with a Field view which shows the contents of each field as
you go. When you have a complete record entered, you can then save
it to disk with each field surrounded by double quotes and separated
by commas.
2. Let's run it!
a. Database Import Facility Syntax
Run Database Import Facility by typing the following at the
command line:
C:\DIMPORT [Infile] [OutFile][<-'] ( Just type the
underlined part )
where
[Infile] is an optional input filename
[Outfile] is an optional output filename, and
[<-'] is the [Enter] or [Return] key.
NOTE: If you don't enter a filename, you will be asked for the
filenames at the beginning.
b. Input Filename
You will first be asked for the input file. You will now
see the prompt shown in Figure 1, asking you to either confirm the
name you placed on the command line, or to enter a new filename, if
you didn't enter one on the command line. Just type in the name of
the file from which you wish to get the raw ASCII lines to convert.
Use your [Left Arrow] and [Right Arrow] to move around the name to
correct it. The program will check for the existence of the file and
ask you to re-enter the name if it cannot find it.
+[ Loading Source Filename ]============[ Enter ? for Directory ]+
| Enter File containing source lines: ================ |
+================================================================+
Database Import Facility - Version 1.2 of 28 March 1990
Figure 1 - Input Filename
If you don't remember the filename, simply enter a question mark
(?) as the first character of the filename and you will see a full-
screen directory as shown in Figure 2. Use the arrow keys to move
the cursor to the input file of your choice and press [Enter].
DATABASE IMPORT FACILITY Page 2
Directories are shown with a backslash following the name. To move
to these other directories, simply place the cursor on the directory
name and press [Enter].
+[ Choose File ]=================================================+
| |
| ParentDir\ DISTRICT.LS1 VIRGINIA.LS1 WISCONSI.LS1 |
| A:\ DISTRICT.LS2 VIRGINIA.LS2 WISCONSI.LS2 |
| B:\ DISTRICT.LS3 VIRGINIA.LS3 WISCONSI.LS3 |
| C:\ MARYLAND.LS1 VIRGINIA.LS4 WISCONSI.LS4 |
| D:\ MARYLAND.LS2 VIRGINIA.LS5 WISCONSI.LS5 |
| E:\ ML-ALL WASHINGT.LS1 |
| F:\ ML-MISC WASHINGT.LS2 |
| |
| |
| |
+=[ Drive\Dir: C:\DIMPORT\*.* ]======[Pg: 1/ 1][File: 1/ 56]=+
+[ Loading Source Filename ]============[ Enter ? for Directory ]+
| Enter File containing source lines: ?================== |
+================================================================+
Database Import Facility - Version 1.2 of 28 March 1990
Figure 2 - Choose File Screen
c. Output Filename
If you don't specify an output filename, you'll see the
input filename with an extension of ".CDF" attached. This stands
for Comma-Delimited Format, a common input format for database
management systems and some word processor mail merge. If you wish
another extension, simply delete the extension and rename the output
filename. See Figure 3.
+[ Loading Source Filename ]============[ Enter ? for Directory ]+
| Enter Comma Delimited Filename: ML-ALL.CDF===== |
+================================================================+
Database Import Facility - Version 1.2 of 28 March 1990
Figure 3 - Output Filename
If you enter a filename which already exists, the program will
ask if you want to Overwrite the existing file (i.e., to delete it
and all information it contains) or to Append to it (i.e., add new
information to the end of the file). See Figure 4. This is useful
if you have to stop in the middle of a conversion effort. Just re-
start in the Append mode to continue (more on this later).
+[ Loading Output Filename ]============[ Enter ? for Directory ]+
| [O]verwrite/[A]ppend ML-ALL.CDF? ([O]/[A]/[N]o/[Q]uit) <N> |
+================================================================+
Database Import Facility - Version 1.2 of 28 March 1990
Figure 4 - Append/Overwrite Existing File
DATABASE IMPORT FACILITY Page 3
d. Main Work Screen
(1) Output Fields
You'll need a file on disk called DBFIELDS.IN which
contains all the fields you want to capture. Database Import
Facility loads this file and displays the fields at the top of the
screen, as shown in Figure 5. At the right of each fields will be
shown about 20 characters of the value you enter in this field. If
you edit the field, you'll get to edit the full value.
