Software Reviews : DataPrep: The Format Manager (Version 2.0) Staff review Publisher: CDI Systems,2803 Butterfield Road,Oak Brook,IL 60521 (telephone: [phone]) Year of Publication: 1985 Materials: locked program disk,sample files disk,280-page paperback book/manual Price: $195 Machine Specificity: IBM PC / XT / AT / 3270-Pc and compatibles System Requirements: 256K memory;two drives;Pc-DOS 2.0 or later Effectiveness: Excellent User-Friendliness: Good Documentation: Good

Abstract

This utility converts data files automatically between Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, dBASE II, dBASE III, and DIF (for VisiCalc and others) formats. More generally, DataPrep allows highly customized reformatting of any rows-and-columns data as reformatting to upload to some mainframe program. For example, Lotus and dBASE data may be converted to ASCII files with user-specified delimiters through the "Data Export" module of DataPrep. Though some of these functions are provided by Lotus or Ashton-Tate (publishers of dBASE), DataPrep is far more comprehensive and versatile. This product should be in every social science computer laboratory.