FirstPrep
Quick Tour
Edition 1
Introduction ................................. 2
Navigating through FirstPrep........... 3
Using sample files ....................... 11
Running FirstPrep from the command
line............................................ 12
Accessing FirstPrep information ..... 15
Contact information
Phone U.S., Canada 888-788-9004;
Web http://www.firstlogic.com/customer
E-mail customer@firstlogic.com
Mail 100 Harborview Plaza
In your correspondence, include your name,
company name, telephone number, and
customer ID number.
Technical support is available weekdays 8
a.m. to 6 p.m. central time.
© 2004 Firstlo gic, Inc. All rig hts reserved. This publicatio n and
accompanying software are protected by U.S. copyright law and
internation al treaties. N o part of this publ ication or acc ompanying
software may be copied, transferred, or distributed to any person without
the express written permission of Firstlogic, Inc.
elsewhere 608-788-9000
La Crosse WI 54601
Introduction
Welcome to FirstPrep. We hope that you’ll enjoy the new functionality and
having our existing technology in one easy-to-use interface.
About FirstPrep FirstPrep is a utility that combines the most used elements from several of our
smaller utilities. With FirstPrep you can create your format and definition files
and link them to your input file. You also can count and sort on fields and
convert file types and merge multiple files into one input file.
Want to create a filter? With the Data Selection tool, you can:
• create several smaller filters and join them together in different
combinations based on your business needs.
• link the filters to specific output files.
• count the number of records that will be included in each output file,
based on the criteria that you specify.
Installing FirstPrep By default, FirstPrep installs to C:\pw\firstprep. When you insert the
FirstPrep Application CD, the installation program should start automatically.
If it doesn’t, perform the following steps.
1. Access your Windows Start menu and choose Run.
2. In the Run window, type x:\setup (where x is the letter of your CD-ROM
drive).
3. Click OK. The installation program will start.
2 FirstPrep Quick Tour
Navigating through FirstPrep
With our new product and interface, you can easily count, sort, convert, and
select data. This section gives you a brief overview of a few of the windows
that you’re sure to see. You can see the data included in these windows in the
ASCII sample files included on the installation CD. See “Using sample files”
on page 11 for information about the sample files included with this release.
Main window When you open an input file, you’ll see a tree view on the left, and the data on
the right with three tabs at the bottom of the window. The Datasheet View
shows the fields as column headings and the records are listed below. This
shows some of the data in the input file.
The Record View shows a single record with the fields as row headings. It lists
all of the information in one record.
The Format Editor View shows your data and the defined fields at the top. In
the example shown below, FirstPrep recognized the ASCII information in the
file, and found the end of record marker. So it already started to create a
format file. It only has two fields called Last_Fld, and EOR. The data is lined
up, and you can see that the data has more information than is in this one field.
You can set the field lengths by clicking in front of the next field. It places a
red bar in the window and gives a generic name such as NewFld1. Setting
your field lengths here will make defining the format much easier.
A view of the Format Editor tab with an ASCII data file. A format file contains the Last_Fld and EOR fields. Two more fields were added,
NewFld1 and NewFld2. You can set up more fields here, but you need to define field names in the Format Definition window.
Navigating through FirstPrep 3
Format Definition Use the Format Definition window to set your field names, types, and lengths.
Type the field names, and select the type of field that it is, such as character,
numeric, date, and so on. Then type in the field lengths. If you inserted the red
bars in the Format Editor window, then the field lengths are already set
.
The Format Definition window shows the fields in the process of being renamed. The field lengths
were carried over from the Format Editor tab.
4 FirstPrep Quick Tour
Definition Field Mapping
The Definition Field Mapping window is where you map your input file fields
to output file fields. The input file fields are listed in the Input Field\Constant
drop-down list. All of the fields recognized by other Firstlogic applications are
listed in the Definition Field drop-down list. If you click Auto Assign, all
input file fields that are exactly matched by FirstPrep are listed in the
Definition Mapping section at the bottom of the window.
