This is the online manual of GRCTools, personal name and address management software. Click here for details.
When you choose the menu option File > Open, you are asked to specify which file you wish to process, and in which format the file is in. These file options are currently available:
dBase III+ Lotus 1-2-3, 1-A Lotus 1-2-3, 2.x Lotus 1-2-3, 3.x Lotus Symphony 1.01 Lotus Symphony 1.1 Microsoft Access Microsoft Excel 2/3/4 Microsoft Excel 5.0 Microsoft Excel 97 Microsoft FoxBASE+ Microsoft FoxPro 2.x Microsoft Multiplan 4.01 Microsoft Visual FoxPro SQL Server
Choose the file to be processed using the browse button .
The native formats of GRCTools are Visual FoxPro/dBase III+. A data file which is in one of those formats will usually be processed without problems because no data translation has to be done. For all other data formats, GRCTools will export the file to Visual FoxPro format for processing and then export it again to the specified output format. There are some basic incompatabilities when some programs export to dbf format. Access, for example, may export character fields with a length of 256 (which cannot then be indexed), or as memo fields; whilst Excel may export columns as numeric fields, which GRCTools will not process. Unless you are working natively in Foxpro we therefore recommend that you choose the "Check file compatibility" option to change numeric and memo fields to character fields and to reduce the length of character fields to 100. For larger files this check may take some time, but it prevents errors further on in the program.
Choose your output format. Input in .dbf format will be output with the same name (i.e. GRCTools will work directly on the input file). For other formats a new file is created (named after the original file with a number between 1 and 99 added to the file name).
If GRCTools has problems in exporting the data to Visual FoxPro format, it may produce errors. Please check on the list below to ensure that your file will process without problems:
address_line_1 address_line_2
these fields become truncated to
address_li address_li
The file then contains duplicate field names and GRCTools will return an error. Furthermore, no field may be longer than 250 characters.
Press the tick button to continue.
Most of the world’s languages contain diacritical characters, and data is added to databases which are marked with a particular code page, depending on the language covered. Not all languages can be covered with a single code page. The lookup tables for GRC ToolsTMhave been based on ANSI code page 1252. This means that the following accented characters have been used to build the lookup tables:
Ä, Å, Á, Â, À, Ã, â, ä, à, å, á, ã Ç, ç É, Ê, Ë, È, é, ê, ë, è Í, Î, Ï, Ì, ï, î, ì, í Ñ, ñ Ö, Ø, Ó, Ô, Ò, Õ, ô, ö, ò, ø, ó, õ, ß Ð, ð, Þ, þ Ü, Ú, Û, Ù, ü, û, ù Ý, ÿ, ý, Æ, æ
In order to correctly assign information with accented characters and to prevent corruption of incoming data, it is necessary to specify at this point the code page in which the original data was created:
Highlight the appropriate code page information and press Select to continue.
Important: GRC Tools'TM lookup tables are in Windows ANSI 1252 code page format. Once your file has been processed once by GRC ToolsTM, its data will be stored also in Windows ANSI 1252 format. This being the case, if you process a file more than once in GRC ToolsTM, you need to specify that the data is in Windows ANSI 1252 format for each processing from the second time onwards. If you specify the original file code page after the first time of processing, you will corrupt diacritical characters written in previous processing by GRC ToolsTM.
GRC ToolsTM now asks for certain parameters to be able to format your data correctly. These parameters will be remembered by GRC ToolsTM so you rarely have to change them if your database structures and naming conventions remain constant. You are required to specify the field in which the country code is situated. You must have a filled country code field in your database, even if all the data in the database is from the same country.
A results file called RddmmyyX.dbf, where dd is the date, mm the month and yy the year, and X is an incremental letter is automatically created by GRC ToolsTM. For every session run on that date, a new report file is automatically created. You may alternatively request that the data is written to a different results file (e.g. one from a previous date or previous session) by choosing this file from the Results File browse button. In this case, results are appended to this file. If you wish to delete the contents of this file before commencing a session, check the Clear Results File? box. Checking Print report will give you an option at the end of the processing to print a report.
If you should do more than 26 runs in a single day and have thus created results files ending in all letters between A and Z, A is reused for all remaining sessions for that date.
The results file is created in Visual Foxpro format and in Excel format.
Countries have been listed in English. For the sake of clarity, please note that:
You are next required to specify from which countries the data in your input database comes (or which countries you wish to process). Double click on the country names in the left-hand column or highlight them and press the right arrow button to select a country. If you are unsure of all of the countries within the database, then check All Countries. GRC ToolsTM will then identify all unique country codes within your input database.
