JPH047759A - Data file form converter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the conversion of a data file form by selecting the proper conversion means based on the definition of a format defining part and combining these selected conversion means in order to perform of the conversion of a data form for each data item. CONSTITUTION:A processor 1 is provided together with a magnetic disk device 2, a main storage device 3, a display 4, and a keyboard 5. Then the conversion means A - N prepared at a format conversion processing part 11 are selected based on the result of conversion performed between the definition of an unconverted data file and that of a converted data file, and the conversion of a data form is carried out for each data item. Thus an operator can easily perform the conversion of the data form of a data file without producing a data conversion program each time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a data file format conversion device that converts the data format of a data file in a computer system.

(Prior art) In computer systems, data files stored in magnetic disk devices, etc. include sequential files, random files, etc.
Various formats exist, such as access files and indexed sequential files. Furthermore, even if the sequential files are the same, their data formats may differ depending on the program that handles them.

For example, a sequential file created using a program made by company A and a sequential file created using a program made by company B are different in terms of block size, data type (kanji data or kana-only data, etc.). There are differences in the characters (things) and character coats.

However, in reality, it may be necessary to access a sequential file created using a program from company A using a program from company B. Furthermore, at the program development stage, there is a demand for attempting to access a data file with a certain content while converting the data format in various ways.

In order to meet this type of request, conventionally, each data item constituting the code of the data file to be converted and the data file after conversion has been compared, and a program for conversion has been created each time.

FIG. 2 shows a conventional data conversion procedure flowchart.

As shown in the figure, in the conventional method, first, data format analysis of the data file to be converted is performed (step Sl). Subsequently, data format analysis of the converted data file is performed (step S2). Thereafter, a data conversion program is created based on the above analysis results (step S
3). When the data conversion program is completed in this way, the program is operated to execute data conversion (step S4).

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, for example, the data format of a sequential file is determined by block size, record size, record format, etc. This record format is represented by the position of the data item, the type of the data item, the character code of the data item, the designation of the data valid part, the designation of padding characters, etc.

Therefore, there is a problem in that it takes a lot of effort and time to create a data format conversion program each time taking these into consideration.

In addition, there are many types of data file formats, and if you try to prepare a program in advance with the data file to be converted and the converted data file in mind, the number of programs will be enormous. There was also the problem that it was not realistic.

The present invention has been made with attention to the above points, and it is possible to easily convert data file formats by simply specifying the data formats of the converted data file and the converted data file according to a predetermined procedure. The purpose is to provide a file format conversion device.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A data file format conversion device of the present invention includes a converted data file storage section, a converted data file storage section that converts and stores the data format of the converted data file, and a converted data file storage section that converts and stores the converted data file. A format definition section that defines the data format of each data item constituting the code of the data file to be converted; and a conversion means for each data item is selected based on the format defined by this format definition section; The present invention is characterized by comprising a format conversion processing section that converts the data format of each record.

(Operation) In the above device, the format conversion processing section is provided with conversion means for each data item, such as a character code conversion table. The format definition section contains the data format of each data item of the converted data file and the converted data file,
That is, block size, record size, record format, etc. are defined. The format conversion processing section selects and combines appropriate conversion means according to the definition of the format definition section, and performs data format conversion for each data item.

By modularizing the conversion means and making it versatile, it becomes possible to perform data conversion processing based on various combinations using a relatively small amount of conversion means.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the data file format conversion device of the present invention.

The device in the figure includes a processor 1, a magnetic disk device 2,
It is composed of a main storage device 3, a display 4, and a keyboard 5.

The processor 1 is for controlling the operation of this device, and is composed of a microprocessing unit and the like. A format conversion processing unit 11 related to the present invention is constructed in this processor l. This format conversion processing section 11
For example, conversion means A, B, C, ..., N, which is modularized table data for data conversion, are included.
is provided. Note that this type of data is normally stored in the main storage device 3, etc., but in this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, the format conversion processing unit 1 in the processor 1 is stored.
The explanation will be given assuming that it is provided in 1.