For any remaining input fields that you want mapped, select the appropriate
definition field, and then select the input file field. You do not need to map all
fields, only the fields that you want to use in other Firstlogic applications. You
can join multiple fields by using the Concatenator drop-down list. When you
have completed a single mapping, click Apply and the mapping will move to
the Definition Mapping section.
If there are any mappings that you do not want to output, select Disable from
the Status drop-down list. You can also add a comment if you want to describe
a certain mapping or the contents of the definition file. Select Comment in the
Status drop-down list, and type your description on the Field Definition line.
The Definition Field Mapping window after clicking Auto Assign.
Navigating through FirstPrep 5
Count Here are just a few reason why you may want to use the count feature:
• count unique data entries
• count data between our application processes for quality control
• count the length of fields
With the count feature, you can count as many fields independently of other
counts as you’d like at the same time. Then you can output the count results to
the preview window or to an HTML, CSV, or text file.
Select the field names that you want to use in the count from the Field Name
list. Add a minimum count number if you want to see that number of records
or more. If you select a minimum count, the output will show the most
occurrences first (Quantity). You can override this setting and select Value to
show the data alphabetically or numerically.
6 FirstPrep Quick Tour
The Count window with several fields selected to be counted.
Sort Sorting data files can improve the performance time when processing with
other Firstlogic applications, if you sort on the zip codes. Sorting will group
the information in that field, and decrease the processing time. You can also
sort on multiple fields.
Select an input field and click Add. By default, sorting is in ascending order
alphabetically or numerically. The fields are sorted by the field that is listed at
the top.
The Sort window with two fields selected for sorting.
Navigating through FirstPrep 7
Convert You can convert your input file type to a different file type. Your input file is
never changed with FirstPrep. For example, you may have an EBCDIC file,
and you want to convert it to an ASCII file. Your original EBCDIC file still
exists, and an ASCII file and format file are created for the output.
You can also merge multiple input files of varying types into one output file.
The Convert window shows two files in the Selected box that are ready to be converted to one
ASCII file called 2together.dat.
8 FirstPrep Quick Tour
Data Selection With Data Selection, you can select a smaller portion of your data based on the
criteria you choose, and output that smaller portion of the data. You can also
count the records that contain the data that your business needs. Data
Selection is an additional cost option.
Use the Data Selection windows to join fields, create and combine filters, and
link the filters to output files. If you’re not familiar with making filters, we
have a Set Data Selection window that helps you. If you’re a pro at creating
filters, you can just type a filter in the Define Data Selection window.
In the Define Data Selection window, you create filters to place specific records into an output file.
Use filters to create an output file that contains only the information that you
want. The example in the Define Data Selection window above pulls records
from the 01035 zip code in Massachusetts. Filters can target very specific
information based on the contents of your input file. For example, if you have
an input file with salary, birth date, and address information, you can create a
filter that looks for all individuals that are 55 or older earning $100,000 or
more while living in Miami, Florida. Or you can create a more general filter
that pulls records for individuals living in Seattle, Oregon and Montana.
When you’ve set up all the filters that you need, link them to an output file to
hold the records that pass the filter (meet the criteria you specified when you
created the filter). You can also use the count option to find out the number of
records in each filter.
If you want an output file that contains all of the records that do not pass the
filter, click Remainder. If you want to see the types of records that are placed
into each output file, click View.
Navigating through FirstPrep 9
Link Data Selections tab on the Data Selection window. This shows the filter and the linked output
file that the filtered information will be in.
There are many, many more options available in FirstPrep. This merely shows
you a small amount of the functions you can use.
10 FirstPrep Quick Tour
Using sample files
You can use FirstPrep sample files (see the table below) to become familiar
with FirstPrep. You can run our data through FirstPrep and set up your own
format and definition files, or use ours. These sample files are in the FirstPrep
folder in the directory where you installed FirstPrep (by default, C:\pw\
firstprep\tutorials).
