[AccessD] Re-Invent The Wheel??

On 17 Oct 2005 at 23:33, John Colby wrote:

> I propose a system of two tables:
> 
> usystblDataSource
> DS_ID                  Autonumber   PK
> DS_Source           Memo            Data source - can be a sql statement, a
> query name or a table name
> DS_Type              Text               Source of the data (table, query or
> SQL statement
> DS_FixedWidth   Yes/No           This data is a fixed width export - If
> true, then the format string in each field is responsible for getting the
> width right

Even in delimited fields you will still often need a format string


> DS_Delimiter        Text               The delimiter between fields (if any)
> 

Also:
DS_QuoteText		Yes/No		Whether text fields are quoted

Possibly:
DS_TotalChars	Number	Record length for fixed width files
(easier than trying to calculate it from summing the fields Format definitions )
 
> 
> usystblFld
> FLD_ID               AutoNumber   Field ID
> FLD_IDDS          Number            Data Source ID
> FLD_Order          Number            The order that the field appears in the
> output string
> FLD_FldName      Text                  Name of the field in the data source

FLD_OutputFieldName	Text	Name of the field in the output file
					Default Null = same as in data source


> Thus usystblDataSource represents the source of the data and whether this
> export specification is going to be fixed width, delimited, or both.

Is there any such thing as delimited and fixed width? Surely that is an either/or