From: kaveh@ms.uky.edu (Kaveh Baharestan)
Subject: Re: Q: FM Pro Export to 4D: Handling Repeating Fields
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 00:48:54 GMT
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
X-Bytes: 

R. Glenn Stauffer <stauffer@cc.swarthmore.edu> writes:

>I have an application that performs an inventory on a Macintosh computer
>and produces an
>export file that works with FileMaker Pro.  Fields such as system inits,
>cdevs, and
>application software are stored in repeating fields.  I recently got my
>copy of 4D and am
>trying to integrate this inventory system into a "help desk" application
>for tracking
>work orders and service calls.  

>The problem that I am having involves getting these repeating fields into
>a 4D database.
>At this point, I'm assuming that the repeating fields would go into
>sub-files.


 Don't assume that, do every thing you can to avoid subfiles! They suck.
and (in versions 1.0 and upto 2.0.1) have had a history of being extremely
buggy.  Use relations.

> How do I
>perform the import operations on these fields?  Is there any way to
>import a data file
>that has repeating fields in one piece (ie repeating and non-repeating
>fields together)
>or do I have to import the main database records first, then get the
>sub-file fields
>sub-file by sub-file?

4D has a a plethera(sp?) of methods to do this.  You could use a set
of procedures where the RECEIVE PACKET(dococument,variable,delimiter)
command. Or you could import using import layouts.  I prefer the
latter becuase of the flexability you gain, namely records imported
can have variable numbers of fields.  The disadvantage of this method
of course is speed, ie complexity=time, receive packet>import.  I am
reasonably sure that one could import virtually any type of file
provided the format was known and the programmer ingeniuos.  I have
never done a non text file.

As for the order of entry, with the import i'm not sure, but with
receive, both cases you talked about above are possible.


The following:

FILE/////\n
 SUBTYPE2///////\n
 SUBTYPE1///////\n
 SUBTYPE1////////\n
 SUBTYPE2///////\n
FILE\n
 SUBTYPE2///\nEOF

file format where each file and subfile is hearalded be a symbol
denoting what it is and where \n (char(13)) delimits all records
or subrecords, you need only parse for FILE or SUBTYPE[12] to know
what is to follow.  Note that FILE and SUBTYPE[12] may be any symbol
or group of symbols.

>Thanks for any and all suggestions,

Remember, No subfiles!

>rgs
>/--------------------------------------------------\
>|     R. Glenn Stauffer                            |
>|     Micro-Computer Specialist                    |
>|     Swarthmore College Computing Center          |
>|     500 College Avenue                           |
>|     Swarthmore, PA 19081                         |
>|                                                  |
>|     Internet:   stauffer@cc.swarthmore.edu       |
>|     Compuserve: 70242,2603                       |
>|                                                  |
>\--------------------------------------------------/
-- 
                                        Kaveh.
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| "...Its not the thing you fling, its the fling itself!"   |
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