TAS 3 to 5.1

TAS 3 to 5 and 5.1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter covers the process of converting from TAS Professional 3.0 or TAS Professional 4.0 to

TAS Professional 5.1. The amount of data to be converted, in the case of TAS Professional 3.0, or the

number of programs in both cases will determine the time involved to complete this process. In converting

both data and programs automated procedures have been provided to help you with this task. We appreciate your continued use of Computer Accounting Solutions (CAS) products and hope you find this process easier than

those in the past.

Converting from TAS Professional 3.0 to 5.1

With this new release we have reintegrated many of the commands and features of TAS Professional 3.0 to ease the conversion to this new version. These include allowing the characters #!$% in field names,

Continuing the old form of BCD numbers, creating the 4 external memory areas and several commands that we superseded in 4.0 are back. In general the conversion of programs and data should be straight forward and without troubles.

NOTE: This process assumes that you have created a new sub-directory separate from where TAS50 is

installed. If you haven't done so yet then please do that now.

The TAS50 sub-directory should only hold the programs provided by CAS. Through the use of the SET TAS50= and putting the TAS50 subdirectory in your path (both in your environment) you will be able to access the Pro 5.1 programs from any other drive or sub-directory on your computer.

Converting the 3.0 Data Dictionary

Convert 3.0 Data dict to 5.1

The first step in converting from 3.0 to 5.1 is to convert your data dictionary. This will bring all your Old field names into the new version. The 5.1 data dictionary is considerably different than 3.0. It is Now made up of 8 different files instead of 2.

The new ones include two different key information files; a defined field dictionary; a file relationships file; a file that holds the Btrieve initialization information for each file so that files can be initialized at a user site without the full data dictionary; and a listing of printers available. As explained above you should create a new sub-directory for this conversion.

For ease of explanation, we will assume that all programs are on drive C and that the new sub-directory you've created is C:\NEWPRGS and that the old sub-directory is C:\TAS30. For this conversion to work it doesn't matter what drive you're on, where TAS Pro 5.1 is, or what the name of the sub-directories

are. Just insert your names for the ones set here. The process is as follows:

1.) Create and log into the new sub-directory. Again, we're going to assume that you've created a sub-directory called NEWPRGS on drive C. When this is complete you should be at the DOS prompt in the new sub-directory: C:\NEWPRGS>

2.) Copy the data dictionary from the TAS Pro 5.1 sub-directory to C:\NEWPRGS. This would be

(we will not be showing the DOS prompt anymore but unless instructed differently you should always be at DOS): COPY C:\TAS50\FILE*.B This will copy the 8 dictionary files into your new sub-directory.

Also COPY c:\TAS50\ERRMSG.B

3.) Copy the OVL files: COPY C:\TAS50\*.OVL This will copy 2 files; TAS50.OVL and TASCOLOR.OVL.

NOTE: It has come to our attention that old data from TAS3 could have Y2K Issues and you need to be aware of this. This data can be repaired by writing a program to make Y2K adjustments to the short dates stored in TAS3.

Set Configuration

4.) Run the Set Configuration program by typing at the DOS prompt: R50 C:\TAS50\TASCINFO

This should bring up the Set Configuration program Move the cursor to the Default Dictionary Path near the bottom of the screen. Do this by pressing the ENTER key until the cursor is in that field. If you haven't made any changes in the TAS50 sub-directory then this field should be blank until you reach it. Then

Your current sub-directory should be automatically filled in. Press the F10 key and answer Y to the save question. The program will exit and return you to the DOS prompt.

Convert Dictionaries 3 to 4 or 5

5.) Now we're ready to convert the old dictionary. Type the following at the DOS prompt:

R50 C:\TAS50\CNVTDICT

Note : If you are using the pervasive SQL database engine you will have to rebuild your FILE*.B and ERRMSG.B files to at least ver 6.15 as version 9 will not write data to the 5.10 Btrieve format it will read but not write. If you get a btrieve error #46 "Access to the requested file denied" this is probably your problem.

The program will ask, at the top of the screen, for the location of TASFILE/TASDICT. At the bottom of the screen it should say Dict Path: C:\NEWPRGS\ (or whatever you named this subdirectory). IF IT DOESN'T STOP NOW AND RECHECK STEPS 1 THROUGH 4. Enter the location of the 3.0 dictionary, in this example you would enter: C:\TAS30\

6.) Next the program ask you for Schema name. We're going to assume that you want to convert the entire dictionary so you'll just press ENTER here and put no value in the field. However, if you want to convert just a single schema/FD you would enter the name here, or you can also use wildcards, i.e., BK*, or BKAR*, etc.

