Importing from a DOS based database

[kcep]

Hi everyone,

I'm using FileMaker Pro 11 on a Mac.

I'm doing some free work for a local minister. I'm trying to import a .txt file that was generated from his old DOS based database. The name of this old database software is Bible Illustrator (no longer around). I'm trying to switch this minister over to FileMaker. Below is the format of the .txt file (the first eleven records are listed below). Each record is separated by two separate lines containing a single forward slash. The field names seem to begin with a single letter followed by the field data. I think there are about 8,000 records. WOW ... any ideas on how to import this? Thanks for looking. :-)

 

 

/

/

/mLove, God's unchanging

/sE

/i6108

/mImmutable, God

/sE

/i6108

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fn

P 385-387  "I change not"  reference{Mal 3:6}{Malachi 3:6}

His unchanging love, sympathy, etc.

/

/

/mGod, endures

/sE

/i6108

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fn

P 388-390 God endures - His glory, name, righteousness, mercy, seed

/

/

/mHappiness

/sE

/i6108

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fN

P 390-393  Happiness, true

/

/

/mPromises, God's

/sI

/i6108

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fn

P 393  Stars are like God's promises

/

/

/mBlessings

/sE

/i6108

/mProv 10:22

/sE

/i6108

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fn

P 400  God's blessings bring no sorrow

reference{Prov 10:22}{Proverbs 10:22}

/

/

/mJesus, picture of

/sI

/i6108

/mImages, of Jesus

/sI

/i6108

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fn

P 396  Picture of Jesus as blonde and blue-eyed, the history of it, 

and how they thought it would help spread Christianity, but "A picture 

cannot save."

/

/

/mPersecution

/sE

/i6108

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fN

P 402  "enemies of God express their hatred of God by attacking God's 

people"

reference{Psalm 83:1-4}{Psalms 83:1-4}

/

/

/mProphets, false

/sE

/i6108

/mFalse prophets

/sE

/i6108

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fn

P 409  Lying prophets - superstition, fables, folklore, tradition, 

dreams, etc.

 

P 410  Speculative prophets - "within the professing church, the 

prophets of speculation." They know little, but what they do know they 

use to their advantage.

/

/

/mRestitution

/sI

/i6108

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fN

P 417  American Store's Company letter - a letter giving restitution

/

/

/mDeny, Christ

/sE

/i6107

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fn

P 195-199  Many forsake Christ for modern beliefs, but we must cling

reference{John 6:68}{John 6:68}  "Lord, to whom shall we go?"

/

/

/mUnbelief

/sE

/i6107

/mJesus, deity denied

/sE

/i6107

/d12/2004.101

/t

/fn

P 199-200  Modern unbelief in Christ's deity

reference{Mark 15:32}{Mark 15:32}

/

/

 

[comment]

It would probably be best to pre-process the file in a text editor. It appears that not all records have all fields, though - so this is not just a matter of replacing the delimiters.

 

Could you post this file somewhere, or does it contain confidential data?

[kcep]

Hi Comment,

I'll check on the confidential data thing.

Thanks so much!

[comment]

I'll check on the confidential data thing.

 

Well, if it does, I think we'll have a nice little scandal here, won't we?

[David Jondreau]

I think the process will end up going something like this....

 

1) Import the data into a single field (copy and paste should work).

2) Create a calculated field with repeating storage to separate each "record" into a separate repetition. The functions Get ( CalculationRepetitionNumber), Position(), and Middle() will be necessary.

3) Import that data into another table, using the option to "split repetitions into separate records".

4) Now you have a table with all of the data in the old "record" in a single field in the new table. Define the fields you want as calculations and parse the "single field" (again using Position() and Middle()) into the other fields.

5) Import again into the final table.

[kcep]

David ... I'm really liking what you suggested ... Let me think on this ... THANKS !