cmm1@CUNIXA.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Christopher M Mauritz) (06/10/89)
Is there a way to force a file with a filename that already exists to append itself to the end of the previous file rather than overwrite the old one? I am writing a DBaseIV application that creates a report and sends it to a disk file. I would like to just use the ALTERNATE SET TO: filename to collect the data as DBaseIV spits it out. It would be great if I could have one file collect all the output from one session. Maybe there is a better way? All this is designed to send the output to our LaserWriterII. The program does not support the printer so I need to collect the data and use WP 5.0 to send it to the printer. Sorry if this seems to be a simple question. I'm an Atari ST man who has been forcibly transplanted to the pee cee world. :-) As ever, any and all replies are greatly appreciated. Regards, ------------------------------+----------------------------- Chris Mauritz |Support the Chinese Students! cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu |Down with Li Peng! Jin tian, (c)All rights reserved. |Wo men duo shi zhong guo ren! ------------------------------+-----------------------------
baird@cod.NOSC.MIL (John M. Baird) (06/10/89)
From article <8906091823.AA06940@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu>, by cmm1@CUNIXA.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Christopher M Mauritz): > > Is there a way to force a file with a filename that already exists to > append itself to the end of the previous file rather than overwrite the > old one? Why not just redirect the DBase printer output to a file, collecting it there until you have everything you want, and then printing it? You can use a program called LPTX to do that, and it will let you append to the redirected file later on, if you want to. A portion of the LPTX man page is appended to this message. John Baird, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego -------- LPTx - Line Printer Redirection Program - V7.00 Calling sequence : LPTx [?] [-m] [-x] [-l] [-i] -p -f <[d:][\pathname\pathname]filename> where p = printer number : 1, 2, or 3 f = function : o for open a print file >NOTE>>> a for append to a print file <NOTE<<< c for close a print file drive letter & pathname are optional
richard@iesd.dk (Richard Flamsholt S0rensen) (06/14/89)
>Is there a way to force a file with a filename that already exists to >append itself to the end of the previous file rather than overwrite the >old one? I am writing a DBaseIV application that creates a report and I'm not quite sure how DBaseIV could handle this, but if your application program supports access to DOS, one way of getting round is by writing something like COPY OldFile.DBF + NewFile.DBF OldFile.DBF This simply adds your old file to the new extension and - voila !
awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) (06/14/89)
You're lucky. You're using dBASE IV, which now includes the syntax: SET ALTERNATE TO <filename> ADDITIVE This will append each session to the end of the existing file, rather than overwriting it each time. Hope it helps. /alastair/ Disclaimer: This is unofficial. Ashton-Tate doesn't speak for me, and I return the favor.
awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) (06/14/89)
In article <1552@cod.NOSC.MIL>, baird@cod.NOSC.MIL (John M. Baird) writes: > From article <8906091823.AA06940@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu>, by cmm1@CUNIXA.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Christopher M Mauritz): > > > > Is there a way to force a file with a filename that already exists to > > append itself to the end of the previous file rather than overwrite the > > old one? > Why not just redirect the DBase printer output to a file, collecting it there > until you have everything you want, and then printing it? You can use a > program called LPTX to do that, and it will let you append to the redirected Many people are familiar with dBASE III Plus and assume that we didn't improve many aspects of the language for dBASE IV. But we did. In addition to the SET ALTERNATE TO...ADDITIVE change mentioned earlier, we also now support SET PRINTER TO FILE <filename>. If there's something you need to do and dBASE IV can't do it for you, I'd like to hear about it :-). /alastair/ Disclaimer: This is unofficial. Ashton-Tate doesn't speak for me and I return the favor.
THALL@UALTAVM.BITNET (Tom Hall) (06/16/89)
In article <2061@iesd.dk>, richard@iesd.dk (Richard Flamsholt S0rensen) writes: > >>Is there a way to force a file with a filename that already exists to >>append itself to the end of the previous file rather than overwrite the >>old one? I am writing a DBaseIV application that creates a report and > >I'm not quite sure how DBaseIV could handle this, but if your application >program supports access to DOS, one way of getting round is by writing >something like > >COPY OldFile.DBF + NewFile.DBF OldFile.DBF > >This simply adds your old file to the new extension and - voila ! A better way would be to use COPY /B FILE1+FILE2, etc., otherwise, if you are copying text files, you will get an imbedded Ctrl-Z (end-of-file marker). If the files you are copying are NOT ascii text files, then omitting the /b could get you into some trouble ;-) This, at least, is my experience with DOS 3.3. Earlier versions I think may have behaved differently. In fact, I ran across a patch for DOS 3.3's copy command that fixed some bug or other.. Tom ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Hall FidoNet: 1:342/6 Edmonton, Alberta BitNet : THALL@UALTAVM.BITNET ----------------------------------------------------------------------