User's Manual

Importing & Exporting
ASCII Files
8
8-9
ASCII Files
ASCII files contain plain text only, free of any formatting codes that control the
layout and appearance of text. Features such as bold, italics, underline, bullets,
etc., do not exist within an ASCII file. Neither can you control the font size, font
type, font color, paragraph format, or line spacing within an ASCII file. When you
convert a formatted document to an ASCII file, all of these characteristics are
stripped from the file leaving only the text.
Most programs provide some way to save your work as an ASCII file through a
conversion or export tool. Otherwise, you may easily create an ASCII file using
Windows Notepad or the standard DOS editor, as we’ll see in Example 8.4.
Note
DPC/TRACK includes an INST_IN.ASC file to help you learn the
basics of importing. This file already contains the proper field names
and architecture necessary for a successful import. (You do not have
to use the included file, although you must use this file name to do an
import.)
Example 8.4: Creating an INST_IN.ASC File
Hopefully, the program you were (are) using to maintain your Tag ID information
provides a means of generating an ASCII file that meets the necessary criteria.
(These criteria are discussed a little later.) Otherwise, you’ll need to build your
databases as described in Chapter 6, “Creating & Deleting,” or manually create
and import an ASCII file containing your Tag ID information. This example
illustrates how to use Notepad to create a simple ASCII file suitable for importing.
Note that you may want to rename the INST_IN.ASC file included with
DPC/TRACK before working through this example so as not to lose the original
contents of the file. (This file is located in the directory containing your database
files.)
1. Launch the Notepad program. (See your Windows documentation if you need
instructions on how to do this.)
2. Enter the following headers, each separated by a Tab key: Tag ID, SN, and
Location. (Headers specify the fields that the data within that column will be
imported into.) After typing in Location, hit the Enter key (to input a
carriage return and line feed).
3. Now enter the following data, separated by Tab keys: FT-1000, 12345, and
Building A. After typing Building A, hit the Enter key (to input a carriage
return and line feed). This row of information represents a Tag ID record. Each
column of the row represents a field.