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Conference ilbbak::ibi_focus

Title:FOCUS, from INFORMATION BUILDERS
Moderator:ZAYIUS::BROUILLETTE
Created:Thu Feb 19 1987
Last Modified:Mon May 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:615
Total number of notes:1779

155.0. "Reformating .MAS file Question." by YARD::MULLEN (Gerard Mullen - 781 4326) Mon Nov 21 1988 11:05

         Does anyone know of a FOCUS command which reformats a .MAS
     file. It'll save me writing a Pascal program!

     Thanks, Ged.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
155.1Reformatting? a .mas fileNRPUR::CUSACKTue Nov 22 1988 09:3920
    I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "reformat" a .mas file.
    You can use a text editor (edt,tpu) to change a master file
    description, or you can use focus' editor, TED, to do it.  If by
    "reformatting" you mean something other than modifying the .mas
    file, then I don't understand the question.  If you do change the
    .mas file, if there is a .foc file associated with the .mas file,
    then you may have to rebuild the file to support the new master
    file description.  Certain changes are allowed without a rebuild,
    but for the majority, you must do a rebuild using focus' REBUILD
    facility.
    
    I hope this helps some, but again, I'm not sure what you mean
    by "reformat".
    
    Regards,
    
    Mike Cusack
    Corp. Admin. Purchasing IS
    Northboro, MA
    DTN 234-4764
155.2A Better ExplanationFOOT::MULLENGerard Mullen - 781 4326Tue Nov 22 1988 10:5524
       Sorry about the confusion, I know very little about FOCUS but
   I'll try to explain myself a little better.
       The application I'm working on is required to format the .MAS 
   files the user requests in exactly the format below. Apparently it's 
   exactly the same format as that built by FOCUS when you HOLD a report. 
       I've been told there is a command which automatically reformats 
   .MAS files to this layout but nobody knows what it is.

-*       1         2         3         4         5         6         7         
-*345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
-*
FIELDNAME   = field name  ,alias name   ,usage    ,actual   ,
DESCRIPTION ='Text for a description                      ',$
-*
-* For example:
FILE=COMPUTER       ,SUFFIX=FIX                                                 
SEGNAME=COMPUTER                                                                
FIELDNAME   =MODEL        ,E01          ,A20      ,A20      ,$                  
FIELDNAME   =UNIT_PRICE   ,E02          ,D7M      ,A07      ,$                  

    Any ideas?

    Thanks, Ged.
155.3Master Master49ER::STEPHENSCalifornia Computer WhizTue Nov 22 1988 11:0611
    Could you mean the FILETALK program ? If you type FILETALK at the
    FOCUS prompt, you get an interactive program which prompts you for
    each item in more discriptive terms, showing you all your options,
    and generating a .MAS file at the end.
    
    It is also possible to write a "MAS.MAS", ("master master"), file
    that would be able to read in any master file which you could then
    write a FOCUS TABLE statement to format it in any textual format
    you would want.
    
    								sk�t