NAME

       gdbload - load ASCII formatted data into an HP 100LX database

SYNOPSIS

       gdbload [-an] database [ input ]

DESCRIPTION

       gdbload loads ASCII formatted data into an HP 100LX database.  database is the name of the
       100LX database to modify.  input is the name of a file of ASCII  data  to  load  into  the
       database.   If  no  input  file  is specified, the standard input is used.  The ASCII file
       format is one exported by many database packages as well as by gdbdump(1).

   Options
       gdbload recognizes the following options:

              -a     Add the records from the ASCII file to the  database,  keeping  the  records
                     already  present in the database.  By default, the records in the ASCII file
                     replace those already in the database.

              -n     Do not back up the database file.   By  default,  the  original,  unmodified
                     database file is left in a file with the same name and a .bak extension.

   Input Format Description
       The  input to this program is an ASCII text file which starts with a line containing field
       names.  This line indicates the order in which fields appear on subsequent lines.  Not all
       fields  of  the  database  need be specified; unspecified fields will be left blank in all
       added records.  Field names are not case  distinct  and  ampersands  (&)  are  ignored  in
       comparing field names.

       This first line is followed by one line for each record of the database.  Note that any of
       these lines may be split into multiple lines if needed, by placing a backslash (\) at  the
       ends  of  lines which are continued.  Also note that string fields may span multiple lines
       provided they are quoted.  Apart from  line  splitting  according  to  these  rules,  each
       "logical"  line  contains  all of the fields whose names were listed on the first line, in
       the same order as on the first line.  The fields (and the field names, on the first  line)
       are separated by commas.

       Exactly  how  each field should appear depends on its type.  Text fields, category fields,
       number fields, and note fields should have their text quoted  if  it  contains  commas  or
       newlines.  The following escape sequences are understood:

              \r     Carriage return (ASCII 13).

              \n     Line feed (ASCII 10).

              \nnn   nnn are octal digits representing a character.

              \xnn   nn are hexadecimal digits representing a character.

       Any  other  character  following  a  backslash  is treated as a standard character with no
       special meaning, i.e., backslash and quote marks can be escaped by preceding them  with  a
       backslash.

       Date  fields  should  appear  in  the format YYYYMMDD; for example, August 15, 1993 should
       appear as 19930815.  Time fields appear in the format HHMM,  where  HH  is  in  the  range
       00-23.  Date and time fields may also be left blank, i.e., nothing between the commas.

       Radio  buttons  and check boxes are turned off if the field is empty or contains a 0; they
       are turned on otherwise.

       No other field types, including application-defined types, are accepted by gdbload.

       The output from gdbdump(1) matches this input format, unless  the  -n  flag  is  given  to
       gdbdump(1).

WARNINGS

       When the newly constructed database is first opened by the 100LX, it will (erroneously) be
       reported as being empty. This is because gdbload does not construct database indexes,  and
       the  100LX  expects  the  index  for  the  current "subset" to be valid.  The situation is
       remedied by pressing F6 and selecting any "subset" (even  the  current  one!)   This  will
       rebuild  the  index  for  that  "subset",  causing records to display normally.  The delay
       caused by the rebuild depends on the size of the database (among other things), and ranges
       from  imperceptible  for  small  databases  up  to several minutes.  This delay will occur
       whenever a new "subset" is selected for the first time.

       gdbload will not attempt to modify HP 100LX Appointment Book and World Time databases.

       gdbload will not allow you to specify data for application-defined fields of a database.

       This program cannot handle password-protected  databases.   Attempts  to  load  data  into
       password-protected databases will have unpredictable results.

AUTHOR

       gdbload  was  written  by  Steven Roth, stever@cup.hp.com, and is being maintained by Arne
       Christensen, arc@pine.dk.  Contact the latter for bug reports, enhancement requests, or to
       get a copy of the source code.

DISCLAIMER

       This  program is released into the public domain and neither the author nor the maintainer
       place any restrictions on its use.  We make no warranties or guarantees for  this  program
       and  you  use  it  at your own risk.  This program is supplied by us personally and not by
       Hewlett-Packard Co. or Pine Tree Systems, which incur no obligations pertaining to it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       Many thanks to Andy Gryc for publishing the details of the database file formats!

SEE ALSO

       gdbdump(1).