Mark, I don't know if this will help or not but:
1) Subfiles are not limited to the page width, you may be able to generate
a fixed record length file by reporting your items to a subfile.
2) If you are going to a PC Application, You can us a comma delimited format
and some tricky compression and get away with a whole lot. Here is a sample
COMMAEXT report that I occasionally use for this type of work.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;Dumps Patron data to a self-describing, comma delimited
;file for importing to a PC Application
;Each field is described in the initial header and
;the data in each field is protected by embedding
;in quotes.
;The pack function is used to compress data so that as many
;fields as possible can be transferred. The fields in this
;file were chosen to be the most useful for importing to
;other applications. In rare cases (approx. .1%) the data
;being transferred will be slightly truncated due to the
;256 byte limit imposed by QUIZ on report width.
;If you need to add fields to the output add your most
;important field to the packed output first. If you
;do exceed the size of the 255 byte buffer, your
;data will still be intact up to the 255th char.
set database pactdbe
sql declare desired_patrons cursor for &
select patron_number, name, first_name, middle_name, last_name, &
long_suffix, long_salutation, company_name, title, &
address_1, address_2, address_3, city, state, zip, &
zip_plus_4, mail_add_type, patron_type, patron_status, &
carrier_route, carrier_route_id, address_date, &
h_area_code, h_phone_number, h_extension, &
b_area_code, b_phone_number, b_extension, &
address_info_ok, last_yr_subscr , last_yr_single, &
last_yr_donated, last_cont_date, misc_area, date_added, &
maint_date &
from desktop.patrons &
order by name
access desired_patrons
select if address_info_ok <> " " and patron_status = "A" and &
address_1 <> " "
define delimiter character*3= '","'
define plus_4 character*4 = zip_plus_4[6:4]
define formatted_zip character *10 = zip + "-" + plus_4 &
if zip < "A" and plus_4 > "-" &
else zip_plus_4
define company_name_x character*40 = &
company_name if patron_type = 'I'and &
mail_add_type = 'B' &
else name if mail_add_type = 'B'
define title_x character*40 = title if mail_add_type = 'B'
define phone_number character*10 = right justify(pack(ascii(b_area_code) + &
ascii(b_phone_number))) &
if mail_add_type = "B" &
else right justify(pack(ascii(h_area_code) + &
ascii(h_phone_number)))
define header character*255 = pack('patron_number,' + &
'patron_type,' + &
'first_name,' + &
'middle_name,' + &
'last_name,' + &
'long_suffix,' + &
'long_salutation,' + &
'address_type,' + &
'title,' + &
'company_name,' + &
'address_1,' + &
'address_2,' + &
'address_3,' + &
'city,' + &
'state,' + &
'zip,' + &
'phone,' + &
'last_yr_subscr,' + &
'last_yr_single,' + &
'last_yr_donated,' + &
'last_cont_date,' + &
'misc_area,' + &
'maint_date,')
define buffer character*255 = pack('"'+patron_number + delimiter + &
truncate(patron_type) + delimiter + &
truncate(first_name) + delimiter + &
truncate(middle_name) + delimiter + &
truncate(last_name) + delimiter + &
truncate(long_suffix) + delimiter + &
truncate(long_salutation) + delimiter + &
truncate(mail_add_type) + delimiter + &
truncate(title_x) + delimiter + &
truncate(company_name_x) + delimiter + &
truncate(address_1) + delimiter + &
truncate(address_2) + delimiter + &
truncate(address_3) + delimiter + &
truncate(city) + delimiter + &
truncate(state) + delimiter + &
truncate(formatted_zip) + delimiter + &
truncate(phone_number) + delimiter + &
ascii(last_yr_subscr) + delimiter + &
ascii(last_yr_single) + delimiter + &
ascii(last_yr_donated) + delimiter + &
ascii(last_cont_date) + delimiter + &
truncate(misc_area) + delimiter + &
ascii(maint_date) + &
'"');
define buffer2 character*256 = buffer[1:254] + '"' &
if buffer[255:1] > ' ' and &
buffer[255:1] <> '"' &
else buffer[1:254] + '"' &
if buffer[254:1] > ' ' and &
buffer[253:2] = ',"' &
else buffer
set report spacing 1
set nohead noblanks noduplicates
:purge commadat
set report device disc name commadat
set page width 256
set report limit 50000
set subfile name commasub
initial heading header
report tab 1 buffer2
final footing
go
exit
Gary L. Biggs, N5TTO
[log in to unmask]
Interex SIG Allbase Chair
"Abandon all hope, Ye who Inter(net) here" --
Dante, over the portal(router) to Hell
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