DevInt: CONVASCF

Tabs3/ASCII Interface Program
Version 1.3
(Fixed Length ASCII Records)

Overview

The Tabs3/ASCII interface program is a DOS program. It is used to convert time and expense transactions from an ASCII file to be compatible with the Tabs3 Merge Data Capture Transactions program.

The ASCII data must be in a file named TABS3.ASC and must reside in the Tabs3 program directory. The file should contain no more than 9,999 records. If you need to import more than 9,999 records then the records will need to be converted in stages.

The Tabs3/ASCII interface program (CONVASCF.EXE) must reside in the same directory as the Tabs3 programs in order to work properly. The Tabs3 program directory can be found by starting Tabs3 and selecting Help | About Tabs3.

Note: The Create Validation Files program must be run before you can successfully use this data capture device interface program. The Create Validation Files program is found in Tabs3 by selecting the following menu options Maintenance|Integration|Create Validation Files. When creating validation files, select a Validation File Type of Data Capture Device.

Note: Payment transactions cannot be merged into Tabs3.

Note: This DOS program cannot be run under a 64-bit operating system. Although it can be installed on a 64-bit server, it must be run from a non-64-bit workstation.

Installation

The CONVASCF interface program (CONVASCF.EXE) must be transferred to the directory on your hard disk where the Tabs3 program files reside. This is done by using the SETUP program on the CONVASCF interface program CD.

To install the CONVASCF interface program on your hard disk:

Insert the CONVASCF interface program CD into your CD drive.
The installation program will automatically start.

Note: If the CD Autorun feature is disabled, click the Start button, and then click Run… Click the Browse button and navigate to the CD drive. Double-click the LAUNCH.EXE file. Click OK.
Follow the on-screen instructions to install the software onto your hard disk.

Executing the CONVASCF Interface Program

From a DOS prompt from the Tabs3 directory, enter the command "CONVASCF" to convert the ASCII data in the TABS3.ASC file to the required data format to be merged with Tabs3. You will be asked "Is it OK to continue? (Y/N)". If you enter "N" the program will be aborted. If you enter "Y" the program will look for the TABS3.ASC file containing ASCII data. If the TABS3.ASC file is found to contain data, the program will display the message "Converting Transactions" followed by a count for each transaction read from the file. As the transactions are being read, they will be converted so they will be compatible with the Tabs3 Merge Data Capture Transactions program.

When the CONVASCF program is done, the following files will exist: T3FEEKEY.REM, T3FEE.REM, T3FDESC1.REM, T3EXPKEY.REM, T3EDESC1.REM and T3EXP.REM. You must then start Tabs3 and run the Merge Data Capture Transactions program. This program will merge the data files (*.rem) created by the CONVASCF program with your main Tabs3 data files.

Note: If you are not using a demo version of the program, the TABS3.ASC file will automatically be deleted when the conversion is complete to avoid double posting of the data.

TABS3.ASC File Layout (record length = 128 bytes)
Field	Name	Starts at	Length	Format
1	Client Number	1	12	up to 12 digits (with optional decimal point)
2	Timekeeper	13	3	up to 3 digits (ignored for costs)
3	Date	16	8	mm/dd/yy format
4	Transaction Code	24	6	up to 5 digits preceded by a "$" for costs (trans code cannot be greater than 30999 in value)
5	Hours Worked	30	6	hours worked in decimal format up to 320.00 maximum (i.e. 1.25 is 1 hr. 15 min.)
6	Amount	36	10	billable dollar amount up to 9999999.99
7	Hourly Rate	46	6	hourly billing rate up to 999.99
8	Billing Category	52	3	optional Tabs3 billing category for fees
9	Description	55	72	up to 72 characters of text
10	Filler	127	2	carriage return/line feed

Notes

The Timekeeper, Hours Worked, Hourly Rate and Category (fields 2, 5, 7 and 8) are ignored for cost transactions (costs are denoted by prefixing the transaction code number with "$").

The Client Number can be from 3 to 12 digits long with an optional decimal point separating the client number from the matter number.

Tabs3 transaction codes can be from 1 to 999. It is possible to convert the Tabs3 bill code combined with the transaction code. A bill code of 10 (non-billable/non-printable), 20 (non-billable/printable) or 30 (billable/non-printable) can be added to the beginning of the transaction code. No bill code is an indication of a billable/printable transaction. If bill code 10, 20 or 30 is used, the Tabs3 transaction code number must be zero padded on the left to be 3 digits long (e.g., if using bill code 20 with transaction code 9, change 9 to 009 and convert transaction code 20009).

If both Hourly Rate and Amount fields are blank or zero, then Tabs3 will supply a default rate and calculate the Amount automatically.

If the Hourly Rate field is blank or zero (and the Amount field is not), then the Tabs3 Merge Data Capture Transactions program will supply the default rate assigned in the Tabs3 client record. The Amount field will not be recomputed by Tabs3.

If the Category field is blank or zero, then the Tabs3 Import program will supply the default category assigned in the Tabs3 client record.

When the data is merged into Tabs3, the Timekeeper, Client Number and Transaction Code fields are verified as being valid. Transactions with invalid fields are rejected and a list of rejected transactions can be printed along with an error code indicating why it was rejected.

Dump of Sample Transactions

The following is a sample of a fixed-length ASCII file. The sample transactions are preceded by three lines of numbers. The first line shows the field number, the second lines shows the character position by tens, and the third line shows character position by single digits.

Each transaction must contain 128 characters.
The numeric fields will contain leading spaces if the number does not fill all the characters allotted to that field.
The alphabetic fields will have trailing spaces if the description does not fill all the characters allotted to that field.
In actual transactions the descriptions would not wrap onto another line, but would appear as one continuous line.
The tenth column is not displayed. It consists of two characters 127 and 128. These characters are a carriage return and a line feed in that order. Since there is no way to display those characters in this document we omitted them in the sample transactions.

1           2  3       4     5     6         7     8  9 
         1         2         3         4         5
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345Positions  55 thru 126

      101.00  202/19/07     1  1.50    90.00  60.00 10Office conference with 
Karen Barrett and all of the apartment managers.
      200.01   02/15/07$   23           25.00         Court filing fee.
      101.00   02/15/07$   21            1.15         Photocopies.
      101.00  202/19/07     3  1.22     73.00  0.00 10Pay County Court filing
fee in advance on behalf of client.
      102.00  102/20/07     5   .50     50.00100.00  1Letter to Client’s bank
er.

2008/12/16