MultiValue Compatibility

This section describes Reality commands that provide compatibility with other MultiValue systems.

See also the MultiValue Compatibility sections in the English, Proc and DataBasic sections.

Tape Images (Pseudo-floppy)

The format used for Reality tape images is different to the pseudo-floppy (.vtf) format used by other MultiValue systems. The commands in this section allow you to transfer data between Reality and other MultiValue systems by converting Reality tape images into MultiValue pseudo-floppy images and vice versa.

FLOPPYTOTAPE

Converts a MultiValue pseudo-floppy image into a Reality tape image.

Syntax

FLOPPYTOTAPE path filename {(options}

Syntax Elements

path The path of the directory on the host system containing the MultiValue pseudo-floppy image.

filename The name of the file containing the MultiValue pseudo-floppy image.

Options

A Specifies that the program should prompt for a directory in which to save the converted tape image.

B Prompt for the block size of the pseudo-floppy image. Only valid with the D and E options.

C{n} Sets the Reality tape compression to level n; defaults to 5. If the C option is omitted, the converted tape image is uncompressed.

D Specifies that the pseudo-floppy image is in mvEnterprise tape image format.

E Specifies that the pseudo-floppy image is in mvEnterprise Save tape format.

J Specifies that the pseudo-floppy image is in jBASE tape image format.

K Suppresses the progress '#' characters.

M Prompt for the number of multipart pseudo-floppy images.

U Use UNIX alphabetic extensions (aa instead of -n). Only valid with the M option.

Operation

FLOPPYTOTAPE reads the MultiValue pseudo-floppy image filename from the host directory specified in path and converts it to a Reality tape image. Unless the A option is specified, the tape image is saved in the same host directory and is given the same name as the pseudo-floppy image, but with the file extension ‘.rti’ or ‘.rci’. Compressed tape images have the extension ‘.rci’ and uncompressed images the extension ‘.rti’.

Comments

FLOPPYTOTAPE cannot convert compressed pseudo-floppy images. Before converting a compressed image, uncompress it using, for example, uncompress (UNIX) or WINZIP (Windows). Before uncompressing the image, it may be necessary to rename it so that it has the correct file extension; refer to the documentation for your uncompression utility for details.

FLOPPYTOTAPE cannot convert pseudo-floppy images larger than 128Terabytes. Larger files can be split into multipart images with the UNIX split command (available for Windows as part of Cygwin).

Example

FLOPPYTOTAPE C:\images\tapes PFDATA (C6

Converts the file C:\images\tapes\PFDATA into a Reality tape image. The tape image is saved with level 6 compression, in the file C:\images\tapes\PFDATA.rci.

TAPETOFLOPPY

Converts a Reality tape image into a MultiValue pseudo-floppy image.

Syntax

TAPETOFLOPPY path tape-image {(options}

Syntax Elements

path The path of the host directory containing the Reality Tape image.

tape-image The name of the host file containing the Reality Tape image. This must have a file extension of either ‘.rci’ or ‘.rti’.

Options

A Specifies that the program should prompt for a directory in which to save the converted pseudo-floppy image.

M Specifies that the pseudo-floppy image should be in mvBase format.

S Suppresses the progress '#' characters.

Operation

TAPETOFLOPPY reads the Reality tape image tape-image from the directory path and converts it to a MultiValue pseudo-floppy image. Unless the A option is specified, the pseudo-floppy image is saved in the same host directory and is given the same name as the tape image, but without the extension ‘.rti’ or ‘rci’.

Restrictions

Only Reality tape images that have a block size that is a multiple of 500 can be converted to MultiValue pseudo-floppy images.

Example

TAPETOFLOPPY C:\images\tapes PFDATA.rci

Converts the Reality tape image C:\images\tapes\PFDATA.rci into a MultiValue pseudo-floppy image. The image is saved in the file C:\images\tapes\PFDATA.

SP-ASSIGN

By default, the Reality SP-ASSIGN command will close any open print jobs. This behaviour can be changed by setting the SPASSIGN environment option, so that open print jobs will only be closed if SP-ASSIGN is called with no parameters.

ACCOUNT-RESTORE

Four additional ACCOUNT-RESTORE options are provided:

D Doubles the modulo in the files restored. Use this option if the target system has a smaller frame size.

H Halves the modulo in the files restored. Use this option if the target system has a larger frame size.

