Overview
The text file interface provides a
mechanism for the ATT software to communicate with a management system
that supports data export to and data import facilities. Two data files on the
personal computer are used to communicate with the desired software
package being used to manage items.
Information is then exported into
a file destined for the scanner as illustrated in the diagram at the
bottom of this page. The
scanner will populate a second file with the results of the scanning.
The text file interface is most
commonly used to interface the ATT software with Microsoft Excel or a
third party management software package that supports data exports to
text files and data imports from text files.
The customer’s management
system must first export data to a file on their personal computer,
known as “toscanner.txt”.
The ATT Translation and Interface
software is then executed. The
operator will run a data down load.
This may also be referred to as a
“get items” operation.
This program will present the
operator with a standard Microsoft Windows “Open
File…” dialogue box to enable the operator to
select the data file that was recently exported from the host software. It will then translate the
contents into a data format suitable for the scanner.
Then it will leave the resultant
file in a suitable location for communicating with the scanner.
The ATT Translation and Interface
software will then take item data from the device and translate it into
a format suitable for the host system.
It will then open a standard
Microsoft Windows “Save As…” dialogue
box enabling the operator to select the destination file for the
translated data from the scanner.
This file is usually called
“fromscanner.txt” and will be referred to as such
within this document. The
customer will then have to perform a data import of the
“fromscanner.txt” file into the software package
that they are using to manage items.
The customer may then perform
whatever reconciliation reports are desired to show the results of this
count. It is the
customer’s responsibility to write whatever queries or
reports are required in performing this step.
Text File Interface Configuration
The text file interface is configured
using two different files, the “attconf” file, and
the “flexmessconfig” file.
ATT Version 3 File Format
The following table describes the
“toscanner.txt” and
“fromscanner.txt” file default formats for version
3 of the ATT software. Note
that all fields are character fields, and have fixed length. It is recommended that the
field names supplied here be used.
However, other field names should
function correctly.
Field Name
|
Length
|
Fld #
|
Comments
|
|
key
|
30
|
0
|
The primary key.
This must have the exact
contents of the item bar code. Typically
this is copied from the “assetnum” field or the
“inventorynum” field.
|
|
laststocktake
|
8
|
1
|
The counted date in
“YYYYMMDD” format.
The contents of this field
are overwritten with the current date when scanning an item.
|
|
time
|
6
|
2
|
The counted time in
“hhmmss” format.
The contents of this field
are overwritten with the current time when scanning an item.
|
|
counted
|
1
|
3
|
Flag to indicate if the item was
counted.
|
|
multi
|
1
|
4
|
Flag to indicate multiple records. Used internally by ATT.
|
|
inventorynum
|
25
|
5
|
The inventory number or tag number
of the item. Often
used as the bar code of the item.
Copy this value to the
“key” field to use it as the bar code with ATT.
|
|
assetnum
|
12
|
6
|
The asset number of the item. Sometimes used as the bar
code of the item. Copy
this value to the “assetnum” field to use it as the
bar code with ATT.
|
|
compcode
|
4
|
7
|
Company code
|
|
description
|
50
|
8
|
Description
|
|
costcentre
|
10
|
9
|
Cost Centre
|
|
respcostcentre
|
10
|
10
|
Responsible Cost Centre
|
|
location
|
10
|
11
|
Location
|
|
detailedloc
|
40
|
12
|
Detailed Location
|
|
serialno
|
18
|
13
|
Serial Number
|
|
room
|
8
|
14
|
Room
|
|
plant
|
4
|
15
|
Plant
|
|
class
|
8
|
16
|
Class or type
|
|
inventorynote
|
15
|
17
|
Inventory note
|
|
validitydte
|
8
|
18
|
Validity date
|
|
sublocation
|
4
|
19
|
Sub location
|
|
controllertext
|
30
|
20
|
Controller text
|
|
assetsubnum
|
4
|
21
|
Asset or item sub-number
|
|
equipmentnum
|
18
|
22
|
Equipment number
|
|
equipcategory
|
8
|
23
|
Equipment category
|
|
functionalloc
|
30
|
24
|
Functional location
|
|
workcentre
|
10
|
25
|
Work centre
|
|
status
|
4
|
26
|
Status
|
|
maintext
|
50
|
27
|
Main text
|
|
internalorder
|
12
|
28
|
Internal order
|
|
userid
|
20
|
29
|
User ID.
