Good afternoon. I am working with a client who needs records exported out of AREV in to CSV files for loading in to SQL Server.

I am able to get in to the "bump" or configuration menu of the system, however, I need a primer on how to attach their databases to query their tables.

Could anyone provide a good source for one? We have a copy as it was on their server, and I have been able to get as far to bring up one of the programs they have, so I don't think I'm far off.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I'm using Version 2.1 (DOS AREV.)

Going out on a limb here - would you perchance be charging the client for this?

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It's possible you will need account and/or userid and password information and perhaps access to external directories. Is the application currently being used? If not, is this information documented anywhere?

In a round about way, sure. I don't see what bearing it has on answering the question, but we really just need to extract the info to text files, and go from there. We aren't rewriting a system, building relations, etc, just need the data that is in… out.

I have a username/password to the system that works. I can get in to the system and poke around, nothing super exciting.

The reason I asked is that usually there is some sort of logon script or something that automatically attaches everything needed for the application to run. If this has already executed at logon, you can use the ASCII export routine to get what you need. From a TCL prompt:

CW MAKEXPORT.ASCII

OK, I was able to get that far using the user login for the system. I'm able to probably only see and export what "process names" are there for the user to see. I try and run a couple of the "conversion processes" and am getting text files out of the system, however, they are pretty much null files.

If it's going into a SQL database you're going to have to either normalize the multivalue data or perform a delimter swap.

If it's going into a SQL database you're going to have to either normalize the multivalue data or perform a delimter swap.

Can you elaborate on multivalue data?

I'm already noticing when trying to import I may have something like:

"A","B""EFGH","C"

Type thing… I'm assuming that's where someone can tag the field with more than one value, and you'd need to build that relationship?

Let me know if I'm on the right track, I guess it means that some text processing fun is coming my way!

I'm also noticing something that I'm not sure about — it seems like there are "process names" for things, and then there's a "revelation file name." What this seems to indicate to me that there is a process which controls an export. IS there a way to see how that process is defined? Are there any limits or filters in place on it?

Thanks for all your guys help so far, I've made it pretty far.

It does not sound like you have used AREV before.

AREV is a very unique database in that all fields are NON-FIXED.

In old database languages (Clipper DBASE) and possibly even SQL SERVER (I never touched that yet) the data is FIXED. You define data as a type with a length and the program grabs blocks of disk space for the data based on what you define. And you better define it correctly the first time becuase changing after can be hard.

With AREV everything is one-one or one-many or many-many. All fields contain special characters to mark end and start of new values and sub values. So the point of normallizing means that using the export functions might not give you a data file with everything one-one.

So there-fore you would need to write a program that extracts the data, loops, and creates a ',' comma delimted CSV file based on the deferent relations (one-one, one-many, many-many).

You might want to mention where you are located in this forum and possibly get a experienced AREV programmer in your area to help with this.

Data conversions are not easy projects and AREV is not a "NORM" database. (But it is the BEST in my view)

Thanks Terry - You confirmed a lot of my line of thought on the exports, and what I am seeing.

Can anyone clarify for me when I am in the Export ASCII screen, I can hit F2 on the process name, it brings up a dialog box, with a few options, which I can only assume are keyed off a certain query, or possibly restrictions which aren't readily identifiable to the user. Is there a way to see these different Process Names, and how they are built?

I just want to make a simple process that says give me everything from this Revelation file name, based upon the fields selected.

If any of you could provide a pointer in that respect, that would probably be the most helpful.

Thanks!

If you are going to do this yourself, you really need to learn more about Arev. To that end, CTRL-F9 is invaluable. You can use it as a jumping off point to learn more things. You'll probably want to also learn how to work with dictionaries.

If it seems like we're reluctant to give you advice, it's because you really need to understand the underlying data before you can really do anything useful. Not doing so could result in the production of absurd reports. It's beyond the scope of a thread like this to provide that. You need to either learn the system yourself or bring in a consultant who knows Arev well already.

The process name is a value you enter - then YOU define the process. Of course, this won't work for any but the simplest data in any AREV app.

You need to subcontract out to someone who both knows AREV and may even someone who knows the app you are using (sometimes even knowing AREV isn't enough to fathom the security additions to some apps quickly).

Like most here, I have my own export routines that normalize as they go – if you have a simple app and understand the structure, something like this would be a better starting point than the built in export routines. But you should expect to pay for the expertise and programs you need (just as you are charging your client for yours).

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