Rebuilding the Database from HTRDATA

[Victor]

What is a good way of bringing a weeks worth of data of all tracks from HTRDATA to HTR? What sort of parameters should be used in the find file function of Windows or is it easier to do in DOS?

[MikeDee]

Don't know it there is a better way...probably is but I would put each one of the days you want in the "named line" like this:

lets say I wanted files for Nov 11, 12, 13 then I would put in

*1111*,*1112*,*1113*

This finds all files in htrdata with the 3 above days in the file name.

You might want to experiment with this, if you are searching a large number of files and you have more then 5 or 6 items listed it might take a while to find them all.

[Eric]

I agree with Mike that *mmdd* would be a good way to select the desired files. (mm=month, dd=day). The only change I'd make is to use the COPY command from DOS for each date. Assumming your archived files were in C:\HTRDATA and you wanted to copy a date range of say 1110 through 1116 to C:\HTR, it would go like this:

1. Go to your MSDOS prompt: (C:\>)

2. Change to your HTRDATA directory: C:\> CD HTRDATA <Enter>

3. Copy 1110 Files: C:\HTRDATA>COPY *1110* C:\HTR /V <Enter> (The "V" = Verify Copy)

4. Repeat Step 3 for each date. Hint Tap your F1 Key after the initial copy to "retype" the previous data one character at a time, when your cursor is located JUST before the next date change, type the new number(s) then tap your F3 key to complete the line then press Enter.

For example, using the above example, after the files for 1110 were copied, and I was back at the DOS prompt (C:\HTRDATA>) I'd tap the F1 key until I saw: C:\HTRDATA> COPY *111 then I'd type the number 1 then tap F3 to complete the line (COPY *1111* C:\HTR /V) then press Enter.

That should do it.

[Eric]

Just occurred to me. If you use my procedure, you'll be "dropping" to a DOS window so your initial "DOS" location will probably be:

C:\WINDOWS>

To get to your HTRDATA folder, type:

C:\WINDOWS>CD \HTRDATA <Enter>

To return to Windows, just type EXIT (at the DOS prompt) and press Enter

[Victor]

Thanks. Now I know what I'll be doing for Thanksgiving. Will try not to let this happen again.

[Rick]

Victor,

If you have not thought about it the \htrdata directory will only keep one years worth of data. After that it starts over writing the data from last year. That means if you have the race data for 1 Dec 2000 at the FG in \htrdata and you download 1 Dec 2001 data for the FG, once you run the racefiles in HTR the racefiles (and results, charts, etc) are moved to \htrdata and will replace any files with the same name.

If you want to keep more than just the last 12 months of race files you need to plan ahead. There are many ways to do this. You can save data by month, quarter, or year. You can just create a new directory. I rename the present \htrdata directory to \htrdata-2001 at the end of the year. After renaming HTR will create a new \htrdata the next time you run HTR.

One thing to keep in mind if at a later date you want to go back and run some of the old racefiles, that if you run some races from over a year ago, they will be saved into your present \htrdata directory and will overwrite your current racefiles.

So when working with racefiles that are older than what you are keeping in your present \htrdata directory, do something like renaming \htrdata to something like \htrdata2. After you finish running all your old racefiles you can delete the \htrdata directory that has the old racefiles and rename your \htrdata2 back to \htrdata.

Just food for thought. Some of this I learned the hard way and some I learned from other members.