Convert .odb files to text
Magnus Bergh
How can I convert an .odb file to a text file (on a PC)? The utilities
(dbf2text/text2dbf) in the OPL SDK only works for .dbf files.
Isn't there a utility that will work on .odb files? I don't want to hack
the odb file myself.
Magnus
Alan Roberts
Magnus Bergh (magnu...@kommunteknik.malmo.se) wrote:
: How can I convert an .odb file to a text file (on a PC)? The utilities
: (dbf2text/text2dbf) in the OPL SDK only works for .dbf files.
By far the easiest way is to save a copy of the file as Text. In DATA,
go to Save As (Psion-A) and select Text on the Save As line and whatever
you want as the delimiter on the line(s) below. Bingo.
: Isn't there a utility that will work on .odb files? I don't want to hack
: the odb file myself.
You can do this on a PC as well, using the Data file handler that's bundled
in PsiWin.
Hope that's what you wanted.
--
******* Alan Roberts ******* BBC Research & Development Department *******
* My views, not necessarily Auntie's, but they might be, you never know. *
**************************************************************************
Martin N. Dunstan
Magnus Bergh wrote:
>
> How can I convert an .odb file to a text file (on a PC)? The utilities
> (dbf2text/text2dbf) in the OPL SDK only works for .dbf files.
Have you tried renaming your .odb file to .dbf? An ODB file can
generally be regarded as a DBF file without labels etc. In which
case simply renaming the file might solve the problem. Certainly
a program would have have a hard time trying to tell the difference
between them if it didn't know the file suffix: ODB and DBF files
are pretty much interchangable.
Alternatively just use the save-as-text facility in Data (under
the emulator if you don't want to use the Psion ;))
Martin
Magnus Bergh
Thank you for your reply.
I have tried to rename the .odb file to .dbf and run dbf2txt but that did
not work.
Ii don't want to use (and can't because I have fields that are not strings
in my data file) the data program. The reason is that my opl program is an
order entry program which is used by persons who have little knowledge of
computers and I want it to be as automatic as possible. I only want to
enter data on the Psion and conversion etc (read data into another program)
shoul be done on a PC.
Any other ideas?
Magnus
Martin N. Dunstan <m...@dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk> wrote in article
<333BC587...@dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk>...
Alan Clifford
Hello "Magnus
Replying to a message of "Magnus Bergh" to All:
"B> From: "Magnus Bergh" <magnu...@kommunteknik.malmo.se>
"B> Newsgroups: comp.sys.psion.programmer
"B> Subject: Re: Convert .odb files to text
"B> Thank you for your reply.
"B> I have tried to rename the .odb file to .dbf and run dbf2txt but that
"B> did not work.
"B> Ii don't want to use (and can't because I have fields that are not
"B> strings in my data file) the data program. The reason is that my opl
"B> program is an order entry program which is used by persons who have
"B> little knowledge of computers and I want it to be as automatic as
"B> possible. I only want to enter data on the Psion and conversion etc
"B> (read data into another program) shoul be done on a PC.
"B> Any other ideas?
Have you found anything yet?
I've knocked together a little DOS program to do this (coo, 'C' is wonderful
after doing this sort of stuff in OPL).
It's very rough and ready but it saves a odb data as text to a file. At the
moment, it is ignoring floats (it just reads the 8 bytes and ignores them) and
it doesn't attempt to convert the embedded telephone symbol or the forced line
feed character. It handles words, longs and strings and the data applications
long strings.
Alan
(note: please remove the c in alanc in the address before replying by email)
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