7.) You will now be asked whether or convert from the old form BCD to new type fields. This will convert all your 3.0 N type fields to new 5.1 N type. If you answer N here they will be converted to 5.1 O type (old BCD) fields. In either case both T (time) and D (date) fields will be converted to the new format that is in keeping with what Btrieve expects for those type fields. The decision to convert your BCD fields hinges on two questions you have to ask yourself. First, if you are going to want to access your Btrieve data with other programs they cannot understand the BCD format. You will be forced to convert to the new floating point type. We Recoment you answer this questions YES..

Second, if you are using overlays as keys and part of these overlays are N type fields when they are converted you will need to reset those as segmented keys instead of overlays. This is accomplished by using the Data Dictionary Manager explained in Chapter 3. This is again in keeping with what Btrieve, and other applications that access Btrieve, expect. If you aren't interested in accessing your data with other programs then you should answer N here. This will give you the most compatibility with the 3.0 version.

NOTE: In either case the program will convert your date and time fields to the new format. Internally they are still only 4 bytes, however, the data itself is different. This means that any overlay keys you have that include a date or time field will have to be converted to a segmented key. This is a relatively easy process. You would run the Data Dictionary Manager choose that schema (what we now call FD - file descriptor), press ^K (CTRL+K), and choose the offending key from the list. At the entry fields you will see the overlay as the only segment in the list. You will enter each field in the overlay in the order they appear, one to each segment. Save the key info, save the FD, reindex it and you're done.

initialize the new files

8.) The next step is to initialize the new files. Again, at the DOS prompt type:

R50 C:\TAS50\INITALL

It will ask for the files to be initialized. Just press the ENTER key for all. Next it will ask for location. At this time we'll assume that all the files will be in the current sub-directory so press ENTER again. As each file is initialized a message about this will be displayed on the screen. The process continues until all files are initialized. If for some reason a file you are creating using this method already exists in the current sub-directory you will be asked whether or not you wish to initialize it. Generally you would answer Y. If you have followed these instructions this shouldn't happen.

9.) At this point you have created your new data dictionary and you can either convert the data now or the programs. Since we're already in the middle of the data we'll continue with that. However, should you want to convert programs now instead skip to the next step and then

return here when you are ready for the data.

NOTE: Converting the data can take a considerable amount of time depending on the size of your files, speed of your computer, etc. We suggest you do this over a weekend or at least overnight. The process is automatic once it starts and shouldn't require any further input on

your part. Should something happen during the conversion, power failure, etc. and you wish to restart then delete all the new files (don't delete the data dictionary files), go back to step 8 and initialize again and then do this step again.

NOTE: This process changes your old data dictionary. You should make a backup of TASFILE.M and TASDICT.M so that should you need to make further changes to any 3.0 programs you will have a good data dictionary.

From the DOS prompt type the following:

R50 C:\TAS50\CNVTDATA

Again, the program will ask for the location of TASFILE/TASDICT. This should be the same path you entered in step 5. Next it will ask for the files to be converted. Again, press just the ENTER key for all files or put in the FD name as appropriate (you can use wildcards). As each

file is converted the name of the file and the number of records remaining will count down to 0. The program will automatically go from one file to the next until all are converted.

NOTE: One of the biggest problems you can have here is if the old file doesn't exist. If that occurs the program will display an error message on the screen and wait for a response. If you aren't there the computer will patiently wait until you get back. This can be a problem if you

did this overnight and expect all the files to be converted in the morning. So, try to be sure that there is a file that exists in the appropriate sub-directory for each you are going to convert, or,plan to check the computer several times during conversion.

10.) We're now ready to convert the programs. There were two different options for source code in TAS Professional 3.0. They were .SRC or .EDT files. If you edited programs with the source code editor you have .EDT files. If you used a text editor then you probably have .SRC files, although, many people learned the codes for the .EDT format and, due to limitations of the editor, learned how to program by the numbers. In TAS Professional 5.1 there's only one format, .SRC. The editor can handle this format and it's the same file if you wish to use a text editor.

The conversion program doesn't care which you used, although, you can only convert one type

at a time.

To start the conversion program type: R50 C:\TAS50\CNVTPALL The first question it asks is what type of program you're converting. Since this is the 3.0 conversion you will enter either E (.EDT type) or S (.SRC type). Next enter the file path and name, wildcards are acceptable. So to convert all the BK*.EDT programs in the TAS30 subdirectory you would enter E for the program type and then the following for the file name(s): C:\TAS30\BK*

The program will then ask if you wish to convert DEFINE fields that are type N from BCD to new form floating point. In this case you would answer N if you have DEFINEd overlays in which one or more of the fields is an old form BCD.

Convert TAS5 Dicts to TAS7

Convert Data Dictionaries to Codebase

There is one more step you have to make to have your programs run under TAS Professional 7 powered by CAS runtime you have to run the convert codebase dictionaries. If you are here now is where the real work begins converting these programs from the old DOS type screens to the new Windows screens can be time consuming. Most of your program will run with no problem using the new runtime.

If you have any questions or need help in converting your applications we will try to help you by email support@cassoftware.com with your questions.

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