Folder File name Description
data
samples
ascii.dat
dbase.dbf
delim.dat
ebcdic.dat
ascii.def
ascii.fmt
countreport.csv
countreport.htm
countreport.txt
dataselectionreport.csv
dataselectionreport.htm
dataselectionreport.txt
dbase.def
delim.def
delim.dmt
ebcdic.def
ebcdic.ebc
ASCII data file.
dBase3 data file.
Delimited data file.
EBCDIC data file.
ASCII definition file. To associate this file with the
ASCII data file, choose File > Open Definition File.
ASCII format file. To associate this file with the
ASCII data file, choose File > Open Format File.
This CSV (comma-separated-values) report shows
the results of using the count feature. View the
report in Excel, Notepad, or a similar tool.
This HTML report shows the results of using the
count feature. View the report in Internet Explorer,
Netscape, or another browser.
This text report shows the results of using the count
feature. View the report in Notepad or a similar tool.
This CSV report shows the results of using the Data
Selection feature. View this report in Excel, Notepad, or a similar tool.
This HTML report shows the results of using the
Data Selection feature. View the report in a browser
such as Internet Explorer or Netscape.
This text report shows the results of using the Data
Selection feature. View the report in Notepad or a
similar tool.
dBase3 definition file. To associate this file with the
dBase3 data file, choose File > Open Definition
File.
Delimited definition file. To associate this file with
the delimited data file, choose File > Open Definition File.
Delimited format file. To associate this file with the
delimited data file, choose File > Open Format File.
EBCDIC definition file. To associate this file with
the delimited data file, choose File > Open Definition File.
EBCDIC format file. To associate this file with the
delimited data file, choose File > Open Format File.
Using sample files 11
Running FirstPrep from the command line
Some of our users prefer to perform various functions from the command line.
You can also use FirstPrep from the command line to launch a count, sort, or
convert process.
To launch FirstPrep from the command line, type firstprep. This will open the
user interface on your computer. If you type firstprep filename, then the user
interface and the file you selected will open on your computer. If you prefer to
launch a count, sort, or convert process without opening the user interface,
type one of the following:
firstprep /count
firstprep /sort
firstprep /convert
Common command line options
Add on to the commands listed above by selecting one or more of the common
command line options from this list.
Option Description
/asc The file type is ASCII. You must use this before /i and /o. If you use convert,
see “Convert options” on page 14.
/dbf The file type is dBase3. You must use this before /i and /o. If you use convert,
see “Convert options” on page 14.
/ebc The file type is EBCDIC. You must use this before /i and /o. If you use con-
vert, see “Convert options” on page 14.
/dmt The file type is delimited. You must use this before /i and /o. If you use con-
vert, see “Convert options” on page 14.
/a Answer all warning messages with continue.
/i You must use this option to select the input file. For example, type
/i c:\pw\firstprep\tutorials\data\ascii.dat
input file.
/l Move the log verification messages to “myfile”.
/m Lists the input format file(s). If the input format file is not listed, then assume
that it has the same prefix as the input file.
to use the
ascii.dat
file as your
12 FirstPrep Quick Tour
/nos Continue processing when an error or warning occurs.
/o You must use this option to select the output file. For example, type
/o c:\pw\firstprep\tutorials\data\ascii_out.dat
ascii_out.dat
/v Shows warning messages.
/w Overwrites the information in the working directory. The working directory is
where the temporary files are located during processing.
.
to name your output file
Count options FirstPrep has a few more options specific to /count.
Option Description
/h Makes the output report in HTML. The default output file format is text.
/c Makes the output report in CSV (comma separated values).
/f
field
Lists the field(s) to be counted. Use a comma between each field.
