Introduction to WordStock Export

WordStock's optional Export Module provides the tools to take data from your WordStock computer and configure it for Exporting it to use in the Windows® or other non-WordStock environments; you can Export to diskettes or file. Most of our customers use the data to feed spreadsheets (such as Excel™) or web pages.

 

Preparation

The Export programs are accessed from the main WordStock menu. Move the highlight to the Export menu and press <Enter>, or, press <x>, which is the hotkey for this menu choice.

Once there, you are ready to prepare to Export. At the core of the Export module is a program that is very similar to creating regular custom report formats for printing or viewing. If you are familiar with designing report formats, the transition to creating Export formats should prove an easy one.

The program that you will use to create Export formats is Create or modify Export formats. To load it, move the highlight to Export Design sub-menu and press <Enter>, or, press <d>, which is the hotkey for this menu choice.

Your cursor will be on Create or modify Export formats. Press <Enter> or press <f> which is the hotkey for this program. You will see a box of valid Data Files to Export.

Choose which type of data you wish to export. For this example, choose inventory.

Your next choice will be to modify rename copy delete new quit. Use the right arrow key to move to "new", or, press <n>, which is the hotkey for 'new'.

You will be asked to name the Export format. Let’s call this one "basic".The screen will redraw, and you’ll have additional choices to make.

You are now ready to select fields to export from the inventory file.

Choose "Add" by moving the arrow keys to it, or, press <a>, which is the hotkey for this command. The screen will redraw, and the familiar box of fields that can be used for sorting and printing will appear.

For our basic report, start off by selecting the "title" field and pressing <Enter>. The screen will redraw again, and you will have a choice of selecting the minimum and maximum number of spaces in the title field to export. Leave the default values of 'none' and '40' in place. Press <F10>.

There are a number of further options to determine how each field is formatted. In most cases, these can be left at their default settings. They can be changed if necessary for the data to be imported properly into other software.

The screen will redraw and the "basic" Export format’s current values will be displayed. To add additional fields in this Export report format, move the cursor to "before" or "after" and press <Enter>, or, press <b> or <a>, the hotkeys for those two commands. Choose "After’, and add the author field.

You will now be able to move up and down with the arrow keys between the two fields that are currently in the Export report format. Move to the last field, and again choose "After".

Go ahead and follow the steps above and add after the author field product #, section1 #, vendor #, onhand, and onorder.

  • Be sure to go to the last field each time before selecting "After", or the field will be added at whatever place your highlight is positioned.

Once these fields have all been added, there are two formatting issues that you need to take care of before the format is finished.

Most exports go to a Windows system of some kind or another. Because of that, use the right arrow to highlight "EOL" (end of line) and press enter, or, press <o>, which is the hotkey for this command.

There will be a pop-up box that allows you to choose the style of the end of each line in the Export file. Move the highlight to "DOS (CR/LF)" and press <Enter>.

(Other choices may be necessary if the file is being imported into a Macintosh computer or a Unix system.)

The program you will be using to manipulate the exported data will sometimes require that fields be separated, or "delimited" in some fashion. Consult your program help or manual to determine if this is necessary. WordStock defaults to "none" for a delimiter type. The most common field delimiter is a comma. For our example, we will choose comma delimiting.

Use the right arrow to highlight "Delim" (Delimiter) and press <Enter>, or, press <i> which is the hotkey for this command. A new blank field will appear for you to type in the delimiter. Type <,> and press <Enter>.

The screen will redraw, and you will be back at the point where you may select modify, rename, copy, delete, new, or quit. Choose "Quit".

 

Basics of Exporting

Once you’ve created an Export report format, you are ready to export. Return to the Export menu by pressing the left arrow key.

Now, it’s time to decide if you want to export the entire inventory file or a sort of it.

 

Exporting the Entire Inventory:

Use the arrow keys or press the hotkey of <f> to select Export an entire data file, which will bring up a menu where you will select which media to Export to. For this example, choose to DOS diskette(s) and press <Enter>. The screen will redraw, and you will have a Data Files box.

Choose inventory by highlighting it and pressing <Enter>. The screen will redraw, and you will be asked if you would like to continue. Type in <y> and press <Enter>. The screen will redraw, and you can now choose which Export report format to use.

Move the highlight with the arrow keys to "basic" and press <Enter>. The screen will count up the records, then put up a message detailing how many DOS formatted diskettes you will need to complete the Export, and asking you to confirm that you have that many. Answer <y> and press <Enter> if you do.

You will be prompted to insert the diskette into the drive and press <Enter>. Do so, and the data is copied. If the Export requires more than one diskette, provide additional diskettes as prompted.

Note: Diskettes you purchase at any computer store are already formatted for DOS. If you are re-using any WordStock formatted diskettes, you may re-format them for DOS use in the Export Maintenance menu by selecting Format DOS media and following the prompts. The same follows for Zip cartridges.

 

Sort of Inventory

These instructions presume you have already sorted the inventory. Choose Export an existing sort by moving the highlight with the arrow keys, or press <e>, which is the hotkey for this menu choice.

Choose the data type, in this case inventory. Select the media by pressing <Enter>. The screen will redraw.

Choose Inventory by highlighting it and pressing <Enter>, then move the cursor to the sort to use, and press <Enter>.

You will be asked if you want to continue, answer <y> and press <Enter>. You will then choose the Export report format to use by using the arrow keys to highlight it and pressing <Enter>.

The screen will count up the records, then put up a message detailing how many DOS formatted diskettes you will need to complete the Export, and asking you to confirm that you have that many. Answer <y>" and press <Enter> if you do.

You will be prompted to insert the diskette into the drive and press enter. Do so, and the data is copied. If the Export requires more than one diskette, provide additional diskettes as prompted.

At this point, you have on your diskette a file that has Title, Author, Product #, Section #, Vendor #, Onhand, Onorder for each record, with each field separated by a comma and with an EOL character of CR/LF.

 

Additional Export menu choices

Once you have familiarized yourself with these basic, you may wish to make use of other functions in the Export menu. Briefly, they are:

Sort and Export records: allows you to create sort includes, sort orders, sort a data file, create an Export report format, and Export sorted records, all within one menu choice.

Sort a data file: allows you sort a data file.

View or print an Export output file: Allows you to print or view an Export that you sent to a file rather than to a DOS diskette or Zip cartridge.

View or print DOS files: Allows you to print or view Exported files that are on DOS diskettes or Zip cartridges.

Export Word Processing/Cash Sheets: Allows you to export any cash sheet, xread, cash sheet summary, or product summary that is saved on your system. Allows you to Export word processing files from your own home directory, or any home directory on the system.

 

Connectivity

WordStock can provide several options for bridging to Windows computers. Please call our Sales Department at 1-800-753-9673. Certain kinds of Windows connectivity give you the ability to import files directly onto your Windows computer without having to first copy a file to DOS diskettes or Zip cartridges.

The program that allows for this movement is WS_FTP. Once installed and configured on your Windows computer, you may connect to your WordStock computer, and retrieve Exported files. (This is why we have the choice to Export to a "file" through the Export menus).

For examply, assume you have Exported an inventory sort to a file, and the file name you gave it was "my.test.Export". Once connected, you will see a list of directories.

By double clicking on the "outgoing" directory, you will see another set of directories. Double-click on the "inv" directory. Now, you will see the file "my.test.Export". Click on this file once to highlight it.

On the WS_FTP screen in the middle are two arrows, one for going from WordStock to Windows, the other to go in the other direction.

Click on the left facing arrow, and the file will be transferred to the Windows computer.

 

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