Re: Are .frm and .rep platform independent

Bruce Haanstra (bruceh_at_equis.com) wrote:
: From what I understand .frm and .rep files are platform independent.
: Has anyone had the experience of creating such files on one platform,
: copying them to another and having them run successfully?

I don't know about .frm files, but at least .rep files are NOT platform independent. I have made reports for HP-UX and SunOS platforms, and they can only run in the platform they were generated for. The source file (.rex) is platform independent, and can be moved between platforms. I have never tried this for .frm files, but I know the source file (.inp) can be moved between platforms.

If you examine the first bytes in a .rep file, you will find a magical number. You can use this to make the file(1) command in Unix recognize them as SQL*ReportWriter reports. For SunOS the magical number is !\007, and for HP-UX it is !\016. I don't know about other platforms.

Exctract from /etc/magic:

0	string		!\007		Oracle SQL*ReportWriter (SunOS 4.1.X)
0	string		!\016		Oracle SQL*ReportWriter (HP-UX)

--
Morten Larsen 
Enea Data AB
Nytorpsvagen 5B
S-18323 TABY, SWEDEN
E-mail: morten_at_enea.se