Utilities

*TOOLS/CONVERTDATA

Convert Data File To/From Text

Formats

1. Convert Data File to Text:

CALL "*tools/ConvertData;Binary_to_Text", binPath$, txtPath$, password$

2. Build Data File from Text:

CALL "*tools/ConvertData;Text_to_Binary", txtPath$, binPath$, password$, flags$, retMessage$

Where:

binPath$

Required

Input

Path to the PxPlus data file (could also be an open channel to the data file passed as a string).

txtPath$

Required

Input

Path to the text version of the data file.

password$

Optional

Input

Password for the data file if required (null if no password).

flags$

Optional

Input

Possible values are:

"F"

Force using non-exclusive file access if existing binary file is in use.

Warning!
This can result in lost data if records are extracted by another task. Identifiers for non-available records are loaded into retMessage$.

"V"

Verbose mode displays a message box to the user to determine behavior when exclusive access to an existing binary file is not available.

Options are Retry, Continue (using non-exclusive file access) or Cancel.

retMessage$

Optional

Output

Contains identifiers for individual records that are not available (due to being extracted by another task) when non-exclusive file access is used.

If records are not available for removal, this argument will contain a "-"+$0A$ followed by a $0A$-separated list of keys/indices of those records. If records are not available for writing, this argument will contain a "+" followed by a $0A$-separated list of those records.

(The flags$ and retMessage$ parameters were added in PxPlus 2021.)

Description

This utility is a CALLed program that converts native PxPlus keyed (EFF, VLR, FLR) and indexed files to/from a formatted text file. The text version of the data file contains all the information (metadata and data) required to make a duplicate of the original file.

Converting native PxPlus files to a text format can be useful when comparing different versions of the same file or when used in conjunction with a source control system such as SVN.

Note:
The output file will be created if not already present.

(The ConvertData utility was added in PxPlus v10.20.)