The file itself consists of a header record, several different detail records and a trailer record. The record type is driven by the first two characters on each line. Each different record type has a fixed length format.
Here is an very over simplified example: 810HDR Invoice 1972-05-12John Doe 810DTL 01-2304040200 $2.34 810DTL 02-4030400400 $1.34 810TOT 600 $1004 810END Steven In this example, you can see that characters 4-6 (HDR, DTL, TOT, END) drive the record type and each record type has a very specific record layout. _____ From: Sanjiv Jivan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 6:02 PM To: users@appfuse.dev.java.net Subject: Re: [appfuse-user] OT: Suggestions for flat file library? What's the data format of the file? CSV or something custom? On 12/20/06, Josh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Sorry guys, I know this is old school, but I need to have the ability to parse flat files. Any suggestions? These flat files have a header, trailer and several types of detail records. I would appreciate any comments/advice. Best regards, Joshua
