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*.DAT Files

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    *.DAT Files

    Can anyone tell me if thier is a progam for displaying and
    editing dat files please

    Kind Regards

    John

    #2
    RE: *.DAT Files

    John,

    *.DAT files produced by what, for what purpose? DAT is kind of a catchall
    file extension, kinda like .TXT. I've seen multiple uses of it. More infor please.

    Dan

    Comment


      #3
      RE: *.DAT Files

      Hi Dan

      Sorry for lack of information, The DAT file I want to look at are from a program that I used to use for banking it was called Personel Cheque Book or PCB it was a shareware program, The problem is that I archived all the transactions to an archive file but unforunatley once this is done you can not edit them but all the files are *.Dat file extensions
      ie: Transact.dat, Archive.dat does this Help

      Kind Regards

      John

      Comment


        #4
        RE: *.DAT Files

        In dealing with data from other programs I have found that either exporting it or editing it into a Character-Separated ASCII File format for import into Alpha is the easiest way to go. Sometimes you can more easily import data into spreadsheet programs and the export it to a dbase format Alpha can read directly. The best method depends on what you have and are familiar working with.

        The first thing to do is to look and see if your program has any export capabilities. In this case it sounds as if you do not. Sometimes after either copying or renaming a file with a different file extension it can be imported by some programs. You might try this, although I would not put much effort doing this based upon the comments you have provided.

        If the suggestions above do not bear fruit and after looking at the manuals I would suggest you do the following. Using a DOS editor such as edit open and look at one of your DAT files and see if they are stored in a text format that can be edited. If they can you can do the following.

        Strip off any header information the files might have. Then look and see how the fields are separated and if necessary use a search and replace operation, to place a character to separate the fields. After doing this it may but in most cases not be necessary to add an end of record separator. If you are working with a large number of records and this is necessary using an editor with macro capabilities would be a good idea. Finally after you are done editing save the file with an ASC extension and it will be ready to be imported into Alpha using the Character-Separated ASCII File option.

        This is may not be a �Turn Key Solution�, for the problem you are working with but it may get you going in the right direction. It would be greatly appreciated if you would be kind enough to fire back anything you might have learned from your experience in solving this problem as a �Thank you� and something people could learn from although it may not seem to be something people would care about.

        There is often a game of �I know more than you are smarter than me going on�. I have not seen it getting in the way of people sharing ideas and concepts here and would hope that if would not stop you any more than others from making comments here. A few comments about how export and import information, is dealt with given from a limited view, is not going to cut it unless people are willing to share the perspectives they have. This is one of the reasons why this discussion board exists and why everyone�s participation; however, perceived as being insignificant is important.

        Rich

        Comment


          #5
          RE: *.DAT Files

          I use Alpha Four in my fulfillment business. We receive files in many formats from customers and we must send data in many formats to suppliers and customers, including the credit card processors and freight companies. This includes Mac files as well as all varieties of PC files. Alpha has an importing utility, but it is somewhat limited. Also, if you have a file format that you must import regularly, there is no way to set up an automatic import for that exact file type.

          A *.DAT file is generally a fixed ASCII file, though in some cases a character separated file (such as a comma delimited or tab delimited file) is called a *.DAT file.

          Most of us have a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel. I agree with the other respondent that viewing an unknown file format in either a text editor or in Excel is a good first start. You can visibly see if it has delimiters or not. In Excel, after viewing the file and determining the type you can import it with instructions for handling the ASCII type you encounter. This appears as a note when you select, file, open. You can set parameters for the ASCII file. Once imported I generally save it as a Lotus 123 file, which is very easily imported into Alpha Four.

          I also use Alpha's importing utility, but there is a better way to go. I own a product called Data Junction. It is a conversion program supporting many types of data not capable of being handled in Excel or Alpha. You can look at the file, and use many different tools to break it properly. Once broken you can save the conversion. Then the next time you have to break that particular file type it is fully automatic. Just point at that file, use the conversion you have saved, and it converts from (for example) ASCII fixed to Alpha Four or DBase III.

          I have about twenty different conversions stored, to include conversions to permit creation of ASCII files for our UPS computer systems from Alpha data, and others to convert credit card data to the bank formats, which are highly complex.

          Data Junction is based in Austin Texas. They also have a program called Cambio. This one is a step beyond Data Junction. It permits you to take text and extract data you need. I mean completely unformatted text such as print files.

          With these two tools as well as a Mac converter (I use Conversions Plus) you can break anything. Conversions Plus permits you to convert all versions of popular word processors, spreadsheets and even graphic formats to different formats. We get in old Word Perfect files, Office 97 files and various types of text files. All are easily broken with Conversions plus.


          Al Cain

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