I need an Informix .db file
Bill asked for a sample Informix ".db" data file (pipe-delimited records, schema header, ~20 years old) to debug a tool that converts such files to text, since he had no Informix server available. Marco Greco identified them as Informix 3.3 .dbd files from the pre-SQL RDS era, long obsolete, noting only an old 3.3-to-SQL migration tool ever existed. Art Kagel said no standard Informix .db format exists and asked for sample lines, but Bill had no files to post. No sample file or working solution was found in the thread.
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All, Could someone please send me an Informix .db file? I am trying to debug something that is translating Informix .db's to text. I do not have access to an Informix database server. The file can be just a few records (around 100 would be fine) and I really do not care what the contents are. The other thing is that the thing I am trying to debug is working on .db files that are at least 20 years old. So if the modern day Informix .db format is much different, then that does not do me any good. I do know that what I am looking for seems to be mostly ASCII and records start with a pipe "|" character. Also, I believe that the "schema" for the file is at the beginning and mostly is giving field sizes (which I also believe are fixed). TIA, Bill
bill wrote: > All, > > Could someone please send me an Informix .db file? I am trying to > debug something that is translating Informix .db's to text. I do not > have access to an Informix database server. The file can be just a few > records (around 100 would be fine) and I really do not care what the > contents are. The other thing is that the thing I am trying to debug > is working on .db files that are at least 20 years old. So if the > modern day Informix .db format is much different, then that does not > do me any good. I do know that what I am looking for seems to be > mostly ASCII and records start with a pipe "|" character. Also, I > believe that the "schema" for the file is at the beginning and mostly > is giving field sizes (which I also believe are fixed). > > TIA, > > Bill I think it is fair to say that you are referring to informix 3.3 .dbd files. At the time, informix was the name of a product, and not a company (the company being named RDS). A lot has changed since, and informix is back to being a (set of) product(s), after being acquired by IBM. RDS products have moved to being sql based around 1985, the company renamed itself to Informix in 1986, and as for .dbd files, they have not been around for more than two decades. There used to be an informix 3.3 to sql migration tool. Last time I heard it mentioned, must have been the late nineties. If you are lucky, somebody may still have a copy. -- Ciao, Marco ______________________________________________________________________________ Marco Greco /UK /IBM Standard disclaimers apply! Structured Query Scripting Language http://www.4glworks.com/sqsl.htm 4glworks http://www.4glworks.com Informix on Linux http://www.4glworks.com/ifmxlinux.htm
bill wrote: > All, > No such thing as a standard Informix .db file. What you have MAY be an UNLOAD or pipe delimited export file format, but Informix tools don't create such files with record layout headers, so it was probably created with someone's custom written tool. Can you post the first few lines of he file? Maybe someone will recognize the format. Art S. Kagel Oninit > Could someone please send me an Informix .db file? I am trying to > debug something that is translating Informix .db's to text. I do not > have access to an Informix database server. The file can be just a few > records (around 100 would be fine) and I really do not care what the > contents are. The other thing is that the thing I am trying to debug > is working on .db files that are at least 20 years old. So if the > modern day Informix .db format is much different, then that does not > do me any good. I do know that what I am looking for seems to be > mostly ASCII and records start with a pipe "|" character. Also, I > believe that the "schema" for the file is at the beginning and mostly > is giving field sizes (which I also believe are fixed). > > TIA, > > Bill > _______________________________________________ > Informix-list mailing list > Informix-list@iiug.org > http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list > > >
On Mar 25, 7:13 am, "Art S. Kagel (Oninit)" <a...@oninit.com> wrote: > bill wrote: > > All, > > No such thing as a standard Informix .db file. What you have MAY be an > UNLOAD or pipe delimited export file format, but Informix tools don't > create such files with record layout headers, so it was probably created > with someone's custom written tool. > > Can you post the first few lines of he file? Maybe someone will > recognize the format. > > Art S. Kagel > Oninit > > > > > Could someone please send me an Informix .db file? I am trying to > > debug something that is translating Informix .db's to text. I do not > > have access to an Informix database server. The file can be just a few > > records (around 100 would be fine) and I really do not care what the > > contents are. The other thing is that the thing I am trying to debug > > is working on .db files that are at least 20 years old. So if the > > modern day Informix .db format is much different, then that does not > > do me any good. I do know that what I am looking for seems to be > > mostly ASCII and records start with a pipe "|" character. Also, I > > believe that the "schema" for the file is at the beginning and mostly > > is giving field sizes (which I also believe are fixed). > > > TIA, > > > Bill > > _______________________________________________ > > Informix-list mailing list > > Informix-l...@iiug.org > >http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - Unfortunately, I cannot since I do not have access to any of the files. To the best of my recollection the .db files had the field names and field lengths at the beginning and the records started with the pipe "|". They also used the "*" preceding the pipe to indicate a deleted record. They are binary files that contain mostly ASCII text. I suspect the non-printing characters are characters such as STX and ETX. I do not think there are any bytes with values greater than 127. Also I believe that the fields are fixed width and not delimited by anything. As Marco pointed out -the world has moved on since way back then. I was just hoping that there might be someway to "Save as 3.3" format, for instance.