Writing to a file in DOS format [SOLVED]

[andrewferguson]

Hello,

I am trying to use LiveCode to generate some text files that will then be run through a third party tool, but I have run into a problem. On a Mac (what I am currently trying to use) LiveCode seems to write text in the MAC formatting. However, the third party tool only works with files that have been written in the DOS formatting.

The difference between the two files seem to be very little: MAC formatting uses cartridge return as return, whereas DOS uses cartridge return and then linefeed as return. I tried:

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open file theFile for read
read from file theFile until eof
put it into tData
close file theFile
replace cr with cr & linefeed in tData
open file theFile for write
write tData to file theFile
close file theFile

and while this should work, it does not.

So does anyone know how I can force LiveCode to write in DOS formatting, or is there a way to convert the file from MAC to DOS formatting? (I am happy to use the built in commands that come with Mac OS X, but I cannot use any other tools because I don't have the administrator privileges required to run them. I can, however, use MS Word / Textedit and would be happy to use LiveCode's do xxx as applescript in order to convert the files.)

Thanks,
Andrew

[jmburnod]

Hi Andrew,

What about MacToIso ?
Best regards
Jean-Marc

[FourthWorld]

By default LC will read files in a way that translates platform-specific line endings into its internal form that uses the Unix convention (0x10), and when writing it'll translate its internal form into whatever's appropriate for the platform it's running on (0x13 for Mac, 0x10+0x13 for Windows, and leave it as 0x10 for Linux).

While that may be convenient most of the time, sometimes, as in your case, you want a specific output format that may be different than the convention used on the platform it's running on. No problem - LiveCode always has options.

For reading or writing open the file as binary, e.g.:

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open file tFile for binary write

If using the "put url" method, specify "binfile" instead of "file":

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put tData into url ("binfile:"& tFile)

I should add that since the internal format always uses the Unix convention, you'll want to translate line endings before you write, where you'll probably find it most useful to use the constants provided for that:

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replace CR with CRLF in tData
put tData into url ["binfile:"& tFile)

[andrewferguson]

If using the "put url" method, specify "binfile" instead of "file":

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put tData into url ("binfile:"& tFile)

Hi Richard,
Thanks! That method worked perfectly!
Andrew