07-17-2010, 12:42 AM
I have to plead ignorance as to how the MTMI worked, never really having used it very often, but can't believe that the data can't be transfered to a modern database and put into a web site! I've worked with database software for years and do web sites and I know it's no big deal to do this.
Sounds like the original MTMI must have been written in BASIC (not MS Dos - that's an operating system) or perhaps PASCAL. Can't imagine that the data would have been hard coded into the program! Just guessing, but I'd venture to say that the program simply read the data from a text file rather than it being hard coded into the program, as you'd have to rebuild the program whenever you updated the data.
Regardless, there should be a way to output or access all the data contained in the program. You can then copy this data into a good text editor and format the data so that it can be imported into a database. I've done that sort of thing many times! Using the open source MySQL http://www.mysql.com/ database - open source PHP http://us2.php.net/ scripting language and valid HTML, you can have something like this up and running in short order. The time consuming part would be the data conversion, which, if my guess is correct about the data being in a separate file from the program, might not take much time. Once you get your database set up and the data converted, it's a snap to keep it maintained and updated.
Like many others, I smell a rat here! Don't be surprised if the MTMI shows up in a month or so as a "Subscriber Only" tool on the MR web site, being sold on CD or better yet for Kalmbach, a book that is updated every couple of years!
Just my two and one-half cents worth!
Sounds like the original MTMI must have been written in BASIC (not MS Dos - that's an operating system) or perhaps PASCAL. Can't imagine that the data would have been hard coded into the program! Just guessing, but I'd venture to say that the program simply read the data from a text file rather than it being hard coded into the program, as you'd have to rebuild the program whenever you updated the data.
Regardless, there should be a way to output or access all the data contained in the program. You can then copy this data into a good text editor and format the data so that it can be imported into a database. I've done that sort of thing many times! Using the open source MySQL http://www.mysql.com/ database - open source PHP http://us2.php.net/ scripting language and valid HTML, you can have something like this up and running in short order. The time consuming part would be the data conversion, which, if my guess is correct about the data being in a separate file from the program, might not take much time. Once you get your database set up and the data converted, it's a snap to keep it maintained and updated.
Like many others, I smell a rat here! Don't be surprised if the MTMI shows up in a month or so as a "Subscriber Only" tool on the MR web site, being sold on CD or better yet for Kalmbach, a book that is updated every couple of years!
Just my two and one-half cents worth!
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"