By default, GRC ToolsTM provides you with the flexibility to define which code in your database agrees with which country. However, to save time for users who use the ISO3166 2- or 3-character country codes in their data, choosing “ISO 3166-2” or “ISO 3166-3” will make GRC ToolsTM automatically assign these codes, saving you time. You will be able to review the links made in the next window. If you do not use an ISO coding system, maintain the choice as “Define”.
If you have previously saved a file containing country codes for a specified project, you can import those codes by using the Load country code file button. These files must be stored in the /lu/ directory under the GRC ToolsTM main program directory, and must have a name commencing dmtoollu_.
For each country chosen, GRC ToolsTM needs to make a link between the country code used within the input database and the country names, so that the correct processing is done per country. GRC ToolsTM remembers links made, so if your country codes remain stable, this process will only have to be done for each country once. Known links are presented in the bottom box. Country codes not yet known are presented in the top left-hand box. Highlight each code, highlight the country name to which it should be linked in the top right-hand box, and choose . To clear any highlighting you have done in error, choose
. To re-link an incorrect link (or to prevent GRC ToolsTM from processing a given country during this session), highlight a made link in the bottom box and choose
. Choose
to clear all made links and re-start the linking process.
Uncheck the box Apply same fields for each process to all countries if the fields for each process differ by country. If you check this box, each process will be automatically assigned the same fields for processing as the first country for which you assigned fields for this country and this session, though you have the chance to change them. Thus, if you choose to run processes over Belgium,France and Germany, and this box is checked, then if you choose the fields Address_1 and Address_2 for Belgium for a process, these fields will be automatically filled in for this same process for France and Germany, though you may alter them as you wish.
Choose Apply parameters to all countries if the same process is to be run over the same fields for each country. If you choose this option, you will only be asked for process parameters once. However, there are a number of processes where choosing this option may affect quality of processing, as described in the individual process chapters below. To set parameters separately for each country within the database, choose instead Set parameters for each country.
To save these country codes for this project, use the Save country code file button. The file must be saved to the /lu/ directory under the main GRC ToolsTM program directory, it must have a name which commences with dmtoollu_, and it may not be called dmtoollu (i.e. without the final underscore).
For each country chosen (or for All if the Apply parameters to all countries option was chosen), you need now to specify which processes to run. The processes that you previously run for this country are already checked. This is asked per country in alphabetical order, only those processes available for the given country being listed, and the processes are listed in the order that they are run. This order has been carefully constructed for each country to increase accuracy. For example, as many processes require a correct postal code to run, the postal code validity would need to be checked before these processes are run. Be aware of what each process will do to your data, as this may affect parameters specified for processes to be run later. I.e., if your data is in upper case, and you choose to change this to mixed case, then any processes run after the mixed casing option that need to know the case of the data in the field will need to have mixed case specified instead of upper case.
Choose as many processes as you need. Choose Select all to select all processes, Deselect all to clear all current selections. Move from country to country using the arrow keys under the text Select country until all countries are completed.
The processes Postal codes - write located, Language Regions - assign and Provinces - assign do not require a field to work on, as they are assigning information rather than changing the contents of a field. For this reason, you are not asked to select fields for these processes.
For each process chosen, you can now specify the names of the fields over which each process is to be run. Double click on the field name in the left-hand column to select a field, moving it to the selected (right-hand) column. Alternately, highlight the field and press the right arrow key between the selection columns. To un-select a field, double-click it in the right-hand column to move it back to the un-selected (left-hand) column, or highlight the field and press the left arrow button between the selection columns.
Using the arrow keys to the right of the columns, move between the processes selecting fields until all processes have been completed. As you move between the processes, depending on the processes chosen, a number of extra parameter questions may be asked - these are described in detail in the process chapters.
At the beginning and end of each process by country, GRC ToolsTM processes its built-in lookup tables. For processes and countries where these lookup tables are large, GRC ToolsTM may appear to hang for some time at 0% and 100% during processing. This is normal - avoid interrupting the program at these points.
GRC ToolsTM will now start processing your data. This screen keeps you updated on progress. You can see which process is running over which field for which country, which countries have been completed (and which are still to be done), and which processes have been completed for this country (and which are still to be done).
Press F2 at any time to interrupt processing. It is important to avoid interrupting GRC ToolsTM in any other way, for example by turning off your computer during processing. This can cause corruption of the lookup tables and can prevent GRC ToolsTM from working.
After processing, if you requested a report, GRC ToolsTM will present the report to you on the screen.
This report lists the processes fulfilled per country, the field(s) processed, the number of records processed, the number of records which were changed and the (rounded) time taken to run each process over each field for that country.
Using the floating menu bar, you can scroll through the pages of the report using these buttons (the middle button allows you to skip to a specified page number); zoom in and out using this option:
; Exit the report without printing it
; or print the report
. If you choose not to print the report at this time, GRC ToolsTM allows you to print it another time using the File > Report menu option.