*Updated with Access 97 & XP versions, both in .mdb format.* Designing: Anandtech PM Database. Download Me!

[Evadman]

Like some other members here, the 100 PM limit when you are kicked from the subscriber server hurts. A big thing is losing messages on pending trades or other things. You can export your PM's to text format, but the format is, how shall we say; lacking.

A while ago I threw together an access db to store my old PM's in so I would never lose them. Instead of typing them in by hand, I made a quick function that parses the PM file for me, because I am lazy.

For you AT'ers, I wrote something that would kick you straight to your PM export page here on AT. Same yourself some typing.

So, you want it? Here ya go:
AT Messages DB in Office 97 format
AT Messages DB in Office XP format
Both are rar'ed. Run a AV checker before you DL just like you would from anywhere else.

Requirements
Internet connection
WinRAR to unzip
Access 97 or better
reading comprehension

Other info:
The DB's are now unlocked. Feel free to change the code to suit your tastes, or to add more functionality. Rerverse engineer it to your heart's content.

I make no claims as to this working, or not deleting your PM's on accident (although I have been using it for quite some time) in return, I grant all memebrs of AT free use.

Please make suggestions if you have 'em. I would be happy to implement them as long as I can figure out how to do it.

 

[saturnine]

ty

 

[daMachine]

This is a great idea. I've been bit by that paultry 100 PM limit a few times ..... no more. Thanks.

 

[BlueWeasel]

What exactly is needed to be able to use this, Evadman? I don't have Access installed ATM, and it's a older version (97 or 2000, I think).

Would your code work on that?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
What exactly is needed to be able to use this, Evadman? I don't have Access installed ATM, and it's a older version (97 or 2000, I think).

Would your code work on that?

I am pretty sure it requires access 2002 because of the MDE. I can convert it into 97 or 2000, but I would have to remove some of the automatic functions.

 

[jamautosound]

Thanks! Will try this out later.

 

[Descartes]

Since I had to do this in the past I thought I'd throw in what I had done in the past. I'm a fan of regular expressions, so I cooked this one up pretty quickly to get the job done:

(?:=+)?\s+Sent By: *(\w+)\s+To: *(\w+)\s+Date: *(.*?)\n\s+(.*?)\s+=+/

Not an epitome of readability. Parsing through the PM file was then a simple matter with Perl:

{
local $/;
undef $/;
$_ = <>;
}

while (/(?:=+)?\s+Sent By: *(\w+)\s+To: *(\w+)\s+Date: *(.*?)\n\s+(.*?)\s+=+/sg) {
print "$4\n\n";
}

Note the single-line and global regex options. Each component part of the message is in its respective regex group. I could then parse it via the command-line issuing the following:

cat pmexport.txt.cfm | yourperlscript > messages.txt

I doubt many will actually find the above useful, but those that do will know what to do with it.

 

[Challenger]

OK Im a dummy.. How do I use it? And thank you for doing this

 

[Evadman]

Open with Microsoft Access. Press buttons. Cleam up inported text. Enjoy.

 

[zodder]

I just came in here to call you an idiot.

 

[eklass]

if you've already got this written in access, it should be easily conceivable to port this over to a good ol' .exe via VB.NET, no?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: eklass
if you've already got this written in access, it should be easily conceivable to port this over to a good ol' .exe via VB.NET, no?

I don't have .net I don't have $ coming out of my butt

 

[rbV5]

Thanks for this....works fine here.

 

[nsafreak]

I'd appreciate it if you would please export it to Office 97, wouldn't mind it if everything wasn't automatic.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: nsafreak
I'd appreciate it if you would please export it to Office 97, wouldn't mind it if everything wasn't automatic.

I am going to rip it apart this weekend and do some code updates, and then put it into 97, 2000 & 2002 formats so that others can make it suit them better, and let other people imporve on it. I just would have to remove some code so the PM boxes of everyone here don't get spam. That would suck

 

[Evadman]

Updated with '97 and XP versions, both code unlocked. Also added a search feature. Enjoy.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Thanks! I'm gonna try this out except I chose not to install Access earlier but now seems like a good time...

 

[wfay]

Originally posted by: Evadman

Originally posted by: eklass
if you've already got this written in access, it should be easily conceivable to port this over to a good ol' .exe via VB.NET, no?

I don't have .net I don't have $ coming out of my butt

No offense friend as I do not have $ coming out of my butt and nor do I have MS Visual Studio .Net at this point, but you can compile and execute .Net code using the FREE Mono tools. www.go-mono.com

This runs not only on Win32 but also on Linux. You can write C# code, compile it with Mono, and then execute it either with the Mono framework -or- it runs equally well on the .Net framework. Pretty cool stuff.

So don't let the lack of .Net tools sold by Microsoft keep you from porting the code, if you feel like it.

 

[Evadman]

hey cool! Thanks for the info wfay!

 

[MrNutz]

Originally posted by: Evadman

I am going to rip it apart this weekend and do some code updates, and then put it into 97, 2000 & 2002 formats so that others can make it suit them better, and let other people imporve on it. I just would have to remove some code so the PM boxes of everyone here don't get spam. That would suck

Thanks Evadman.... Sounds like a great utility for the AT community.

Have you gotten this to work on 2000 yet?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: MrNutz

Originally posted by: Evadman
Thanks Evadman.... Sounds like a great utility for the AT community.
Have you gotten this to work on 2000 yet?

Yeah, just grab the '97. it will work great. When it asks you to convert to 2000, convert it. No functionality is lost.

 

[MrNutz]

Originally posted by: Evadman
Yeah, just grab the '97. it will work great. When it asks you to convert to 2000, convert it. No functionality is lost.

Thanks Evadman

umm... The back button doesn't seem to work... ...any idea why?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: MrNutz

Originally posted by: Evadman
Yeah, just grab the '97. it will work great. When it asks you to convert to 2000, convert it. No functionality is lost.

Thanks Evadman

umm... The back button doesn't seem to work... ...any idea why?

it's broken? I don't know. Maybe the constant changed. I will take a look at it this weekend and fix it for you, and import to 2000.

 

[StageLeft]

Great idea. I've thought of something like this, so that I don't lose PMs, and I think I'll give this a DL!

 

[StageLeft]

My back button also doesn't work Otherwise pretty nifty! YOu need to have a menu there though so that a person can see PMs based on last name, so that I can scroll up and down and then read through the PMs of just that person Thanks