+[ Database Import Facility ]====[ Output Fields ]====[ Ver 1.2 ]+
| 1 First Na 11 Cat 21 VolCat |
| 2 Mid Name 12 MilCat 22 PatCat |
| 3 Last Nam 13 RecNo 23 Occupa |
| 4 Title 14 SeqNo 24 Company |
| 5 Address 15 HomePhon 25 OffPhone |
| 6 Address 16 AddDate 26 Ref |
| 7 Address 17 New/Rene |
| 8 City 18 MemCat |
| 9 State 19 MemDate |
|10 Zip 20 SPGift |
+[ Copyright (c) 1990 by J. L. Dove III. All rights reserved. ]=+
+[ Loading Fields ]===========================[[<][>][Home][End]]+
|H. E. Wilson |
+================================================================+
[B]uffer [F]ields [M]ark [H]elp [Q]uit
Figure 5 - Database Fields/Cut & Snip Area
(2) Cut and Snip Area
At the bottom on the screen, you'll find the work area
where you'll see the lines of text from your source file (See
Figure 5). Here you will mark blocks of characters to transfer into
the Output fields above. Below the Box, you'll find the Menu Bar
which can be activated by pressing the letter of the selection. When
you press [B], for example, you'll get a pop-up menu with additional
choices as shown in Figure 6.
These pop-up menus serve two purposes:
1. Choose a letter and perform the function, and,
2. The pop-up menu shows the synonym key you can use to
access the function directly.
(a) Buffer Pop-up
Figure 6. These commands address the input buffer of
ASCII lines. You have the option of pressing [S] to show the list of
lines currently in the input buffer, [F] to find a string in the
input file, [T] to move back to the top of the input file, [N] to
DATABASE IMPORT FACILITY Page 4
bring the Next line into the Cut and Snip area or [P] to move back to
the Previous line in. Database Import Facility knows if you have a
Next line ready or not, and retrieves another line into the buffer as
you need it. Notice the single keys [F9], [AltF], [AltT], [PgDn],
and [PgUp] can be used to perform these functions without using the
pop-up menus.
+[ Buffer ]==================+
| [S]how Buffer Lines F9 |
| [F]ind a record AltF |
| [T]op of Input File AltT |
+[ L| [N]ext Buffer Line PgDn |============[[<][>][Home][End]]+
|H. | [P]revious Line PgUp | |
+===|============================+===============================+
_[B]uffer [F]ields [M]ark [H]elp [Q]uit
Figure 6 - Buffer Pop-Up Menu
(b) Field/Records Pop-up
Figure 7. This Pop-Up menu collects together the
commands for manipulating individual fields and whole records. You
have the option of pressing [S] to Store a marked block in an output
field, [P] to strip periods from a marked block and then store to a
field (useful for converting N.Y. to NY, for example), [D] to delete
the current value of a field, [E] to edit the values currently stored
in the fields, [W] to write the collected fields out to the output
file, [C] to choose which fields are to be carried forward when the
record is saved to disk, [L] to list the first five fields of the
records which have already been written out to disk (useful if you've
forgotten what the last record you wrote). Notice that all the
functions have single keys which perform the function without the
need for this Pop-up Menu.
+[ Fields/Records ]===============+
| [S]tore Block in Field F2/Enter |
| [P]eriod delete and Store . |
| [D]elete One Field Del |
| [E]dit One Field F7 |
| [W]rite fields to Disk F8 |
+[ Loading Fields| [C]arry forward (set) AltC |][Home][End]]+
|H. E Wilson | [L]ist written records F6 | |
+================|=================================+=============+
[B]uffer _[F]ields [M]ark [H]elp [Q]uit
Figure 7 - Fields/Records Pop-Up
(c) Mark Block Pop-up
Figure 8. This Pop-up Menu contains the commands for
highlighting blocks for transfer to fields. You can press [B] to
mark the beginning of a block, [E] to mark the end of a block, [N] to
move the highlight to the Next block of characters, [X] to extend the
highlight to the next block, [P] to highlight the previous collection
of characters and [U] to remove the highlight. You'll find that he
DATABASE IMPORT FACILITY Page 5
single key functions will be much easier to use as you get more
experienced with the facility.
+[ Mark Blocks ]===================+
| [B]egin Hilite Block F3 |
| [E]nd Hilite Block F4 |
| [N]ext Block Hilite + |
| e[X]tend Hilite next Block Shft+ |
+[ Loading Fields ]===========| [P]revious Block Hilite - |
|H. E. Wilson | [U]n-Hilite Block F5 |
+=============================|==================================+
[B]uffer [F]ields _[M]ark [H]elp [Q]uit
Figure 8 - Mark Block Pop-Up
(d) Help Pop-Up
Figure 9. This provides immediate assistance
about Database Import Facility. In a way, each individual Pop-Up
Menu is a Help screen providing instant key equivalences. Press any
key to get the next page of help.
