Help me identify a Cobol database
in [Cobol]
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From: SomeGuy on 1 Feb 2010 15:43 Thanks for the very helpful reply! [Aside - I don't think it's uncommon or out-of-line for a NG post to appear that requires a "need more information" response" (and people generally don't suggest you're trying to ruin someone else's livelihood by asking :-)] No I've never done COBOL development, though I'm familiar with defining records and that COBOL has various pictured and "comp" types (I have worked with PL/I which has somewhat similar features). I was hoping that the files might be some sort of standard DB (maybe vendor- specific, maybe obsolete), but it's certainly looking like the contents are defined by declarations in code. There are no identifiable field names, like you might find in, say, a DBF file. Unfortunately I do not have source and will not have unless we convince the customer to share code from the prior vendor (if they even have it). I'll Google Net Express. Thanks again. Jim
From: Binyamin Dissen on 1 Feb 2010 15:58 On Mon, 1 Feb 2010 12:43:22 -0800 (PST) SomeGuy <jimgreen(a)nc.rr.com> wrote: :>Thanks for the very helpful reply! :>[Aside - I don't think it's uncommon or out-of-line for a NG post to :>appear that requires a "need more information" response" (and people :>generally don't suggest you're trying to ruin someone else's :>livelihood by asking :-)] :>No I've never done COBOL development, though I'm familiar with :>defining records and that COBOL has various pictured and "comp" types :>(I have worked with PL/I which has somewhat similar features). I was :>hoping that the files might be some sort of standard DB (maybe vendor- :>specific, maybe obsolete), but it's certainly looking like the :>contents are defined by declarations in code. There are no :>identifiable field names, like you might find in, say, a DBF file. :>Unfortunately I do not have source and will not have unless we :>convince the customer to share code from the prior vendor (if they :>even have it). If you do not have a record layout and do not know the content, how will knowing which version of ISAM help? Why wouldn't the client provide the source? Do they want to pay more for your services? Are they giving you a test? -- Binyamin Dissen <bdissen(a)dissensoftware.com> http://www.dissensoftware.com Director, Dissen Software, Bar & Grill - Israel Should you use the mailblocks package and expect a response from me, you should preauthorize the dissensoftware.com domain. I very rarely bother responding to challenge/response systems, especially those from irresponsible companies.
From: SomeGuy on 1 Feb 2010 16:39 > If you do not have a record layout and do not know the content, how will > knowing which version of ISAM help? When I posted this, I did not even know the nature of the DB file. (COBOL newbie - see above.) It does now appear that a layout will be required. > Why wouldn't the client provide the source? Do they want to pay more for your > services? Are they giving you a test? They feel they are honoring their contract with the vendor of the existing program. They will not provide the executable to us to run. I do not know if they even have source. Jim
From: Richard on 1 Feb 2010 16:43 On Feb 2, 6:11 am, SomeGuy <jimgr...(a)nc.rr.com> wrote: > Need to identify some database files used by a PC COBOL program > written in the mid-90's. The extensions are .DB and .IDX. Given the > date, language and OS, are there any candidates you can think of? I > can send a sample of the files if that would help. > > Thanks, > Jim The .DB is probably a user choice. The .IDX is most likely an index file for the .DB. If the first two bytes of the .IDX is 0xFE53 then it is probable that these are MicroFocus LevelII/CISAM format indexed files. The first block of the .IDX should have further information giving record length and key information (size and start position). If the files are LevelII/CISAM then the data records in the .DB will be fixed length with CR/LF record terminators. Other formats may have variable length records with record headers and/or may have compressed data. Without an FD entry you are unlikely to be able to know what the data fields are or even where they start/end within the record.
From: SomeGuy on 1 Feb 2010 17:22
On Feb 1, 4:43 pm, Richard <rip...(a)Azonic.co.nz> wrote: > On Feb 2, 6:11 am, SomeGuy <jimgr...(a)nc.rr.com> wrote: > > > Need to identify some database files used by a PC COBOL program > > written in the mid-90's. The extensions are .DB and .IDX. Given the > > date, language and OS, are there any candidates you can think of? I > > can send a sample of the files if that would help. > > > Thanks, > > Jim > > The .DB is probably a user choice. The .IDX is most likely an index > file for the .DB. If the first two bytes of the .IDX is 0xFE53 then it > is probable that these are MicroFocus LevelII/CISAM format indexed > files. > > The first block of the .IDX should have further information giving > record length and key information (size and start position). > > If the files are LevelII/CISAM then the data records in the .DB will > be fixed length with CR/LF record terminators. Other formats may have > variable length records with record headers and/or may have compressed > data. > > Without an FD entry you are unlikely to be able to know what the data > fields are or even where they start/end within the record. Richard, FWIW, the IDX starts with 0x31FE. In any case, it looks like the vendor is not really the important thing to have but the layout. Thanks, Jim |