Export from Pick/D3 to ASCII?

[cweeklund]

Let me preface this post by saying that I know nothing about Pick, D3,
or much about databases - I'm a network/pc guy. So please be gentle.

I have a customer who's looking to move from a custom built database,
to another, and the new db can import our data if we give it to them
in ASCII format. So, how do I do this?

I am able to export mailing lists through a function of the database,
but we have much more info than just addresses. We can do a full
backup dump file, but of course, it's not in an easily readable
format. The D3 file manager has an export button, but it's always
greyed out.

Are there any utilities that can help me? We use AccuTerm to connect,
and I see capture and download options, but how would I capture our
entire database.

I know I'm probably being incredibly vague, but any help would be
greatly appreciated, if I can be more clear, let me know. Thanks in
advance!

[Ed Sheehan]

Comments in-line:

"cweeklund" <cwee...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eaf28b2d.02022...@posting.google.com...

> Let me preface this post by saying that I know nothing about Pick, D3,
> or much about databases - I'm a network/pc guy. So please be gentle.

You're over-qualified for Pick already :-)

> I have a customer who's looking to move from a custom built database,
> to another, and the new db can import our data if we give it to them
> in ASCII format. So, how do I do this?

There are at least two popular ways:

1. LIST or SORT a file and capture the output using Accuterm or other
emulator, then save to ASCII format text.

a. A subset of this is to modify the LIST/SORT verb to produce
tab-delimited output if you prefer it in that format. I don't remember the
specific mod to do because I usually export by doing it this way:

2. Write a program to wade through the file, and pick up the fields desired,
using the dictionaries to help determine which fields are important, then
CRT the fields in any format required: delimited or fixed field length.

> I am able to export mailing lists through a function of the database,
> but we have much more info than just addresses. We can do a full
> backup dump file, but of course, it's not in an easily readable
> format. The D3 file manager has an export button, but it's always
> greyed out.
>
> Are there any utilities that can help me? We use AccuTerm to connect,
> and I see capture and download options, but how would I capture our
> entire database.

Accuterm may have some built-in utilities, but others can comment here,
because I am using wIntegrate currently.

> I know I'm probably being incredibly vague, but any help would be
> greatly appreciated, if I can be more clear, let me know. Thanks in
> advance!

Being specific is for programmers. Being vague is why there are analysts.

Good luck, and ask more questions as they arise (they will).

Ed

[Patrick Latimer]

Hire a consultant. Accuterm is a reasonable tool for this job,
but this is a big project for the un-acclimated. Unless you
have sterling (and current) file documentation, you do
not have much of a chance. If you have these, then you
can read this documentation:

http://www.jes.com/olbooks.html

Start with the RainingData doc, that explains the OS/DB setup
you could then use the Pick/BASIC: A Programmer's Guide
to write utilities to automate this process <g>
After this effort, you will either succeed as you are a *very*
bright fellow, or you will end up taking sugggestion #1.

By the way, from *what* D3 to what database structure. The
file structures are most likely not compatable

HTH, Patrick

P.S. There are professionals in this group who may have a
hard time with your project (details are vague) If you
succeed let us know.

[Mike Clarke]

On 21 Feb 2002 14:29:38 -0800, cwee...@hotmail.com (cweeklund)
wrote:

Accuterm includes data transfer programs FT and FTD
Check that these are installed in the account containing your data
If not look in the Accuterm manual for installation instructions.

Find the files you need to transfer
In the data account enter
LF (p
this will send a list of files to the printer

In each file find the DICT items that represent the data you want to
transfer. In the data account enter
LISTDICT Filename BY A2 (p
this will send the list of DICT items to the printer

Having got the file names and dict names then use Accuterm FTD comand

FTD
S - send
K - kermit
Pick file name - enter a Filename from the LF lreport
Pick item list - enter * to get all items
target file - enter c:\foldername\filename.xls (or filename.txt)
Note that older versions of Accuterm only accept filnemae in 8.3
format
Attributes to transfer - enter the DICT names representing the requird
data
Generate header record - answer Y - the top row in filename.xls will
have the DICT item names
Explode multivalue fields - answer Y - if there are any such fields
then you will get a row for each value

Accuterm should now transfer the data as a tab delimited file that you
can open in Excel

Note: Early versions of Accuterm do not support F correlatives so any
DICT item with an F correlative in attribute 7 or 8 cannot be used.
Contact Accuterm (www.asent.com) to check the capabilities of your
version.

Hope this helps

Mike

[Mark Addiss]

You could use the D3/ODBC routines and pass the data into Excel. You can
then save the data as CSV or various other formats. But this only solves the
transfer of the data not the dictionaries (if you need them).

"Ed Sheehan" <NOed...@xmission.com> wrote in message
news:a53u3k$qm2$1...@news.xmission.com...

[Bill H]

The simplest solution would be to list the contents of files to the spooler,
then move the spooler entry to somewhere on your network.

