[Info-vax] Streaming a File on OpenVMS with Caché

[David Froble]

Mack Altman III wrote:
> Although I can't seem to find the settings, I know I need to achieve
> one of the following.
> 
> * Set restrictions on the FTP user so that all files created by the
> user is of a STREAM file type.

I don't think this capability exists.

> * Set restrictions on the FTP user's parent directory so that all
> files created within the directory are of a STREAM file type.

Nor this either.

It doesn't really make sense, because how is the file system to know 
what it's being given.

Now, you can mess with the file attributes.  That could be a mess.

> Ultimately, Cache wants a STREAM file, but the FTP users are sending
> in different file types/record formats.

Don't you have documentation for the clients to specify your requirements.

> Our clients FTP the file to us so we cannot see what their current
> settings are.
> 
> What's the best way to achieve this, when your file is coming from a
> user that you have no control over. As an example, one of our clients
> delivers a DAT file, which comes from a IT group. These clients we
> can discuss record format and file setup with. However, we are far in
> an age where OpenVMS I don't feel has truly caught up to, which is
> interoperability. That said, a lot of our clients send over a CSV
> file from an Excel spreadsheet. Others, an exported XML or SQL file
> from a web database application.

If you get a CSV, or XML file, the data itself is not going to be 
processed the same, so you'd still have to know what you're trying to 
process.  You could provide some application(s) that attempt to identify 
what they see, and have them read the file and output it in a format 
that you can use.

This sounds a little too specific to expect a general utility such as 
FTP to handle things.

> Ideally, I want to have a process for reading each of them; however,
> there are multiple variations of all of these. We need to identify
> how to standardize them, which is the goal of making sure all of them
> come in the same STREAM file type, regardless of the process used to
> create them.

Well, as I wrote above, reading data and outputting a stream type file 
is rather simple.

Need help?