The Editors

The editors built into dSALVAGE are useful for exploring and/or making changes in files.

The Header Editor is designed to work with DBF file header information. If you have ever wanted to change a field name in a huge file, for example, you know what a pain it is to use the MODIFY STRUCTURE command and wait many minutes while the entire file is copied. With the Header Editor in dSALVAGE you can rename a field or change a field type without the need to copy the file.

The Record Editor format resembles that of the edit mode in dBASE or FoxPro. It is a smart editor that understands the structure of the data since it derives this intelligence from the information in the DBF file header. The Record Editor gives you direct access to all field data including the numeric pointers in Memo, General and Binary fields.

The Byte Stream Editor displays the contents of a file as an unformatted continuous character stream. Its use is not restricted to DBF files; it can be used with files of any type including COM and EXE files. Among its many uses is the ability to measure actual field and record lengths in the data area of a DBF file (especially useful in the event that the file's data is not compatible with the field definitions in the file header), the ability to find and alter text in COM and EXE files, the ability to mark and delete regions of damage in a datafile, and the ability to copy a region of a file to an external file.

The Hex/ASCII Editor, like the Byte Stream Editor, is not confined to datafiles. Among other things, it is a powerful tool for exploring and correcting bizarre problems in DBF and memo files. It displays file contents in hexadecimal and ASCII character formats simultaneously and allows the user to change any file byte either by changing the hex value of the byte or the character represented by that hex value.

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