IIF File Format

[Jim Seekamp]

Does anybody have the file format info for an .IIF file ?
Apparently it's a Quickbooks export file format.
Quickbooks doesn't give the file format info on their site either.
Thanks

[Marco Pontello]

Intuit IIF files are text based, with tab separated fields.

Have you already seen this?
Intuit QuickBooks support - IIF import tools

Bye!

[Dale Yarker]

For file formats a handy site is

https://www.wotsit.org

Except this time. I already looked, IIF not listed there

[Jim Seekamp]

This particular IIF database is marked as a "Standard Jet DB" and is not readable in a text editor.

And yes, I checked the Quickbooks site and they do not give info on the file format.

[Marco Pontello]

This particular IIF database is marked as a "Standard Jet DB" and is not readable in a text editor.

Then try to rename it to *.MDB and you'll probably be able to open that with Access.

Bye!

[Cliff Nichols]

Jim, Let me know how it goes....My company recently decided to use "QuickBooks" as one of their apps (against my wishes...but who listens to the guy that has to support the software??? )

If you are thinking, what I think you are thinking...good luck, and let us know what happens

PS...Depending on the number of users allowed access....my advice is to back up the database at least twice a day (maybe overkill till I get time to work with it myself)...but it will sure save you a lot of hassle if/when the database becomes corrupted.

Now don't get me wrong...I am not saying it's bad or good, but my 1st two experiences with the product made me want to quit because I am NOT a database type of guy, and this is a bit of a "New Realm" to me.....but thought worth warning if you hit what I hit. (Who knows, could be a common challenge with any database, but who am I to judge till "I get my feet wet")

[Jim Seekamp]

I'll let you know how it goes Cliff.
Yes, I think I'm thinking what you are thinking LOL.

[Cliff Nichols]

Thanx Jim,

Unfortunately, my 1st initial impressions of databases are not as easy as "Open the file, fix the offending string, or value, or cell, or whatever....Save the file, and all is fixed again.

To me, isnt a database just a lookup table of (this piece of info, that piece of info...all pieced together to just show the data you are after?)

Maybe more too it, but no clue why?...(to the user it should be gather pieces (and they do not even have to know they are pieces) to the programmer would be, "Grab this part, grab that part" etc... and if messed up, open notepad and correct it )

Over simplification I know...but thats how I think it SHOULD work

[Michael Mattias]

...if messed up, open notepad.....Over simplification I know...but thats how I think [databases] SHOULD work

If databases worked like that, there would not be any databases, there would be only Notepad.

[Paul D. Elliott]

Cliff,

Shame on me but I sometimes take the easy way out. As in dump the
whole database to plain text then a quick PB program to go thru and fix
what needs fixing. then empty the database and load the corrected data
back in. Other times, I do a quick PB program to read the record ( or records )
in error, fix them and update back into the database. It generally depends
on how big the file is and how badly I screwed it up. I'm only talking about
single databases and not any of the fancier relational ones. Never really
used Notepad to fix things but have used some trusty DOS-based editors
that I knew wouldn't line-wrap or word-wrap or any of those other fancy
time-savers that might mess up the data.

[Cliff Nichols]

MCM, I get your point of

If databases worked like that, there would not be any databases, there would be only Notepad.

So notepad was a bad oversimplifications...but I was thinking more on the idea of something "Human-readable" and if some "Non-Printable" character was the offending piece of the hole database, I could correct it (either from code, or open, delete the offending, insert the correct, and save and carry on)

Kind of like Paul eludes too...."Simple Databases" for lack of a better word. (Yes I know the reason why a database is a database and other arguements...but if ALL I NEEEEED is something simple, or even to the point of not a database, but more a lookup table of data)

Anyways...Paul...I would be interested in what you use, and how it works....I am curious about SQL-Lite, but have not had time to take an hour to see what i can do (all I know is there is PB code out there for it, and SQL-Lite is "Open-Source") making it that more attractive as an alternative.

[Paul D. Elliott]

Cliff,

Did you mean me? If so, I don't have a lot of details to offer. So far on the
PC, I've used dbase-compatible files, Btrieve, Tsunami, Vision files in
AcuCobol, and a couple Access files. Also some plain text files in either
fixed-length or variable-length records.
It mainly depended on if I could use what I wanted or if someone higher up
dictated something else. As far as my programs went, the only difference
was the actual code for the interface. How the programs used the
databases didn't need to change if I changed the database.

Never really had any dealings with SQL-based files as such.

Did any of that help?