How can I read this file?

George_Joe · March 27, 2020, 12:45pm

Hello, how (or using which program) can I open and read this file?

Ralph_Zbrog · March 27, 2020, 3:28pm

Was the file created on a mainframe or LUW platform? If mainframe, how was it downloaded? What utility created it?

George_Joe · March 27, 2020, 4:34pm

Thank you Ralph!
These are database files of another program.
I have only these files available and I think that this is from Adabas. Please tell me, do these files belong to Adabas?
I would also like to know the structure of these files.

example.zip (13.2 KB)

Steve_Robinson · March 28, 2020, 2:59pm

Try Winzip or 7-zip

which are the two main free zip programs. just do a search on zip software.

George_Joe · March 29, 2020, 3:01pm

Thank you Steve, I can’t identify the files INSIDE the archive.

George_Cooper · March 29, 2020, 11:07pm

OK, unzipping your 2nd example.zip file shows 3 files, overview.ddm, overview.fdt, and OVERVIEW.BIN. You can “read” them by dragging and dropping them into Windows Notepad or your favorite text editor program. (Recommend finding one that displays in HEX format.) I suspect they are ADABAS files since ddm - data definition module, and fdt - field description table, are ADABAS terms. Looking at the contents with an editor, they do look like the ADABAS files related to the unload and decompression of a database file called OVERVIEW.

That being said, it would probably be a good idea before this thread goes any further to repost your question and the 3 sample files to one of the ADABAS forums, like Adabas Basics on Mainframes or Adabas Basics on Linux, Unix, Windows (LUW), depending on which type of computer you think the files came from. More SAG ADABAS experts and DBAs tend to monitor those forums, so you will probably get more informed replies from there. Natural programmers tend not to be as well versed on ADABAS internals, utilities and unloaded files.

You also might describe what you want to do with the files. Load them back into an ADABAS database? That might be possible with ADABAS utilities ADACMP and ADALOD. Just print a report of the data, or load it into another database? That will probably take a custom program or two written in your favorite programming language.

If you are anxious to start programming, some tips to get you started. File overview.ddm seems to be a pure text file that relates the 2-character ADABAS internal field names to their long field names. Eg., AA = MARKT (German), MARKET (English). Full file is posted here, English translations added by me, thanks to Google Translate.

[FILE1]
fdt=Overview.fdt

[DDF]
cnt=22				-- English -- 
1=AA,S  ;Markt			Market
2=BA,S  ;Modell			Model
3=CA,I  ;Einsatz		Insert
4=DA,I  ;Auslauf		Discontinued
5=EA,S  ;Bezeichnung		Designation
6=EB,S  ;Land			Country
7=FA,I  ;Epis			Epis
8=GA,I  ;Katalog		Catalog
9=HA,I  ;FI			FI	
10=IA,K  ;Hauptgruppen		Main Groups
11=JA,K  ;VKB			VKB
12=KA,S  ;Werk			Plant
13=LA,S  ;Katalogmarkt		Catalog Market
14=LB,K  ;Brasilien		Brazil
15=LC,K  ;SubMarke		Sub-brand
16=LD,K  ;Neue Bilder		New Pictures
17=LE,K  ;EpisAlpha		EpisAlpha
18=LF,K  ;EZB			ECB
19=LG,I  ;TS			TS
20=MA,K  ;MSP			MSP
21=MB,K  ;Grafische Navigation Graphic Navigation
22=NA,K  ;ASID			ASID

[GCX]
FeldDispLen=40

Overview.fdt shows the 2-char ADABAS names and probably indicates each field length in bytes, format (A alpha, U zoned/character numeric, B binary, P packed decimal, etc.). However the field attributes seem to be unreadable, maybe in some binary encoding. The trick to reading the data records is to decipher this .fdt file. The fields in the data records are laid out left to right in the sequence of the 22 fields listed in the .ddm file, but you need to figure out their lengths, formats, and if any are repeating value fields. Here’s a look at the contents below:

Next, the OVERVIEW.BIN file is not a binary executable, just the unloaded data records with a mixture of ASCII text fields and binary fields. Here’s a sample.

Here’s a link to the Forums documentation manuals for a LUW system, Utility ADADCU (Decompression Of Data) that probably created the file.

http://techcommunity.softwareag.com/ecosystem/documentation/adabas/ada67luw/utils/dcu.htm

Hope that helps. Good luck.
George

Steve_Robinson · March 30, 2020, 12:52pm

Somewhere there has to be someone in your company who would recognize the field names that George Cooper provided. Have you tried an e-mail to everyone in your IT department?

George_Joe · April 3, 2020, 7:42am

Thank you George, you wrote:

Utility ADADCU (Decompression Of Data) that >>probably created the file
Where can I get this utility?
I did not find her on the site …

George_Cooper · April 3, 2020, 9:43am

The ADABAS utility programs are included with a purchased ADABAS installation package. The utilities would not help you unless you have an ADABAS database you can load the files on.

Since you don’t seem willing to to answer any of the questions you’ve been asked by me, Steve and Ralph trying to help you, you are beginning to sound like a hacker who ran across some ADABAS archive files they should not have access to.

I’m done answering any more of your questions.

George_Joe · April 6, 2020, 10:04am

Sorry George, but I’m not a hacker. I do programming, I need to get information from bin table files and I don’t know how to do it right … And what questions do I need to answer? I am ready to answer you. I need to understand the algorithm of actions in order to correctly parse the database table file and write a program (if there are no utilities for this). Sorry if I upset you with something …