The def file is the database definition for the file. The def file is humanly readable and it contains information about the whole file (the file location, record size, etc), and the fields (field name, type, length, main index) in the file. The def file also lists the on-line indexes that are maintained for the file. The def file information is what is contained in the Cove supplied csv worksheets that are used during the data conversion process.
A portion of the Company.def file is shown below
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DATE: 12/08/2008 TIME: 11:39 PAGE: 1
FILE DEFINITION FOR FILE: COMPANY (# 54)
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DRIVER NAME : DATAFLEX
FILE ROOT NAME : COMPANY
USER DISPLAY NAME : Name & Address Master
DATAFLEX FILE NAME : COMPANY
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RECORD LENGTH : 2304 ( USED: 2071 )
MAX NUMBER OF RECORDS : 16000000 ( USED: 112 )
FILE COMPRESSION : STANDARD
RE-USE DELETED SPACE : YES
LOCKING TYPE : FILE
HEADER INTEGRITY CHECKING : YES
TRANSACTION TYPE : CLIENT ATOMIC
RECORD IDENTITY INDEX : 0 ( 0 , 0 )
FILE LOGIN PARAMETER :
SYSTEM FILE : NO
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NUM FIELD NAME TYPE SIZE OFFST IX RELATES TO FILE.FIELD
--- --------------- ---- ----- ----- -- ---------------------------------
1 REV_DATE DAT 3 1
2 INITIALS ASC 3 4
3 FUDATE DAT 3 7
4 ACCOUNT ASC 8 10 4
5 COMPANY ASC 30 18 1
6 LAST_NAME ASC 15 48
7 FIRST_NAME ASC 15 63
8 RETURN_ADD_CODE ASC 1 78
9 TITLE ASC 30 79
10 ADDRESS1 ASC 30 109
11 ADDRESS2 ASC 30 139
12 CITY ASC 30 169 6
13 STATE ASC 2 199 6
14 ZIP ASC 10 201 3
15 PHONE ASC 20 211 7
16 PHONE2 ASC 20 231
17 FAX_PHONE ASC 20 251
18 COMPANY_NAME1 ASC 50 271
19 COMPANY_NAME2 ASC 50 321
20 AR_OP ASC 3 371 13
21 DUN_OP ASC 3 374
22 TERRITORY ASC 3 377
23 COUNTRY ASC 3 380