The magnetic disk device 2 includes a converted data file storage section 21 that is a target of data conversion, and a converted data file storage section 2 that stores data files after data format conversion.
There are 2 or so.

These are set in a predetermined storage area of the magnetic disk device 2.

The main storage device 3 is provided with a converted data file definition section 31 that defines the data format of each data item constituting the roux code of the converted data file. This definition is input and set by an operator while operating the display 4 and keyboard 5, for example. The converted data file definition section 32 is a section that defines the data format of each data item that constitutes the roux code of the converted data file. The setting method is to convert data file definition section 3.
It is the same as 1.

FIG. 3 shows a data format setting screen for defining each data file in the format definition section 30 described above. This screen is displayed on display 4 in Figure 1,
The information in the portions shown by ■ to ■ in FIG. 3 is input from the keyboard 5.

As shown in the figure, the data format of each data file consists of a block size (■), a record size (■), and a record format. This record format consists of data ID (1 position), data type (2), length (1 character), code type (2), data valid part (2), and padding character (2).

Block size ■ specifies the length of l block in bytes. Record size (■) specifies the length of the lou code in bytes. Typically, a data file is organized into a number of blocks, each block consisting of a fixed number of records.

The data ID ■ is a name unique to the data item. This data ID ■ identifies each data item that constitutes one record. Furthermore, each data item of the data file to be converted and the data file after conversion is associated with each other using this data ID ■ as a key, and a conversion means for converting the format of each item is selected.

The position ■ indicates the position of the data item in the record, and is expressed by the relative number of bytes from the beginning of the record. still,
In the case of variable length data, the character number storage area comes at the beginning, so the position ■ indicates the position of the character number storage area.

Next, the data type ■ is as follows, for example.

FIG. 4 shows a diagram showing examples of data types.

Data types include an integer type consisting of numeric data, a character type consisting of fixed-length kana characters, a variable-length character type consisting of variable-length kana characters, etc., a kanji type that represents one character in 2 bytes, and this is a variable-length type. There is such a thing as a variable length kanji type. Its length is expressed as:

First, the integer type is expressed in bytes, and if omitted, it means 4 bytes. This is displayed as INT. Additionally, the length of character types is specified in bytes. This is displayed as CHAR. The length of a variable-length character type is expressed by specifying the length of the data storage area in characters. This is displayed as VARCHAR. Kanji type is
Usually 2 bytes represent one character, and the length is specified by the number of kanji characters. This is displayed as GRAPH. The variable length Kanji type specifies the length of the data storage area in bytes and displays it in VARGRAPi.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the structure of variable-length character data.

As shown in the figure, variable-length character data is provided with a 2-byte storage area for the number of bytes at the beginning, and the length of the data storage area is indicated by a number. Then, a data storage area is set in a fixed-length area following this, and a character string is written in a variable length from the beginning of the data storage area. The variable-length Kanji type is similar, but the length of the data storage area is indicated by the number of Kanji characters.

Next, returning to FIG. 3, the character coat type (■) is specified when the data item is a character coat, and may be, for example, as follows.

FIG. 6 is a chart showing examples of character coat types.

For example, in this embodiment, four types of character codes are prepared: JIS, tlJIs, A, and B, as shown in the figure. JIS is JIS-XO20B
This is a character coat specified by the Japanese Industrial Standards called JIS-XO201. IJJIs are JIS-XO20
8(7) is the character code with the most significant hit. Further, A indicates a character code A set by company A, for example. Further, B indicates character coat B set by company B.

The character code types for alphabets, kana, kanji, etc. commonly used in word processors and the like vary depending on the model. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize such character code types.

In addition, the data valid section (2) in FIG. 3 is displayed as "A" if the data is left justified, "A" if the entire storage area of R1 is valid if it is right justified, and one of them is selected and specified. If omitted, the entire storage area is assumed to be a valid A.

