what software uses prm extension?

[Dale Stover]

Hey everyone,
I have a client that is wanting to convert their data. They are running
OpenServer 5.0.4. They do not have the program source code nor do they have
access to it and are wanting to dump their data to text files from files
that have ".idx" and ".prm" extensions. Obviously, the ".idx" files are the
index/keys to the data ".prm" files. Does anyone know how I could dump
these files?
THANKS
Dale Stover

[tony@aplawrence.com]

Dale Stover <dale@stpsoft.com> wrote:

>Hey everyone,
> I have a client that is wanting to convert their data. They are running
>OpenServer 5.0.4. They do not have the program source code nor do they have
>access to it and are wanting to dump their data to text files from files
>that have ".idx" and ".prm" extensions. Obviously, the ".idx" files are the
>index/keys to the data ".prm" files. Does anyone know how I could dump
>these files?

Does the app still work? If it does, let it print reports:

disable printername
app prints reports
cd /usr/spool/lp/temp
cp *-1 /wherever
enable printername


--
[email]tony@aplawrence.com[/email] Unix/Linux/Mac OS X resources: [url]http://aplawrence.com[/url]
Get paid for writing about tech: [url]http://aplawrence.com/publish.html[/url]

[Dale Stover]

<tony@aplawrence.com> wrote in message news:bge8t6$hq4$1@pcls4.std.com...

> Dale Stover <dale@stpsoft.com> wrote:

> >Hey everyone,
> > I have a client that is wanting to convert their data. They are

running

> >OpenServer 5.0.4. They do not have the program source code nor do they

have

> >access to it and are wanting to dump their data to text files from files
> >that have ".idx" and ".prm" extensions. Obviously, the ".idx" files are

the

> >index/keys to the data ".prm" files. Does anyone know how I could dump
> >these files?

>
> Does the app still work? If it does, let it print reports:
>
> disable printername
> app prints reports
> cd /usr/spool/lp/temp
> cp *-1 /wherever
> enable printername
>
>
> --
> [email]tony@aplawrence.com[/email] Unix/Linux/Mac OS X resources: [url]http://aplawrence.com[/url]
> Get paid for writing about tech: [url]http://aplawrence.com/publish.html[/url]

Thanks Tony...I had thought of that. They do not have a report writer and
they are limited on the reports they can run. Any other ideas???

[Bill Vermillion]

In article <13AWa.14492$n%5.3999880335@newssvr10.news.prodigy .com>,
Bob Bailin <72027.3605@compuserve.com> wrote:

>
>"Dale Stover" <dale@stpsoft.com> wrote in message
>news:vil6gntl4hc3fc@corp.supernews.com...

>> Hey everyone,
>> I have a client that is wanting to convert their data. They are

>running

>> OpenServer 5.0.4. They do not have the program source code nor do they

>have

>> access to it and are wanting to dump their data to text files from files
>> that have ".idx" and ".prm" extensions. Obviously, the ".idx" files are

>the

>> index/keys to the data ".prm" files. Does anyone know how I could dump
>> these files?
>> THANKS
>> Dale Stover

>Searching google for "prm file" gives 1270+ results. Knowing the
>name of the application or what it does would narrow that down
>even further.

>As a last resort you always run the strings command on any of
>these files or programs to see if anything interesting/useful
>pops up.

It may be fun as thre is nothing of which I'm aware that fixes
and extension to a program to keep others from using it.

In >this< system - I have a file called title.prm.

prm - Programmers Reference Manual - from the original Unix
documentation.

--
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Fri, 1 Aug 2003 11:48:34 -0500, "Dale Stover" <dale@stpsoft.com>
wrote:

>I have a client that is wanting to convert their data. They are running
>OpenServer 5.0.4. They do not have the program source code nor do they have
>access to it and are wanting to dump their data to text files from files
>that have ".idx" and ".prm" extensions. Obviously, the ".idx" files are the
>index/keys to the data ".prm" files. Does anyone know how I could dump
>these files?
>Dale Stover

PRM is usually "parameter" but obviously not in this case. Blundering
around with Google didn't produce anything useful. However, I can't
resist a good mystery. Guesswork follows:

If the program has an external index, it PROBABLY also has fixed
length records in the database. That means you can run "strings" on
the database (PRM) files, and see if the data is derranged in records
of equal number of bytes. If so, you can use a "deblocking" program
to generate one record per line output. The fields are also probably
a constant length making the importation and deportation of data
simple. If there is a header of some sorts, chop it off with "dd". I
used to do this kind on "data processing" all the time.

Source code and COFF excecuteable at:
[url]http://members.cruzio.com/~jeffl/sco/deblock/[/url]
If this works and makes you rich, send me some spare cash so I can
pass it to the author.


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831.336.2558 voice [url]http://www.LearnByDestroying.com[/url]
# [email]jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us[/email]
# 831.421.6491 digital_pager [email]jeffl@cruzio.com[/email] AE6KS

[Dan Martin]

"Dale Stover" <dale@stpsoft.com> wrote in message news:<vil6gntl4hc3fc@corp.supernews.com>...

> Hey everyone,
> I have a client that is wanting to convert their data. They are running
> OpenServer 5.0.4. They do not have the program source code nor do they have
> access to it and are wanting to dump their data to text files from files
> that have ".idx" and ".prm" extensions. Obviously, the ".idx" files are the
> index/keys to the data ".prm" files. Does anyone know how I could dump
> these files?
> THANKS
> Dale Stover

Dale,

the prm might be a DB2 file, in which case there is an EXPORT function,
which, unfortunately, is all that I can tell you.

Good luck,
Dan

[Dale Stover]

"Dan Martin" <dcmartin@affinitycorp.com> wrote in message
news:56fe3a2b.0308020742.1e03d984@posting.google.c om...

> "Dale Stover" <dale@stpsoft.com> wrote in message

news:<vil6gntl4hc3fc@corp.supernews.com>...

> > Hey everyone,
> > I have a client that is wanting to convert their data. They are

running

> > OpenServer 5.0.4. They do not have the program source code nor do they

have

> > access to it and are wanting to dump their data to text files from files
> > that have ".idx" and ".prm" extensions. Obviously, the ".idx" files are

the

> > index/keys to the data ".prm" files. Does anyone know how I could dump
> > these files?
> > THANKS
> > Dale Stover

>
>
> Dale,
>
> the prm might be a DB2 file, in which case there is an EXPORT function,
> which, unfortunately, is all that I can tell you.
>
> Good luck,
> Dan

I will take a look and see if I can find an "EXPORT" utilitiy. By the way,
I mentioned the utilitity that would let me look at a file. It is "SF"
(showfile) from a company (AWARE) that had Texas Instruments DX10 like
emulation/utilities on SCO Unix. Does anyone know what happened to that
company (AWARE)? They were in California. I would like to see if I could
get that program under Linux. I guess there might be a way to run an elf
object under Linux without having to actually convert the program.

THANKS
Dale Stover