+[ Database Import Facility ]====[ Output Fields ]====[ Ver 1.2 ]+
| [ Database Import Facility Help ]=============================+|
||What does Database Import Facility do? ||
|| DB Import Facility takes an unstructured collection of ASCII||
|| assists you in taking each line, highlighting blocks of ||
|| putting them in your "fields" for saving to a Comma Delimi ||
|| can be directly imported into just about any database. ||
/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\
/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\
+| Press any key for next Help Screen... |+
|| ||
++==============================================================++
[B]uffer [F]ields [M]ark _[H]elp [Q]uit
Figure 9 - Help Pop-Up
(e) Quit Pop-Up
When you choose to Quit, Database Import Facility
checks to see if all input records have been loaded. If not, you're
asked if you really want to quit with more records to process, as
shown in Figure 10. If all records have been loaded, you are simply
asked if confirm that your want to quit.
+[ Load +[ Confirm ]=============================================+
| | Not all Incoming records loaded. Quit anyway? (Y/N) <N>|
+=======+==============================================|=========+
[B]uffer [F]ields [M]ark [H]elp _[Q]uit
Figure 10 - Quit Pop-Up
DATABASE IMPORT FACILITY Page 6
Notice that you will be notified when all lines have been loaded by a
message at the bottom of the bottom box. Figure 11.
[ Loading Fields ]===========================[[<][>][Home][End]]+
|Washington, D.C. 20003-4320 |
====[ All records loaded. Use [Q]uit when all written out ]====+
[B]uffer [F]ields [M]ark [H]elp [Q]uit
Figure 11 - Quit after all Records Loaded
After all records have been loaded, when you choose Quit, you will
get the standard Quit Confirm message, shown in Figure 12.
+[ Loading Fields ]=======================+[ Confirm ]=====+End]]+
|Washington, D.C. 20003-4320 | Quit (Y/N) <N> | |
+====[ All records loaded. Use [Q]uit whe+================+=====+
[B]uffer [F]ields [M]ark [H]elp _[Q]uit
Figure 12 - Quit after all Records Loaded
3. What keys do I use?
The following keys are active in Database Import Facility:
a. Cursor movement keys
(1) [<]/[>] Move cursor one column to the left or right.
If the cursor is in a Highlight, it will drag the
highlight with it as it moves.
(2) [Ctl][<]/[Ctl][>] Move the cursor one word at a time.
If the cursor is in a Highlight, it will drag the
Highlight to the next word.
(3) [Home]/[End] These keys move the cursor to the
Beginning or End of the line, respectively. This
is useful to highlight the whole line. The first
block is always highlighted; pressing [End] moves
the highlight over the complete line.
b. Buffer keys
(1) [F9] Show current Buffer. This shows the current
buffer of 20 lines from the input file. You may
scroll up and down this display and select a line
to go directly to a line. This is useful if you
are not exactly sure where you are. See
Figure 13.
DATABASE IMPORT FACILITY Page 7
+[ Database Import Facility ]====[ Output Fields ]====[ Ver 1.2 ]+
| 1 [ Lines in Buffer ]=====[ [Esc][<-'][Home][End][^][v] ]+ |
| 2 | | |
| 3 | Fred W. Williams, MD | |
| 4 | 231 N. Alabama Avenue | |
| 5 | Washington, D.C. 20002 | |
| 6 | John Mark Anthony, M.D., G.P. | |
| 7 | 213 Pennsylvania Ave, SE | |
| 8 | Suite 310 | |
| 9 | Washington, D.C. 20003-4332 | |
|10 | Peter Baskins, PhD | |
===| 210 7th Ave |====+
| Washington, D.C. 20003-2112 |
|-> Alexandra R. Simpson |
| 182 Sixth Street |
| Washington, D.C. 20003-2220 |
| |
+=======================================================+
+[ Loading Fields ]===========================[[<][>][Home][End]]+
|Washington, D.C. 20003-4320 |
+====[ All records loaded. Use [Q]uit when all written out ]====+
[B]uffer [F]ields [M]ark [H]elp [Q]uit
Use the [Up Arrow], [Down Arrow], [Home], [End] to move the cursor to
the buffer line you wish to selection. Press [Enter] to select and
place this line into the Cut and Snip area for parsing. If you press
[Esc], the Cut and Snip area will contain the same line as when you
brought up the line buffer.
