Rick_McCormack@mindlink.UUCP (Rick McCormack) (03/14/91)
In an article, Chris Shenton <chris@asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov> writes: Chris: > I've got a text file of an old database which is basically a Chris: > mailing list with entries like the following. I want to load Chris: > it into records in Fox with fields as shown below: Chris: > Chris: > TEXT DATABASE DESIRED FOX FIELDS Chris: > Chris: > George Bush FirstName, LastName Chris: > [stuff deleted] Chris: > Currently, the file is a MS-WORD doc saved as plain text. Chris: > Lines are terminated by RETURN (I think) and a blank line Chris: > separates records. I could probably massage this so that Chris: > lines are separated by TABs, records by RETURNS -- would Chris: > this help? Chris: > Chris: > Any suggestions on how I can do this encoding? I don't want Chris: > to have to type it in... Chris, in MS Word, this is a three step process. Use Command-Y to show your hard returns and spaces, then: Change all ocurrences (sp) of two returns (i.e. the "end of record" marker shown by the blank line) into something like ")*(" or any other string that is extremely unlikely to appear naturally in the database. (Use the Command-H "search and replace function and remember that ^p {shift-6 is the caret, and the lowercase p} is MSW's return character in this dialog box.) Now, change all single reurns to tabs (the tab is entered in the dialogue as ^t {shift-6, lower case t}). Now change all the ")*(" strings from step one into single returns. IMPORTANT: When I do these things, I ALWAYS do 2 important steps FIRST. I make a copy of the file and work with the copy. And i often take about 1/3 of the file, from the middle of the file, save it as a test bed file, and try the conversion out on it first, then look at really closely for anomalies after the conversion. Luck -- _________________________________________________________ | IMAGISTICS Business Theatre Technology | Rick McCormack | | Interactive Effective Compelling | Vancouver, BC | |________________________________________|________________| | UseNet: Rick_McCormack@mindlink.uucp | A O-L: Rique | |_________________________________________________________| .
chris@endgame.gsfc.nasa.gov (Chris Shenton) (03/15/91)
I was going to use Hype-Card [sic], but ran into limitations, so now FoxBASE seems the way to go. I need some advice from people who have used it, as I'm just getting into the manuals now. I've got a text file of an old database which is basically a mailing list with entries like the following. I want to load it into records in Fox with fields as shown below: TEXT DATABASE DESIRED FOX FIELDS George Bush FirstName, LastName 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW StreetAddress Washington, DC 20001 City, State, Zip 202-666-1212 HomePhone 202-555-1212 WorkPhone $0.50 DonationAmount Andy Warhol 16 Chelsea St New York, NY 12345 ... Currently, the file is a MS-WORD doc saved as plain text. Lines are terminated by RETURN (I think) and a blank line separates records. I could probably massage this so that lines are separated by TABs, records by RETURNS -- would this help? Any suggestions on how I can do this encoding? I don't want to have to type it in... Thanks! -- chris@asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov ...!uunet!asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov!chris