How to build and use an external database
Attached are files that can create an external database:
EXTERNALDB.SPX is thespec file that builds the DBfile so you can later access it so that you can retrieve the information later on. You want to be sure that your input data has a fixed data record layout.
EXTERNALDB.QPXis an example spec file to build a Qfile which accesses an external DBfile. This allows you to enter in something like a zip code and have it go out to the DBfile and return with upto 500 characters of text. See the file EXTERNALDB.SPX to see how the DBfile is built.
The DBfile will be read locally by wherever Survent is running from. For stand alone applications you just put it in the local directory, but for network/server applications you either need to make sure the interviewers all run from a standard directory (interv) and to put the file there or more likely just supply the full qualified name on the special,save_text_line_to_data reference.
EXTERNALDB.DAT is the output file to use with EXTERNALDB.SPX and EXTERNALDB.QPX.