The padding character ■ is written when left-justification or right-justification R is specified in the data valid section ■. That is,
When left-aligned or right-aligned, a blank space appears in the data storage area. Specify what kind of characters should be used to fill this blank space. Usually, this empty part is filled with space data or special code. Here, the padding character is, for example, X “△△” (hexadecimal 2
digit), x゛°△△△△” for double-byte character strings
(4 digits in hexadecimal).

After setting the data formats of the data file to be converted and the data file after conversion as described above, a conversion means for converting the data format of each data item constituting the code is selected.

In the apparatus of the present invention, the following conversion means is prepared in advance.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a conversion table that is a conversion means regarding character code types.

(a) of the figure shows a character code type conversion table between code A and JIS. Further, (b) of the figure shows a character code type conversion table between code B and JIS. Further, (C) of the figure shows a character code type conversion table between the code υJIS and JIS. By using these tables, any type of character code can be converted into JIS character code or vice versa.

Therefore, when converting the character code type from code A to code B, for example, the tables shown in (a) and (b) may be combined.

If three types of character codes are used, for example, even if mutual conversion tables are created, the number of tables will not become enormous. However, if there are many character code types, for example, prepare a table that can convert each character code to and from the JIS character code, and when converting to a character code other than JIS, combine two conversion tables. Do it like this. This allows the number of conversion tables to be reduced.

Tables are created based on the same concept not only for character code types but also for other data conversions.

Although the conversion means is not necessarily table data, table data is most suitable for mechanical data conversion as in the present invention.

Hereinafter, the data conversion operation by the apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be specifically explained.

FIG. 8 shows a scene after setting the converted data file used in this specific embodiment. Moreover, FIG. 9 shows the screen after setting the converted data file.

As shown in Figure 8, the data file to be converted has a block size of 400 bytes, a record size of 40 bytes, and as seen from the data ID, the ID code is YO.
It consists of two data items: MI and) IYOKI. The position of each data item is the 1st byte and the 21st byte, the data type is GRAPH, the length is 1o, the character code type is JIS, the valid data part is left justified, and there is no padding. All characters are X "2121".

FIG. 10(a) shows the specific structure of this converted data file.

As shown in the figure, data "Nagashima" is stored in the data item YOMI from the first byte. Furthermore, in the data item HYDKI, data “length and height” is stored starting from the 21st byte.

On the other hand, the converted data file is as shown in Figure 9.
YOMI corresponding to the data ID of the converted data file
It consists of a data item called HYOKI and a data item called HYOKI. The position of each data item is specified at the 13th byte and the 1st byte. The data types are VARCHAR and VARGRAPH, respectively.

The lengths are 10 and 5, the code types are both A, the data valid portions are left justified, and the padding characters are X "40" and X "4040"°.

FIG. 10(b) shows the specific structure of the converted data file.

As shown in the figure, since each data item in this data file has a variable length, the length of the data storage area is indicated at the beginning. Their positions are the 1st and 13th bytes.

As can be seen by comparing FIGS. 10(a) and (b), the data formats of data item YOMI and data item HYOKI are significantly changed in terms of data type, 8-character code type, writing position, etc. Therefore, the conversion table required for these data format conversions is selected and the conversion is executed.

Hereinafter, the operation of the apparatus of the present invention described above will be briefly explained using a flowchart.

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart showing the setting process of the format definition section.

As shown in the figure, when setting the format definition section 30 shown in Fig. 1, the operator operates the display 4 and keyboard 5 shown in Fig. 1 to set the data format as shown in Fig. 3. A screen is displayed to input the definition of the data file to be converted (step S1), and the definition of the data file to be converted is input (step S2). Note that this procedure may be reversed.

When the definition of the data file is input in this manner, the format conversion processing unit 11 performs the following data format analysis.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart showing data format analysis processing.

In the figure, first, the file in the format definition section is opened (step Sl). That is, the files of the converted data file definition section 31 and the converted data file definition section 32, which were previously manually input by the operator, are made accessible here.

