Readme Last Updated:  Tue Dec  9 23:10:21 GMT-8:00 1997 
Revision Number: 1.8 

Convert to Tab delimited text to Pilot Database: 
Directions for use: 
==================================================================== 

1. Create a text file of the format shown below 
2. run convdb on this file 
3. this will spew out a bunch of debugging stuff and will 
   create a file called output.dba 
4. Use pilot desktop datebook application to import dba type file 
   point it to output.dba 

That's it! 

Installation notes: 
=================== 

The program needs cygwin.dll (I found this out just today 11-4-97). 
You can find this dll at: 

ftp://ftp.cygnus.com/pub/gnu-win32/gnu-win32-b18/ 

I am currently exploring the possibilities of compiling a cygwin.dll independant 
code. 

CONVDB without arguments prints this message out: 
==================================================================== 

Usage: convdb -[OPTIONS <value>] <filename> 
        Alarm may be set globally: 
        -m N     N minutes in advance 
        -h N     N hours   in advance 
        -d N     N days    in advance 
$Revision: 1.8 $ 

Program notes: 
============== 

C Program Compiled with gcc (cygnus distribution) for winNT/95 on NT4.0 SP3. 

========================================================================== 
Example: 
========== 

convdb -m 3 holiday.txt 

creates a file : output.dba 

importing this would create datebook entries that have an alarm 

and advance time of 3 minutes 

=========================================================================== 
  
  

The file is in the following format. Each entry here is seperated by a tab. 

***** Do not use the following as sample to test. The following text has been 
      formatted for appearance so has spaces instead of tabs. If you wish to 
      test with the sample then edit it so that there are tabs between fields. 

***** No blank lines are allowed in the file. So in the following example 
      the file starts at the line with the first '#' mark. 

=========================================================================== 

Year:   Number for the year 
Month:  Numerical or partial alpha-numeric value acceptable. 
        Example: Jan, January, janu, 1 
Date:   Date in the month 

Start 
Hour:   24Hr format number for the hour 

Start 
Minute: Minutes 

End 
Hour:   24Hr format number for the hour 

End 
Minute: Minutes 

Repeat 
Type:   Date/Day/None : one of the three values 
        Date: Repeat by date every year 
        Day:  Repeat by day of the month every year 
        None: No Repeat 

__________________________________________________________________________ 

                         strt   strt  end   end   Repeat 
year      Month    date  hour   min   hour  min   type     Description 
__________________________________________________________________________ 

#  A # in the first column marks a COMMENT 
# 
#   tab is the delimiter so there is a tab between every field below 
# 
1997     Nov     12     8     0     9     0     Date     Friend's Birthday 
# 
# The "Date" field makes the entry repeat by date every year 
# 
1997     11     27     8     0     9     0     Day      Thanksgiving Holiday 
# 
# The "Day" flag makes the entry repeat by specific day of a specific week 
# of a month. In this case the last thursday of the November. 
# 
1997     Nov     20     8     0     9     0     None     Delete IE4.0 
# 
# Anything other than Date or Day is interpreted as no repeat 
# 
#            #######             ##                     ## 
#             ##   #                                    ## 
#             ##     ## ###     ###    ####  ##  ##     ## 
#             ####    ##  ##     ##   ##  ## ##  ##     ## 
#             ##      ##  ##     ##   ##  ## ##  ##     ## 
#             ##   #  ##  ## ##  ##   ##  ##  ##### 
#            #######  ##  ## ##  ##    ####      ##     ## 
#                             ####            ##### 
  
  
  
Development History (brief as it is) and, 

BUGS! ( Eeeeeeek! take that! and that! and that! *splat*): 
===================================================================== 

Tue Dec  9 23:10:21 GMT-8:00 1997: 

     New! Improved! Added memory management. Now you may convert to your heart's 
     content! millions, even billions of records can be converted! 
     (... if it works :-)

Mon Dec  8 22:45:26 GMT-8:00 1997: 

     I goofed on the number of records, its 99 not 100.

Earlier: 

     Found another bug regarding time across the GMT ( UTC ..whatever ) I think I 
     have fixed this and the bug above just keep a look out for the modification 
     date in the download page.

Earlier still: 

     For some reason April 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th the time goes back by 1 hour. So an 
     appointment on april 4th at 8:00 am would end up at 7:00 am. I have'nt had time 
     to look into this. I think it has something to do with the daylight savings 
     time.

- Narayan Natarajan aka Venkman 