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- CATDOS.APP
- By Jeff Bankston
- First published April 14, 1994
-
- CATDOS.APP is a small FoxPro project that converts TAPCIS-compatible
- CIS catalog files with the .CAT extension into an xBase database with
- the DBF extension. In this current revision, the only restrictions present
- are that the source file must have the .CAT extension as per what TAPCIS
- generates and the source file must also reside in the current directory
- where CATDOS.APP resides. To run the application, enter 'DO CATDOS<cr>'
- from the command window in Foxpro. If you do not have FoxPro v2.0, then
- you need the FoxPro redistributable files FOXDST.ZIP in the ZNT:TIPS forum.
- From the DOS prompt, with all files in the same directory, enter
-
- FOXPRO CATDOS<cr>
-
- to start the application.
-
- The 6 files in the archive CATWIN.ZIP are:
-
- 1) CATDOS.APP -----> the application itself
- 2) CATDOS.DOC -----> this text file
- 3) TEMPDBF.DBF ----> the template database
- 4) VENDOR.DOC -----> Vendor documents for distributing this program
- 5) README.TXT -----> important documentation about BCI Associates programs
- 6) INVOICE.DOC ----> how to register this product
-
-
- Please keep all three files in the same directory; in fact, this is a
- requirement of the template database.
-
- UPDATE - 01 May 1994; latest update is Build 4 version 1.29 which adds
- a little more error checking, different timer reporting functions, and
- fixes a bug in the path commands needed for the program.
-
- UPDATE - 03 May 1994; I usually don't post patches this close together,
- but I found a nasty one affecting running of the program. CIS catalogs
- have a DESCRIPTION limit of 549 characters; however, these 549 characters
- can exist in quite a few lines! I found one DESCRIPTION that was 22 lines
- long! Usually, they don't go over 8 or 10 lines. I added the capability
- to process up to 25 lines of a DESCRIPTION, and I also added a new field
- in the database that stores the name of the forum as a field entry. This
- is useful when you want to combine databases and be able to sort files
- based in a particular forum from this combined database. I also included
- a Windows PIF file that works well on my system.
-
- UPDATE - 05 June 1994; added some estimates as to how much, and how long,
- you can expect a particular conversion to take. It now reports every 3 to
- 5 seconds what these statistics are during the conversion.
-
- Send all feedback and comments to me at CIS 72040,2041. I take all
- comments, good, bad, and indecent...... especially the good.
-
- Jeff
-
-