Figure 13 - Input Line Buffer
(2) [AltF] Find a string in the input file. You will be
asked to enter the string to search for. The
program will begin with the current record and
search through the rest of the file for the
string. The search is case-insensitive (i.e.,
you may enter any combination of capital and
lower case letters and it will match any
combination of characters in the file).
(3) [AltT] Return to the Top of the input file. This is a
useful command when you have searched for a
string and reached the end of the file with no
success. Use this command to start over at the
beginning of the file with the next search.
(4) [PgDn] Get next line from buffer. When at the bottom
of the buffer, a new line is then read into the
buffer from the source file.
(5) [PgUp] Get previous line from the buffer. This is
useful you have to capture information you
missed. If you lose your place in the buffer,
use [F9] to find it.
DATABASE IMPORT FACILITY Page 8
c. Fields/Records Keys
(1) [F2]/[Enter] This stores a highlighted (marked) block
of characters in one of the Output fields shown
on the top of the screen. This is one of the
most common actions you'll take, so the default
is the [Enter] key.
(2) [.] (Period key). This works just like the [F2] key,
except that all periods are removed before the
block is stored. This is specifically for
removing the periods from an old-fashioned State
abbreviation (e.g., N.Y. becomes NY).
SPECIAL FEATURES with the Store keys. When you Store block
in a field, several things happen. The highlight is
advanced to the next block, the field pointer is advanced
so that the next Store command will automatically default
to the next field. This is useful when storing City,
followed by State, followed by Zip. This is the normal
sequence, so the keystrokes would be to press [Enter] to
store the City, enter the field number and press [Enter].
After it's stored, the highlight moves to the State. Just
press [Enter] twice (or press [.] and then [Enter]) and the
State abbreviation will be stored in the State field.
Press [Enter] twice more and the Zip Code will be stored.
(3) [Del]Delete the value in a chosen field.
(4) [F7] Edit a field of your choice. You'll get a larger
window, to see the total field for editing
purposes.
SPECIAL FEATURES with Del and Edit keys. If you find you
have to Delete or Edit a field, do so immediately after you
store it in the field. This will allow you to take
advantage of the feature which keeps the most recent Field
number for Delete or Edit. Simply pressing Del and [Enter]
will kill the most recently filled field. Similarly for
Edit.
(5) [F8] Write the current collection of fields to disk
under the Output filename. As an aid to
continued actions, the fields are blanked after
they have been written to disk. For fields which
are carried forward, the fields are NOT cleared.
(6) [AltC] Mark fields to carry forward from record to
record. If you are processing records with
numerous identical fields, choose [AltC] to mark
the repeating fields. Marked fields are shown
with their field numbers highlighted in the
Fields Window.
DATABASE IMPORT FACILITY Page 9
(7) [F6] Show a list of all records written to disk so
far. Just the first five fields of each written
record are shown; the last 20 records written are
shown.
d. Marking Blocks
(1) [F3] Mark (or highlight) the beginning of a block
(2) [F4] Mark the end of a block
(3) [+] Highlight the next block of characters. Blocks
of characters are separated by spaces and/or
punctuation marks.
(4) [Shf][+] [Shift] and the [Grey Plus] sign, will move
to the next block, dragging the highlight along
with it. This is useful for highlighting names
like "New York" or "Salt Lake City."
(5) [-] Highlight the previous block. This is useful if
you find you forgot to save one of the previous
blocks.
(6) [F5] Un-highlight or un-mark the block.
e. Help Keys
(1) [F1] This provides several pages of explanation for
the program as well as help with useful keys.
Note that the Menu Bars also provide key help,
since every selection has its function key
equivalent.
f. Quit Key
(1) [Q] This key exits Database Import Facility, asking
you to confirm that your really want to quit. As mentioned before,
if you have not loaded all the source lines, you will be advised and
asked if you really want to quit.
4. CardWare, or How do I register?
This software is copyrighted by John L. Dove III and all rights
have been reserved. It is being distributed under the new concept of
Cardware: If you use the software, you must register it by sending,
as a minimum, one Postcard to me at this address:
John L. Dove III
P.O. Box 15413
Arlington, VA 22215-0413
Please indicate your name and address and the version you are
currently using. If you do not wish to register, please remove the
software from your system. In any event, please pass the complete
file (including this DOCumentation file) on to your friends. (If you
feel you must provide a donation, it will be gratefully accepted.)
