Conversion of lis files into pcformat

[Charles]

Greetings:
We receive files in an lis format that is not manipulable by Excel nor by
Access. The lis format is simply a report readable file. How do we convert
the lis file into perhaps a pcformat that would be Comma Separated Value file
utilizable by Excel. For that matter any format that would be utilizable by
Excel and Access.
--
Chuck Haddad

[Dave O]

I'm not familiar with the .LIS file format, and a quick search on the
web says it's a VAX programmer file- which doesn't sound like your
situation. When you say "report readable file" do you mean it is meant
to be printed on a line printer, something like a .PRN file?

Sometimes you can trick the software by renaming a file extension. If
you'd like to try this, make a backup of your .LIS file, rename the
backup file to .TXT, and try to open that with Excel or Notepad. If it
works, Excel will prompt you to parse the data into columns and go
through its usual file import dance.

[Charles]

Thank you Dave. At this point I can tell you that the files are like .PRN
files designed solely to be printed by a line printer. I am in the process
and will report back tomorrow as to whether or not they are VAX files.
--
Chuck Haddad


"Dave O" wrote:

> I'm not familiar with the .LIS file format, and a quick search on the
> web says it's a VAX programmer file- which doesn't sound like your
> situation. When you say "report readable file" do you mean it is meant
> to be printed on a line printer, something like a .PRN file?
>
> Sometimes you can trick the software by renaming a file extension. If
> you'd like to try this, make a backup of your .LIS file, rename the
> backup file to .TXT, and try to open that with Excel or Notepad. If it
> works, Excel will prompt you to parse the data into columns and go
> through its usual file import dance.
>
>

[Dave O]

Hope it works out for you. I worked at a telephone company that made a
poor decision about its billing system, which could only generate call
detail records (detailed information about phone calls) via a .PRN
file. After numerous attempts by the billing vendor, our IT
department, and a handful of consultants I was able to write a program
to parse the PRN file into MS Access files- not a trivial chore, what
with all the formatting, headers, footers, etc. I hope your process
goes smoother than mine did!

[Charles]

At this point I can definetly state that the lis files that we are working
with are indeed from a VAX VMS operating system and are specifically report
files only(designed only to be printed out). This is our dilemma on how to
convert these into pcformat files that excel and / or Access would be capable
of working with.

Chuck Haddad


"Dave O" wrote:

> Hope it works out for you. I worked at a telephone company that made a
> poor decision about its billing system, which could only generate call
> detail records (detailed information about phone calls) via a .PRN
> file. After numerous attempts by the billing vendor, our IT
> department, and a handful of consultants I was able to write a program
> to parse the PRN file into MS Access files- not a trivial chore, what
> with all the formatting, headers, footers, etc. I hope your process
> goes smoother than mine did!
>
>

[Charles]

At this point I can definetly state that the lis files that we are working
with are indeed from a VAX VMS operating system and are specifically report
files only(designed only to be printed out). This is our dilemma on how to
convert these into pcformat files that excel and / or Access would be capable
of working with.

Chuck Haddad


"Dave O" wrote:

> Hope it works out for you. I worked at a telephone company that made a
> poor decision about its billing system, which could only generate call
> detail records (detailed information about phone calls) via a .PRN
> file. After numerous attempts by the billing vendor, our IT
> department, and a handful of consultants I was able to write a program
> to parse the PRN file into MS Access files- not a trivial chore, what
> with all the formatting, headers, footers, etc. I hope your process
> goes smoother than mine did!
>
>

[Dave O]

By coincidence we had a very similar discussion yesterday:
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...16d16f1b9272e5

Have you tried to import it to Excel or Access? What are you seeing?