There is a little trick in D3 that allows you to create tab-delimited files.
This is done by copying the MD item "SORT" to "SORTT" and adding a 3rd value
(53) to field 2 so the new verb looks like:

'SORTT'
01 va
02 aa
5d
53

Now is your CUSTOMER file looks like:

001 Name
002 Address1
003 Address2
004 City
005 State
006 Zip
007 Balance

Then you could do the following:

:SORT CUSTOMER BY NAME ID-SUPP NAME ADDRESS1 ADDRESS2 CITY STATE ZIP BALANCE
(P

Hold entry# 002

Now you can copy this spooler entry wherever you want by doing:

:COPY PEQS 2 (D
TO:(DOS:D/Public Customer.txt

This should give you an exportable file. This seems to be much easier than
working with third-party software. The only downside is that the stupid
modified SORTT command doesn't put a column heading in the print file along
with the data, so you'll have to deal with this.

Hope this helps.

Bill

"cweeklund" <cwee...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eaf28b2d.02022...@posting.google.com...

[billemery]

that is impressive, ive always written a basic program to
put tabs in
im going to try this sortt myself

the problem here is that "ASCII" format could mean anything: a programmer
for data conversion shouldnt
cost too much, id do it for 50 an hour.

"Bill H" <wpha...@att.net> wrote in message
news:A6hd8.1358$%D5....@rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net...

[Mike Preece]

"Bill H" <wpha...@att.net> wrote in message news:<A6hd8.1358$%D5....@rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net>...

[good tip snipped]

> The only downside is that the stupid
> modified SORTT command doesn't put a column heading in the print file along
> with the data, so you'll have to deal with this.
>

I believe the suggested work-around was to create a dummy item with
the column headings as data and ensure it comes out as the first line
(giving it a null item id?).

Cheers
Mike.

[Bill H]

Mike:

Can you imagine how much code will break with a 'null' item id? E.g.

LOOP
READNEXT ItemId ELSE ItemId = ""
UNTIL ItemId = "" DO
.
.
REPEAT

Haven't we seen this before, lots of times? :-) Other than that, an
excellent idea to overcome the problem. It can also be built on the fly.

Bill

"Mike Preece" <mic...@preece.net> wrote in message
news:1b0b566c.02022...@posting.google.com...

[ysi]

If your new database is SQL server or Oracle, the best way to transfer data
is to convert your current files to D3 sql tables, retrieve those tables
within MS Access using D3 ODBC then import those tables into SQL
server/Oracle from Access. For any other SQL complaint databases you can
create your tables first then write queries inside Access to transfer data
from Access tables to those new tables.

Y.Si

"cweeklund" <cwee...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eaf28b2d.02022...@posting.google.com...

[Mike Preece]

I agree that null item ids are not a good idea, although I would code
the loop differently anyway:

LOOP
READNEXT ItemId ELSE EXIT
...
REPEAT

You wouldn't really want to leave the column headings as data in your
file. Maybe you could copy the data to a work file, create the heading
data in a null item, and run your AQL statement against the workfile
...USING DICT...

Or maybe we could wait for a fix from RD?

Cheers
Mike.

"Bill H" <wpha...@att.net> wrote in message news:<oZud8.7396$%D5.2...@rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net>...

[John Calder]

"cweeklund" <cwee...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eaf28b2d.02022...@posting.google.com...

> Are there any utilities that can help me?

We have developed "PixieEditor" which can export to MySQL, MSAccess or
MS_SQL_SERVER
Details and download 30-day trial at
http://www.pixieware.com

[Tony Gravagno (AntiSPAM)]

I haven't seen a response from you yet. Do any of the suggestions so far
help?

When you say "mailing lists", do you need to get address data into Microsoft
Outlook contacts and distribution lists by chance? If so, I have a direct
solution. Post a note here. Exactly what are your requirements?

Tony
(please do not e-mail SneakEmail AntiSpam address)

"cweeklund" <cwee...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eaf28b2d.02022...@posting.google.com...

[cweeklund]

I think we're going to find a consultant who can help. I appreciate
all of the responses, but I think we'll let a trained professional
have at it.

"Tony Gravagno \(AntiSPAM\)" <b9d0z...@sneakemail.com> wrote in message news:<6fze8.5353$FY5.4...@news2.west.cox.net>...

[runing...@gmail.com]

this is a very old thread but id like to ask if you ever got everything transfered? our small family business is currently using the same setup you have (a red hat linux server hosting the D3 database and our webstore attached to it, with using accuterm as the portal to access the information) I would like to move to something like odoo.com setup or anything else really. but our rep at keydatasystems will continuously give me the run-around when i ask if I can export our info into a different format. I am not as programming inclined as most of the suggestions here are leaning towards, so an easier solution would be appreciated. I really hate this system, its drastically outdated and doesnt support near the tools and functions it should be able to. any help is greatly appreciated.

[kpo...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, 3 February 2015 22:09:25 UTC-5, runing...@gmail.com wrote:

> I would like to move to something like odoo.com setup or anything else really. but our rep at keydatasystems will continuously give me the run-around when i ask if I can export our info into a different format. I am not as programming inclined as most of the suggestions here are leaning towards, so an easier solution would be appreciated. I really hate this system, its drastically outdated and doesnt support near the tools and functions it should be able to. any help is greatly appreciated.

This newsgroup is essentially "dead". You should get more responses by posting to the Google Group that replaces this newsgroup at the following link:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/mvdbms

Maybe there is an easy to use tool/application on the market to make extracting your data easier, but I am not aware of any. So, you will likely need some programming. It's not difficult, but could be time consuming, depending on the account/file structure of your existing system and what data is required to be exported.