EPA Region 10 DBF2INFO Utilities


Version 5.7, July 13, 1998

Table of contents

Overview

This package is a set of utilities for translating data between dBASE dbf, ASCII, and ARC/INFO formats. Most of the programs run either as ARC commands or as system commands independent of ARC/INFO.

An install script is included that configures, builds, tests, and installs the package. Pre-compiled packages are available for several systems.

These programs were developed for EPA use, but have been released as free software. Anyone can use them.

Programs included the package

The following utilities are implemented as ARC commands, but they do not require ARC/INFO, and may also be installed as system commands.

The following are implemented as ARC commands. They require ARC/INFO.

The following utilities are implemented as system commands. They run from the system prompt, and do not require ARC/INFO.

The dbf2info and info2dbf programs allow you to specify which items to include in the conversion. The ascii2info and info2ascii programs permit this as well. They also read and write variously formatted ascii files, fixed width, comma or TAB delimited, etc.

Most of the programs are implemented as system commands, and do not require ARC/INFO to work. It is convienient to be able to read and write INFO files, or just list INFO directories without having to start ARC/INFO. The only programs in the package that actually require ARC/INFO are dbf2cover and info2cover.

The programs do require an info directory in order to create INFO files. You can create an empty info directory by making a directory called info, and touching a file in it called arcdr9 (or arc.dir if you prefer an 8.3 style workspace).

Most of the programs have AML front ends, installed as atools. This allows them to be invoked from the ARC prompt. Note, however, that this is optional. The programs run the just as well from the system prompt.

The programs are written in C. An install script is included that configures the package for your system, compiles everything, and installs it.

Changes since the last version

Availability

The full source release is available in compressed or gzipped form. An install script is included that configures the package for your system, compiles everything, and installs it.

Precompiled releases are available for some systems. These do not include the source code, but install much faster since all the executables are already compiled. These packages were compiled and tested under specific versions of their respective OS (noted below). If you have a different OS version, the pre-compiled package may not run properly on your system. In that case, you should probably get the full source release instead.

I have not yet made precompiled releases of the current version for any systems other than DG/UX. For these systems, you can either get the full source and compile it yourself, or get the older precompiled release. I no longer have access to some of these systems. Sorry.

All of these releases are also available in the gistechs/programs/software section of EPA's public access ftp site.

Disclaimers

These programs were developed and are maintained by Randy Deardorff, of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, Seattle. The programs were developed for in-house use, but are released to the public in the hope that they will be useful.

The programs are not recommended or endorsed by The United States Government, or by the Environmental Protection Agency. The programs are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied.

These programs make extensive use of a public domain C package for direct INFO access called infolib written by Todd Stellhorn of ESRI. The infolib code contains the following disclimer:


Randy Deardorff
Email: deardorff.randy@epa.gov