>>>>>>>>Is there any way, I can access Data from Cobol Files,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>we have a very old FA Applications built in cobol....
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Is there any way I can open it in VFP/Excel..
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Any hints/ideas abt cobol file structure(s) will be very helpful...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Vinod,
>>>>>>>Cobol is usually stored in fixed-length field files (SDF). There is a utility available in the 'files' section that converts SDF to DBF files.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Good luck
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Thanks for your reply...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Can you pls give me in which section that utility is and what is the name of file as I'm not a premier member and unable to search in file section..
>>>>>
>>>>>Vinod,
>>>>>Sorry it took so long to respond. I actually found SDF2DBF in Malcolm Pitcher's FoxPro I/O. However, if you know the names, field lengths, and field types of the Cobol file, you cand create a table in VFP, download the Cobol file, and do an "APPEND FROM TYPE SDF. I have used it myself several times and it works quite nicely.
>>>>>
>>>>>Good Luck,
>>>>
>>>>I just tried it with the memo fields and with the same field names type
>>>>
>>>>but It is showing me junk char. in the rec..
>>>>
>>>>Pls note I have tried it in a hex editor also and all it is showing me is junk char.. but when I run the cobol prog... the whole data is avl.
>>>>
>>>>Pls help..
>>>>
>>>>Can u mail me that utility.. I will try with that also...
>>>
>>>Could be EBCDIC charcacters instead of ASCII. The Numeric Fields could be Packed Binary Coded Decimal (BCD).
>>
>>Any ideas how to convert it to normal text file... Or any utilities available...
>Vinod,
>I don't know of any free utilities available. At work, I use NetManage Chameleon which provides connectivity to UNIX and mainframes. The only stipulation is you have to be using TCP/IP protocols. There are others available but I have no experience with those. NetManage does have an easy FTP program that allows you to select ASCII for file downloads.

Actually this a very old prog. which we are using and I want to convert it to foxpro...

Lot of data is there which I want to transfer in foxpro..

Well, thanks for your help...