TBDEVICE Interface Program
ASCII Fixed Length Data Format
Overview
The TABS III Data Collection Device Conversion program (ASCII Fixed format) can be used to convert fee, cost, and payment transactions from an ASCII file with fixed length fields to be compatible with the Merge TABS III Remote Data program.
The TBDEVICE program must reside in the same directory as the TABS III programs in order to work properly. The ASCII data file
must reside in the TABS III program directory. Details regarding the exact file layout can be found on the following page.
Installation
To install the TBDEVICE interface program on your hard disk:
- Insert the TBDEVICE interface program disk into your floppy disk drive.
- Click the Start button, and then click Run...
- Type A:SETUP or B:SETUP (depending on the floppy drive used), and then click OK.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to run the SETUP program.
Note: The TBDEVICE interface program (TBDEVICE.EXE) must be installed in the same directory where the TABS III program resides.
Configuring the Data Collection Device Type
Before you can convert any data from a data collection device, TBDEVICE must be configured to handle the necessary format.
- From the Software Technology folder, double-click the TBDEVICE
icon to start the TBDEVICE program.
- Enter your User ID and Password in the STI Logon dialog box and click OK.
- From the File menu, select the Configure option.
- The "Data Collection Device Configuration" window will be displayed. Click the drop-down arrow next to the Device field and select ASCII Fixed.
- In the File field, type the name of the file containing the data from
the collection device (TABS3.CF).
- Select the Default check box if you want to make the ASCII Fixed device the default in the TABS III Data Collection Conversion program.
- Click the More Config button.
- In the Descriptions section, select the Upper Case Text if you want to use
all upper case letters in the TABS III description.
- Click OK.
- Click the Save button.
- Close the "Data Collection Device Configuration" window.
Converting ASCII Fixed Length Data
Use the following procedure for the conversion:
- Copy the file containing the data from the collection device (i.e., TABS3.CF) to the TABS III directory.
- From the Software Technology folder, double-click the TBDEVICE icon
to start the TBDEVICE program.
- Enter your User ID and Password in the STI Logon dialog box and click OK.
- From the File menu, select the Convert option.
- The "Data Collection Device Conversion" window will be displayed. If the ASCII Fixed device is not displayed in the Device field, click the drop-down arrow next to the Device field to select the ASCII Fixed format.
- Click the Convert button. The program will look for the file name
specified in the Configuration window. If the file is found to contain data, the program will read transactions from the file and increment the Processed count for every transaction that is read. All transactions that are successfully converted will increment the Added count and will be written to the TABS III Remote data files
(RMT*.*).
Note: A TBDEVICE.LOG file is created and will contain any records that were not converted. If no errors were encountered during the conversion, then the TBDEVICE.LOG file will be a zero byte file.
Note: If you are using a full user system, the ASCII Fixed data file will automatically be deleted when the conversion is complete to avoid double posting of the data. However, when using a demo system, the data file is not deleted.
- When the process is complete, the data files will have been created allowing you to merge the information into TABS III using the Merge TABS III Remote Data program. To merge the files, start TABS III. From the Integration Task Folder, select Merge TABS III Remote Data. This program will merge the remote data files created by the TBDEVICE program (RMT*.*) with your main TABS III data files. The TABS III online Help includes complete details regarding the Merge TABS III Remote Data program.
Note: You can change the Descriptions
options used by the ASCII Fixed format by selecting File | Configure.
Input Field Positions
|
File Layout (record length = 128 bytes) |
|
Field # |
Field |
Position |
Length |
Format |
|
1 |
Client |
1 |
12 |
up to 12 characters (with optional decimal point) |
|
2 |
Timekeeper |
13 |
3 |
up to 3 digits (ignored for costs or payments) |
|
3 |
Date |
16 |
8 |
mm/dd/yy format |
|
4 |
Tcode |
24 |
6 |
up to 5 digits preceded by a "$" for costs or payments (trans code cannot be greater than 999 in value) |
|
5 |
Hours |
30 |
6 |
hours worked in decimal format up to 320.00 maximum (i.e. 1.25 is 1 hr. 15 min.) |
|
6 |
Amount |
36 |
10 |
billable dollar amount up to 9999999.99 |
|
7 |
Rate |
46 |
6 |
hourly billing rate up to 999.99 |
|
8 |
Category |
52 |
3 |
optional TABS III billing category for fees |
|
9 |
Description |
55 |
72 |
up to 5000 characters of text |
|
10 |
Filler |
127 |
2 |
carriage return/line feed |
Notes
- The Timekeeper, Hours, Rate and Category (fields 2, 5, 7 and 8) are ignored for cost and payment transactions (costs and payments are denoted by prefixing the transaction code number with "$").
- The Client ID can be from 3 to 12 characters long with an optional decimal point separating the client portion from the matter portion.
- TABS III transaction codes can be from 1 to 999. It is possible to convert the TABS III 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 TABS III transaction code number must include leading zeros so it is 3 digits long (e.g., if using bill code 20 with transaction code 9, change 9 to 009; prepend the 20 to use transaction code 20009).
- If both Rate and Amount fields are blank or zero, then TABS III will supply a default rate and calculate the Amount automatically when the transaction is merged into TABS III.
- If the Rate field is blank or zero (and the Amount field is not), then TABS III will supply the default rate assigned in the TABS III client record when the transaction is merged into TABS III. The Amount field will not be recomputed by TABS III.
- If the Category field is blank or zero, then TABS III will supply the default category assigned in the TABS III client record when the transaction is merged into TABS III.
- When the data is merged into TABS III, the Timekeeper, Client and Tcode 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.
Sample Data File
The following is an example of a fixed length ASCII file. The sample transactions are preceded by three lines of numbers to assist you with visualizing field positions. These three lines should not be included in your file. The first line represents the starting position of each field number, the second line 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 alpha fields will have trailing spaces if the description does not fill all the characters allotted to that field.
- In an actual file, the transaction descriptions would not wrap onto another line, but would appear as one continuous line. We have wrapped them so they can be seen on the printed copy.
- The tenth field (Filler) is not displayed. It consists of two character positions, 127 and 128. These characters represent 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
101.00 202/19/99 1 1.50 90.00 60.00 10Office conference with
Karen Barrett and all of the apartment managers.
200.01 02/15/98$ 23 25.00 Court filing fee.
101.00 02/15/98$ 21 1.15 Photocopies.
101.00 202/19/98 3 1.22 73.00 0.00 10Pay County Court filing
fee in advance on behalf of client.
102.00 102/20/98 5 .50 50.00100.00 1Letter to Client’s bank
er.
Startup Options
Command line options can be used when starting TBDEVICE to bypass the User ID prompt and automatically execute the Convert and Validation programs thereby eliminating user interaction. These startup options can be quite useful when implemented as part of a batch file.
The following are examples of the available startup options:
Bypass the User ID prompt F:\STI\TBDEVICE.EXE ALICE
Convert F:\STI\TBDEVICE.EXE /CONVERT ASCII FIXED
Validation F:\STI\TBDEVICE.EXE /VALIDATION ASCII FIXED
Note: The normal "sign in" routine is used when TBDEVICE is started with the "/CONVERT" or "/VALIDATION" options. If you have not specified a User ID on the command line, you will be required to enter the User ID. If password security has been defined, you will also be required to enter the password before the Convert or Validation program will proceed.
The TBDEVICE online Help includes complete details regarding Startup Options.
2002/09