Xml Layout Wizard

The layout wizard lets you build a XML-Record-Layout from the files contents by clicking on the Fields (Fixed Width). The Layout Wizard can be run as a standalone program or from the Build Layout button on the Xml-Layout:

Layout Wizard

The Record Layout Wizard guides you through creating a record layout using a file as the basis. On all the wizard screens, you can use Left and Right Arrow buttons (at the bottom of the screen) to move between the screens. There are 2 basic groups of Screens:

Fixed Width	Screens for defining Fixed field width Files. See "Field Position screen" and "Field Definition screen".
CSV	Screens for defining a CSV file. See "CSV Details" and "CSV Field Definition"

File Screen

On the file screen you enter file details and the name of the record layout being created. The field Record Types determines whether you travel down the Fixed Width route ("File Structure screen", "Field Position screen" and "Field Definition screen") screens or the CSV route ( "CSV Details" and "CSV Field Definition").

Fields on the window are:

File Name	Name of the file you are building a layout for
File Structure	How the file is organized. If you are using Standard Windows / Linux Text files leave it as Default Reader
Record Type	This is where your specify whether it is a Fixed Width Single Record, Fixed Width Multi Record, or a CSV file. It also determines whether you see the Fixed Width screens "File Structure screen", "Field Position screen" and "Field Definition screen" or the CSV Screens "CSV Details" and "CSV Field Definition".
Font Name	Font Name of the file (e.g. CP037 for US Ebcidic Characters).
Default Type	What Types Fields to initially assign to a field.

File Structure screen

This screen is only displayed when:

• File Structure is Fixed width or unknown
• Looks like a binary Variable Length file.

The purpose of the screen to determine the file structure for binary files.

Fields

File Structure	How the file is organized.
Length	Record Length for a fixed width file. You can also set the length by clicking on the record start in the table below.
Font Name	Font Name of the file (e.g. CP037 for US Ebcidic Characters).

Field Position screen

The second screen displays the file with the fields in alternating background colors.

To create a new field, click on the first column of the field.

To remove a field, click on the first column again

Other Fields Buttons on the screen include:

• Show Hex Display the file in 2 line Hex mode (Both Text and Hex). Useful when working with Binary / Comp-3 fields.

• Search for Used control what fields are searched for:

  Mainframe Zoned Decimal	Look for Mainframe Zoned decimal. In Zoned Decimals, The sign is represented as an over-strike of the last character.
  PC/Unix Zoned Decimal	Look for Zoned decimal in the Ascii Character set.
  Comp 3	Look for Comp 3 (Binary Coded Decimals) in the file. This does not do any harm in EBCDIC files but in Ascii files, Alphabetic Characters can be mistaken for Comp 3 characters.
  Binary Integer (Big Endian)	Look for Binary integers (Big Endian) - Cobol Comp Fields

• Clear Fields Removes all fields

• Add Fields Clear existing fields and search for Fields using the Search For options above.

Field Definition screen

The final screen is for defining the field names and field types.

Once all the fields have been defined, click on the right arrow button to define the new layout.

Save Screen

Final screen lets you specify the output directory, Output file and the Output Format. I would suggest using RecordEditor XML

CSV Details

On this screen you specify the basic CSV file structure (i.e. field separator; quotes).

Fields on the Screen

Field Separator	Field used to mark the end of one field and the start of the next
Quote Character	Quote character used to surround Text Fields
Parser	Parser used to split lines up into fields. For most files, the Basic Parser is the best to use. But the three parsers provided are: Basic Parser If Field starts with a Quote, it looks for a <Quote><Separator>. It will fail if a field contains <quote><Separator> Matching Quotes For every opening Quote, It looks for a matching closing Quote. Quotes based on fields This is an extension of Matching Quotes. For this type of Parser all text fields will always get quotes around them. This is programs that are very picky about having Quotes around Text fields, Dates (in particular some Databases).
Fields on First Line	Indicates whether the first line of the file holds the field names.

CSV Field Definition

This screen is used to define the fields (columns) in the file.

Convert Layout

Also with Layout Wizard is the Convert Layout utility. It can convert a Layout from one format (say Cobol) to XML. It can also read a sample XML file and write a layout for it.

Following is how to convert a Cobol Copybook to XML. Note: Input Copybook is filled in and Copybook Type is set to Cobol.

To build a layout for a XML file. Note: Sample File is filled in with a XML file and Copybook Type is set to XML.

FFReport at SourceForge

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