my dilemma -- hundreds of record types
Hello Eu folks!
I am attempting to develop an application that will
read records from a daily FTP feed, sort the records
according to type, display pertinent information on
each record, and send that information to subscribers
based on their subscription options.
Each record has a corresponding template with variable
length fields. The fields are delimited by tags. Some
of the fields are optional, and thus even the tags
thenselves do not appear in those records that do not
use them. Here is a view of one of the smaller
templates, with sample information:
<PRESOL>
<DATE>1114
<YEAR>02
<AGENCY>Department of Justice
<OFFICE>Bureau of Prisons
<LOCATION>FCI Talladega
<ZIP>35160
<CLASSCOD>89
<OFFADD>Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, FCI
Talladega, 565 East Renfroe Road, Talladega, AL, 35160
<SUBJECT>89 -- Subsistence
<SOLNBR>31303-045
<RESPDATE>121703
<ARCHDATE>01012004
<CONTACT>Ricky D, Contract Specialist, Phone (703)
555-4251, Fax (703) 999-4493, Email rwd at bop.gov
<DESC>2nd qtr food items
<LINK>
<URL>http://www.yadayada.gov/spg/DOJ/BPR/31303/31303-045/listing.html
<DESC>Link to document.
<SETASIDE>Total Small Business
<POPCOUNTRY>US
<POPZIP>35160
<POPADDRESS>Federal Correctional Institution
565 East Renfroe Road
Talladega,AL
</PRESOL>
There are 9 major template types, but since a lot of
the fields are optional it boosts the number of
different record variations to hundreds. The only
tags that truly remain constant are the first and last
(<PRESOL and </PRESOL> in the example above) and a few
others strewn throughout the record.
What is, in your opinion, the best way to read in all
of these record variations so that I can easily work
with and manage the data?
Thank you for your assistance,
Chris
|
Not Categorized, Please Help
|
|