Next, the block size, record size, and record format of the data file to be converted are extracted (step S2). Furthermore, the block size, record size, and record format of the converted data file are extracted (step S3).
.

After that, count the number of items and match the items to be converted (
Step S4). That is, in the case of the examples shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 earlier, the number of items is two, and the data ID or YOM
They are associated with the same names, such as I and HYOKI. While recognizing this association, the next steps S5 to S7 are executed.

That is, first, a data type conversion table is selected (step S5). As is clear from FIG. 10, this conversion table has the function of changing the position of the read data item and adding data regarding the length of the data storage area as necessary. Of course, it may be a modular program that involves rearranging data or performing calculations. Furthermore, a character code type conversion table is selected (step S6). This conversion means is as described above with reference to FIG.

Next, in step S7, it is determined whether the selection work has been completed for all items. If the selection work for all items has not been completed, return to step S5 and select conversion means such as a data type conversion table for other data items.Then, the selection of conversion means for all items is completed. Once this is completed, the data format analysis process, which is a prerequisite for the conversion process, ends. After that, the process moves to actual data format conversion processing.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating data format conversion processing.

In the figure, first, the converted data file provided in the magnetic disk device 2 of FIG. 1 is opened (step Sl). Furthermore, the converted data file stored in the magnetic disk device 2 is opened (step S2).Then, first, the code of the converted data file is input (step S3). Thereafter, the data format is converted for each data item based on the analysis results shown in FIG. 12 (step S4), and the results are output to the converted data file (step S5). Thereafter, in step S6, it is determined whether or not all records have been output. If there are still unconverted records left, the process returns to step $3 and the processes from step S3 to step s6 are repeated. When the conversion of all records stored in the converted data file is completed, the process moves to step S7, and all files are closed.

In the above manner, the conversion of the data file is completed.

The invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

The device shown in FIG. 1 is equipped with a display and a keyboard, and the data format can be set in the format definition unit 30, but this can be done using other host devices, magnetic cards, or other various input means. It is possible to replace. Further, depending on the data format of the data file to be converted and the data format of the converted data file, either the data type conversion table or the character code type conversion table may not be necessary. Therefore, various conversion means may be freely selected depending on the content.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the data file format conversion device of the present invention described above, the conversion means prepared in advance in the format conversion processing section is selected by comparing the definitions of the data file to be converted and the data file after conversion. Since the data format is converted for each data item, the operator can easily convert the data format of the data file without having to create a data conversion program each time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the data file format conversion device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a conventional data conversion procedure, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the data format setting screen in the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing data type examples, part 5
The figure is an explanatory diagram of an example of variable-length character type data, Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of character code types, Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram of a character code type conversion table, and Figure 8 is an explanation of the screen after setting the converted data file. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the screen after setting the converted data file, FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the data contents showing an example of data format conversion, FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the setting process procedure of the format definition section, and FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the data format analysis processing procedure, and FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the data format conversion processing procedure. 1... Processor, 2... Magnetic disk device, 3.
... Main storage device, 4... Display, 5... Keyboard, 11... Format conversion processing section, 21... Converted data file storage section, 22... Post-conversion data file storage section, 3o ...Format definition part, 31... Converted data file definition part, 32... Post-conversion data file definition part. (X-US data conversion procedure No. 1 (2 bytes) (fixed length prepared) Example of variable length character type data Figure 5 Example of character code type Figure 6 (a) (b) (c) Conversion table by character code Figure OM I HYO! Data file to be converted (a) Data file after conversion (b) Example of data format conversion Figure 10 Setting of format definition section Figure l l Analysis of data format Figure 12 Data format conversion diagram

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A converted data file storage unit, a converted data file storage unit that converts and stores the data format of the converted data file, and each data item constituting one record of the converted data file. a format definition section that defines the data format of the data file; and a format conversion processing section that selects a conversion means for each data item based on the format defined by the format definition section and converts the data format of each record of the converted data file. A data file format conversion device comprising: