PCFORMAT User's Guide

Features
Product Overview
1–2 066374 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Features The PCFORMAT program is run from a Command Interpreter (COMINT)
process on the host system. One command, named COPY, completely
defines the format conversion work undertaken by PCFORMAT. At a
minimum, the COPY command must specify the record in the Tandem
database dictionary identifying the source file to be converted, the output
format desired, and the name of the intermediate file containing the
converted data. Command options are available to tailor the COPY
command to your exact needs.
Features of PCFORMAT and the COPY command include:
Multiple Output Formats. The source Tandem database file can be
converted to ASCII, BASIC, DIF (Data Interchange Format), or SYLK
(Symbolic Link) format. Table 1-1 lists a few of the applications for
these formats.
Table 1-1. PCFORMAT Output Formats
Format Use
ASCII Word processing programs, or any application using ASCII text lines
ending with carriage return/line feed (CR/LF) pairs.
BASIC Microsoft BASIC programs, Lotus 1-2-3, dBASE II, Knowledgeman;
each database record is converted to a form acceptable to the
INPUT statement of Microsoft BASIC.
DIF Developed by Software Arts Product Corporation and used by Lotus
1-2-3, Knowledgeman, and many others.
SYLK Developed by Microsoft Corporation for exchanging information
between Multi-Tools and application programs.