ebcdic-compare-tool

Installation

1. Download the current release.
2. Unzip ebcdic-compare-v1.0.3.zip to a location of your choice.
3. To open the application, double click the EbcdicCompare.exe icon.

Instructions

This tool allows you to view and compare EBCDIC-encoded files. In order to decode any EBCDIC file, you will need an additional schema file that describes the fields found in the EBCDIC file. This additional schema file, called a "copybook file", is an XML file with a .fileformat extension that contains a description of each field contained in the EBCDIC file. These copybook schemas reflect the COBOL copybook that was used to write out the file initially.

Here is an example of a copybook file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ASCII"?>
<FileFormat ConversionTable="IBM01047" dataFileImplementation="IBM i or z System" distinguishFieldSize="0" newLineSize="0" headerSize="0" >
	<RecordFormat cobolRecordName="TEST" distinguishFieldValue="0">
		<FieldFormat Decimal="0" DependingOn="" ImpliedDecimal="false" Name="ID" Occurs="1" Picture="3(9)" Signed="false" Size="9" Type="3" Value=""/>
		<FieldFormat Decimal="0" DependingOn="" ImpliedDecimal="false" Name="NAME" Occurs="1" Picture="X(12)" Signed="false" Size="12" Type="X" Value=""/>
		<FieldFormat Decimal="0" DependingOn="" ImpliedDecimal="false" Name="VALUE" Occurs="1" Picture="9(6)" Signed="true" Size="6" Type="9" Value=""/>
	</RecordFormat>
</FileFormat>

View EBCDIC File

Note: Instead of clicking "Browse" to locate a file, you can drag the file from Windows Explorer into the appropriate file text box.

Compare EBCDIC File

Associate Copybook With EBCDIC File

If you find yourself constantly viewing / comparing the same EBCDIC files over and over again, you can associate a copybook with an EBCDIC file so that the next time you go to view / compare that EBCDIC file, the copybook will automatically be selected.

Contributions

Contributions are welcome! Ensure that any code that you submit has at least 80% code coverage and that solution actually builds. You can run the GenerateUnitTestMetrics.bat file to obtain this information.

Once you are satisfied with you changes, please open up a pull request.

Acknowledgements

1. The EBCDIC decoding functionality was obtained from the SummerBatch project.