Gasboy CFN III Manager Manual V3.6 - Manual (Page 149)

MDE-4871 CFN III Manager’s Manual for Windows® XP Embedded - Version 3.6 · August 2010 Page 14-11
Merge Updates to/from File Lookup Program
Merge Updates to/from File
The Merge menu looks like this. The Merge menu, in general, applies to companies with more
than one site. It helps you transfer lookup files, usually from one computer to another.
Merge updates to/from file
Merge changes to/from another computer
0. Quit
1. Output everything to ASCII merge file
2. Append changes to ASCII merge file
3. Input from ASCII merge file
4. Merge input from ASCII merge file
Please select from the above menu and press Enter -
>
The LOOKUP.DTA file that the data is being transferred from is the source file; the
LOOKUP.DTA file that will receive the data is the target file. The ASCII merge file is the
vehicle for transferring the data from the source to the target (when the output is in ASCII
files, these files are not in a form that can be easily read by people; they are designed to be
read by another Lookup program).
Usually, it is not a good idea to update a target LOOKUP.DTA file by simply copying the
source LOOKUP.DTA file. Replacing one file with another will change the configuration in
the target LOOKUP.DTA file, as well as erase any records that may have come from a third
Lookup program. Instead, use the Merge menu items to update LOOKUP.DTA files.
Copying from a Source File
You copy records from a source file with either the Output everything to ASCII merge file
item or the Append changes to ASCII merge file item:
• The Output everything to ASCII merge file item lets you copy all records to an ASCII
merge file from the source file. Any data in an old version of the ASCII merge file will be
erased.
The Lookup program then keeps track of any records you change in the source file after
you use the Output everything or Append changes item.
• The Append changes to ASCII merge file item lets you copy to an ASCII merge file all
the changes that have occurred in the source file since you last used the Output or Append
item. The ASCII merge file can then be used to create or update the data in target files on
other PCs or Site Controllers.
When you output or append to an ASCII merge file, you see the long menu listing the fields.
For each field, the default (replace) is shown. Replace does not affect the data to be included
in the ASCII merge file; all the data in all fields will be in the file. Instead, replace indicates
whether or not the data for a given field in the ASCII merge file will replace (overwrite) the
data for that same field when the Merge input from ASCII merge file item uses the ASCII
merge file to update a target file.