[DogParkList] Re: Another MLDX cr/lf question

[Don Agro]

Hi Doug,

On 14-Jan-06, at 12:05 AM, Doug Hall wrote:

> With my LoTW task behind me I sat down tonight to enter some of my
> paper logs from years gone by. I figured I'd open a copy of my log.dat
> file in an Appleworks spreadsheet and add the paper logs there instead
> of doing the entry directly in MLDX.

This is the easier way to do it. I hope you don't mind me copying the  
list but I think this is a question that others will be interested in.

> What I found is that the Appleworks spreadsheet won't open a comma
> delimited file properly if it's in Unix format. Doesn't like those
> pesky line feeds. There's a fairly easy workaround - convert the file
> to Mac (pre-OS X) format (change LF to CR), pull it into Appleworks,
> and then do the editing.

I am sure you already know this, but for other readers ... BBEdit  
Lite and TextWrangler will convert between Macintosh and Unix line  
endings painlessly.

> The Appleworks database has the same issue
> when trying to pull in the log with the MLDX template from the web
> site, by the way.
>
> It appears that MLDX writes whatever format it reads initially (?) ,

Yes, this is correct.

> so does it matter if I convert it back to Unix format?

No, MLDX has no preference. As more and more legacy apps are left  
behind I am sure that Unix line endings will become much more common  
than Macintosh line endings.

It's ironic that plain ascii text tab-delimited files chosen for  
their simplicity could end up being operating system dependent :)

> Is there a "preferred" line ending convention for log.dat?

No, MLDX will read either format for any data file - but this is a  
relatively recent change - so most pre-version 4.1 users will have  
Macintosh format files on their disks.

MacLoggerDX will read either format, but as you point out - some  
legacy Mac applications will only read Macintosh (cr) line endings.

Thanks for pointing this out Doug - and for catching the "Update  
Selected Log Entries" bug fixed in 4.2.2...

In v4.1 - v4.2, if you had a Unix style log.dat (recent creation) an  
"Update Selected Log Entries" command could corrupt your log.dat  
file. This has been fixed in 4.2.2 - but as always - please back up  
your log files frequently and download v4.2.2 before using the  
"Update Selected Log Entries" command.


73 Don Agro VE3VRW

D o g   P a r k   S o f t w a r e   L t d .

email: dagro at dogparksoftware.com
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