FLAT 4D Library

FLAT is a free 4D code library that allows you to perform quick lookups within external text data files. This is a helpful capability when your application is monitoring external data sources that are updated outside of your control. It can also be used instead of implementing static lookup tables and importing lookup data into your database.

FLAT Features 

  1. Reads a particular cell data value from an external file.
  2. Is packaged as a simple 4D 2003 demo database. Can be merged into another 4D database using 4D Insider or copy and paste. (No forms, 7 methods)
  3. Uses blobs so there is no 32,000 character limit on the data lookup source.
  4. One method call is all that is needed to get the desired cell content.

Example: Return the "Close" price from a file containing the data below:

Cell_T:=FLAT_GetCellDataFromFile(PathToFile;"Date";"2-May-05";"Close";",")

Where:

After this call the variable Cell_T will contain the value "1191.5"

Example data file content for the above example:

Date,Open,High,Low,Close,Volume,Adj. Close*
3-Oct-05,1228.81,1233.34,1168.2,1179.59,25296306,1179.59
1-Sep-05,1220.33,1243.13,1205.35,1228.81,22321442,1228.81
1-Aug-05,1234.18,1245.86,1201.07,1220.33,19302434,1220.33
1-Jul-05,1191.33,1245.15,1183.55,1234.18,19609400,1234.18
1-Jun-05,1191.5,1219.59,1188.3,1191.33,19292513,1191.33
2-May-05,1156.85,1199.56,1146.18,1191.5,19601271,1191.5
1-Apr-05,1180.59,1191.88,1136.15,1156.85,21803157,1156.85
1-Mar-05,1203.6,1229.11,1163.69,1180.59,18740172,1180.59
1-Feb-05,1181.27,1212.44,1180.95,1203.6,16364678,1203.6
3-Jan-05,1211.92,1217.8,1163.75,1181.27,16589300,1181.27
1-Dec-04,1173.78,1217.33,1173.78,1211.92,14494363,1211.92
1-Nov-04,1130.2,1188.46,1127.6,1173.82,15244657,1173.82
1-Oct-04,1114.58,1142.05,1090.29,1130.2,15719904,1130.2
1-Sep-04,1104.24,1131.54,1099.18,1114.58,13608509,1114.58
2-Aug-04,1101.72,1109.68,1060.72,1104.24,12602272,1104.24
1-Jul-04,1140.84,1140.84,1078.78,1101.72,14563714,1101.72
1-Jun-04,1120.68,1146.34,1113.32,1140.84,13811095,1140.84
3-May-04,1107.3,1127.74,1076.32,1120.68,15249500,1120.68
1-Apr-04,1126.21,1150.57,1107.23,1107.3,15831714,1107.3
1-Mar-04,1144.94,1163.23,1087.16,1126.21,15286347,1126.21
2-Feb-04,1131.13,1158.98,1124.44,1144.94,15540000,1144.94
2-Jan-04,1111.92,1155.38,1105.08,1131.13,17227500,1131.13
1-Dec-03,1058.2,1112.56,1053.41,1111.92,13121195,1111.92
3-Nov-03,1050.71,1063.65,1031.2,1058.2,13131810,1058.2
1-Oct-03,995.97,1053.79,995.97,1050.71,14694521,1050.71


Note: In large external text data sources, this code can be slow due to the nature of blob parsing. In interpreted databases this code will execute considerably slower than compiled.

 

FLAT Pricing

FLAT is provided free of charge.

FLAT Download

Click here to download a .zip file containing the Windows interpreted 4D 2003 database.

Click here to download a .zip file containing the Macintosh interpreted 4D 2003 database.

 

Questions

Please refer all questions/comments/requests to Nufocus Inc. at support@nufocusinc.com.