If blank, this is
automatically populated with the identity of the scanner that performed
the scanning. The
scanner ID is the PalmOS “user name”.
|
|
controlid
|
5
|
30
|
Controller ID
|
|
spare2
|
5
|
31
|
Spare field
|
|
caretaker
|
10
|
32
|
Caretaker
|
|
spare4
|
10
|
33
|
Spare field
|
|
spare5
|
10
|
34
|
Spare field
|
|
licenseplt
|
20
|
35
|
Licence Plate.
This is sometimes used as a
serial number if the “serialno” field is not long
enough.
|
|
spare7
|
20
|
36
|
Spare field
|
|
spare8
|
20
|
37
|
Spare field
|
|
subloctext
|
30
|
38
|
Sub location text
|
|
spare10
|
49
|
39
|
Spare field
|
|
scanstatus
|
1
|
40
|
Scanned verses keyed input status. Non blank for scanned
input.
|
ATT Version 2
“toscanner.txt” File Default Format
The following table describes the
“toscanner.txt” file default format for version 2
of the ATT software. Note
that all fields are character fields, and have fixed length. It is recommended that the
field names supplied here be used.
However, other field names should
function correctly.
Field Name
|
Length
|
Comments
|
|
inventorynum
|
25
|
The
bar code number, if it differs from the internal item number. ATT can be configured to
use this field as the main identifier instead of
“assetnum”.
|
|
compcode
|
4
|
Un-modified
on the scanner. May
be used for any information.
|
|
assetnum
|
12
|
The
internal item number. ATT
can be configured to use this field as the main identifier instead of
“inventorynum”.
|
|
description
|
50
|
Description
of the item
|
|
costcentre
|
10
|
The
current cost centre of the item, according to host.
|
|
location
|
10
|
The
current location of the item, according to host.
|
|
detailedloc
|
40
|
Un-modified
on the scanner. May
be used for any information.
|
|
date1
|
8
|
The
last tracked date. Format
YYYYMMDD.
|
|
time1
|
6
|
The
last tracked time. Format
hhmmss.
|
|
counted
|
1
|
Must
be set to blank.
|
|
multi
|
1
|
Must
be set to blank.
|
ATT Version 2
“fromscanner.txt” File Default Format
The following table describes the
“fromscanner.txt” file default format for version 2
of the ATT software. Note
that all fields are character fields, and have fixed length. It is recommended that the
field names supplied here be used.
However, other field names should
function correctly.
Field Name
|
Length
|
Comments
|
|
inventorynum
|
25
|
Un-modified. The value supplied to
scanner.
|
|
compcode
|
4
|
Un-modified. The value supplied to
scanner.
|
|
assetnum
|
12
|
Un-modified. The value supplied to
scanner.
|
|
description
|
50
|
Un-modified. The value supplied to
scanner.
|
|
costcentre
|
10
|
The
cost centre entered by the tracking operator.
|
|
location
|
10
|
The
location entered by the tracking operator.
|
|
detailedloc
|
40
|
Un-modified. The value supplied to
scanner.
|
|
date
|
8
|
The
tracked date. Format
YYYYMMDD
|
|
time
|
6
|
The
tracked time. Format
hhmmss.
|
|
counted
|
1
|
Equal
to ‘1’ for all records that were counted.
|
|
multi
|
1
|
Varies,
depending on configuration of ATT software.
|
Customising the File Formats
If your management software already
has data export and data import capabilities, and the format of this
data does not correspond with the defaults presented above, then you
will need to customer the “toscanner.txt” and
“fromscanner.txt” data formats.
This is achieved by editing the
“flexmessconfig” file.
This file defines the type, and
field layouts of the two data files.
The type of file, along with the
field lengths and the order in which the fields appear may be edited.
The ATT software supports a number of
file types. These are:
- FIXED_FIELD – Fields are
of fixed and known length;
- DELIMITED – Fields are
separated by a delimiter character;
- PALM_DATABASE – Not
suitable for use as import/export file;
- ODBC_DATABASE – Not
suitable for use as import/export file; and
- MAPI_MESS – Not suitable
for use as import/export file.
There are also a number of variants
supported by the ATT software. These
are:
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