These options simplify restoring accounts onto systems with a frame size smaller or larger than the original. Note, however, that in both cases the new modulo will be only a working approximation to allow the system to work reasonably efficiently. For optimum efficiency, set the database's frame size to be the same as the original – either specify the frame size when you create the database (see mkdbase) or set FrameSize parameter in the master configuration file.

J Allows jBASE file save tapes to be restored onto Reality. Note, however, that any item that has the same name as a file definition item will be overwritten by the file definition item.

M34 Restores a tape image that has been converted from an mvEnterprise Save tape using FLOPPYTOTAPE. Before doing this, you should use VERIFY-SAVE to check that the image can be restored successfully.

VERIFY-SAVE

An additional VERIFY-SAVE option is provided:

M34 Allows you to check that a tape image that has been converted from an mvEnterprise Save tape using FLOPPYTOTAPE can be restored onto Reality.

MIGRATE.ACCOUNT

Converts accounts saved from other MultiValue systems to run on Reality.

Syntax

MIGRATE.ACCOUNT {accountList} {(options}

Syntax Elements

accountList Either:

• A space-separated list of account names.
• An asterisk (*) to specify all accounts.

If there is an active select list, do not specify a list of accounts. If there is no active select list, and you have not specifed a list of accounts, you will be prompted for the names of the accounts to convert.

Options

O Repeat the migration process, including those parts that have been successfully completed.

This allows you to continue if the migration process has been interrupted or to repeat the migration process with an updated version of MIGRATE.ACCOUNT.

P Sends verbose output to the printer.

U Asks for confirmation before processing each account.

V Verbose mode.

Restrictions

SYSMAN account only.

Preparation

Before running MIGRATE.ACCOUNT, do the following:

• Load the accounts to be converted into a Reality database using ACCOUNT-RESTORE with the appropriate options. You may need to first convert the MultiValue save to a Reality tape image with FLOPPYTOTAPE and then verify that the save can be loaded with VERIFY-SAVE.
• Set up the default user – see Profiles Screens and SSM Option 2 - Define User Profiles for how to do this. The user-ids created by MIGRATE-ACCOUNT will be based on the default user.

Operation

MIGRATE.ACCOUNT first asks you to confirm that you have set up the default user. If you have not specified a list of accounts (either on the command line or in an active select list), it then prompts you for the names of the accounts to process. Finally, it prompts you to choose the type of MultiValue system from which the accounts were saved. If the system from which you are migrating is not listed, choose the MULTIVALUE option.

Each account is processed as follows:

• The account password is removed.
• The account privilege level is converted to upper case. SYS3 account privilege is converted to SYS2
• Attribute 1 of the D-pointer in the SYSTEM file is processed to remove invalid options or convert them to the appropriate Reality options. See Account Definition Item for details.
• Provided one does not already exist, a user-id is created, based on the default user, with the same name as the migrated account. If this is a local or remote account, the new user's default account is set to the migrated account; if it is a synonym (Q-pointered) account, the default account is set to the referenced local or remote account.

The following changes are made only to local accounts:

• Files with names that are the same as items in the appropriate data sections of the NEWAC file are renamed with the prefix NON-NORTHGATE-.
• Items with the same names as items in the NEWAC file are moved to the default data section of the file NON-NORTHGATE-MD-ARCHIVE.
• The contents of the appropriate data sections of the NEWAC file are copied into the MD. Items in the USER-DELETE and USER-ADD lists are processed appropriately.
• Attribute 1 of each D-pointer (whether in the MD of the account or in a file dictionary) is processed to remove invalid options or convert them to the appropriate Reality options. For details of valid options see File Definition Item and Data Level Descriptor.
• If converting from D3, index references in attribute 8 of each D-pointer are removed.
• If converting from jBASE, carriage return/line feed and line feed characters in non-binary items are replaced with attribute marks. Leading spaces are removed from attributes in PQ and PQN items.

• If converting from mvEnterprise, directory pointers (dictionary items with attribute 1 = "QR") are replaced by Reality directory views.

  Note: If the directory specified does not exist, an error message will be displayed when you attempt to access the associated Reality file.

• The original versions of MD and dictionary items, other than D-pointers, that have been modified by the conversion process are saved in the PROCESSED data section of the file NON-NORTHGATE-MD-ARCHIVE. Items that could not be processed remain in the default data section of this file.

MIGRATE.ACCOUNT saves a log in the file MIGRATION-LOG in the SYSMAN account.