The following example counts the values in field1, field2, field5 and writes
the results to the HTML file c:\firstprep\mydata_count.html.
firstprep /count /ic:\firstprep\mydata.txt /ffield1,field2,field5 /
h /oc:\firstprep\mydata_count.html
Sort options The following is a list of additional options for /sort.
Option Description
/f
field
/r Lists the sort order for the fields. Ascending is the default for all fields speci-
file
/t
Lists the field(s) to be sorted. Use a comma between each field.
fied by the /f option. If multiple fields are listed, then there must be a one-toone correspondence between the field and the options to /r. Valid values are
(ascending) and d (descending).
Lists the output format file. If the output format file is not listed, then it is
assumed to have the same prefix as the output file.
a
The next example sorts mydata.txt with field1 and field2 in ascending order.
Then it will create the c:\firstprep\myfile.srt file.
firstprep /sort /ic:\firstprep\mydata.txt /ffield1,field2 /oc:\
firstprep\myfile.srt
The following example sorts mydata.txt with field1 sorted in ascending
order, and field2 sorted in descending order. Then it will create the
c:\firstprep\myfile.srt file.
firstprep /sort /ic:\firstprep\mydata.txt /ffield1,field2 /rad /
oc:\firstprep\myfile.srt
Running FirstPrep from the command line 13
Convert options Here is a list of additional options for /convert.
Option Description
/strip Only use this option when the input file type is ASCII. It removes binary
fields from the input file.
/t
file
/u
file
Lists the output format file. If you do not list the output format file, then it
will have the same prefix as the input file format. When creating a dBase3
output file, there will not be a format specified. However the layout will
match the input file.
Lists the output format file to use. Matching field names from the input format file are copied. Fields in the output format that are not contained in the
input format file are left blank.
/asc
/dbf
/ebc
/dmt
You must list the type of input file before each occurrence of the input file.
See the example.
If you are merging an EBCDIC file called this.txt and a delimited file called
that.csv into a single ASCII file, type:
firstprep /convert /ebc /i c:\firstprep\this.txt /dmt /i c:\
firstprep\that.csv /asc /o c:\firstprep\this_that.dat
The /asc in the example above is optional because ASCII is the default
file type for both input and output files.
Also, the example assumes that the EBCDIC and delimited format
files begin with the same prefix as the input files (this.ebc and
that.dmt respectively). If this is not the case, then you would have to
list /t and the format file.
Because we are not listing the output format file name, the format file
will default to this_that.fmt.
14 FirstPrep Quick Tour
The next example converts mydata.dbf into an ASCII format. Any fields
specified in mydata.fmt that are not in the input database will be initialized to
blank.
firstprep /convert /dbf /ic:\firstprep\mydata.dbf /asc /oc:\
firstprep\mydata.txt /t c:\firstprep\mydata.fmt
With the user interface, you can use several other options that are not available
from the command line, such as selecting a minimum count for counting
records, specifying a topoffset for converting files, and so on.
Accessing FirstPrep information
If you have questions about the software, you can turn to several sources for
information.
Online help Online help is at your service whenever you need it. Click the Help button to
open the online help system. It contains topics about how to set the options in
the window and has links to other topics that give more information about the
controls and settings on the windows. You can also access the same
information by selecting Help > Contents from the menu bar.
If you have questions about a control on the window, simply click the question
mark in the upper right corner, and then click the control. A popup topic gives
more information about the control.
Customer portal You can post a question in the Knowledge Base from the Firstlogic portal at
http://customer.firstlogic.com/customer
one or more links to answers. You can also sign up for some Education
courses at http://customer.firstlogic.com/education
. Type your question and you’ll see
.
Customer Care E-mail your question to customer@firstlogic.com. Include your name, your
company’s name, telephone number, and customer ID number.
Or call our Customer Care team. If you’re calling from the United States or
Canada, call 888-788-9004. If you’re outside the United States or Canada, call
608-788-9000. Customer Care is available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. central time.
Accessing FirstPrep information 15
16 FirstPrep Quick Tour
Loading...