Pixxxer

Installation

Installation is super easy. Gems work like that.

gem install pixxxer

Usage

Pixxxer provides a simple DSL for defining, reading, and writing fixed width data files.

Assuming a record like this:

Title     Author    Qty  Price
-----     ------    ---  -----
Dune      Herbert   0012001295
012345678901234567890123456789
          1         2         

You can define the following template:

define_pixxx_template(:book)
    .add_field(:title).as(:string).at_position(0).with_width(10).and
    .add_field(:author).as(:string).at_position(10).with_width(10).and
    .add_field(:quantity).as(:integer).at_position(20).with_width(5).and
    .add_field(:price).as(:float).at_position(25).with_width(5).with_precision(2)

To use the template to parse:

record = 'Dune      Herbert   0012001295'.depixxxit(:book)
record[:title].should == 'Dune      '
record[:author].should == 'Herbert    '
record[:quantity].should == 120
record[:price].should == 12.95

To use the template to build a record:

s = record.pixxxit(:book)
s.should == 'Dune      Herbert   0012001295'

Data Types

float
integer
string
ebcdic_string (EBCDIC 4-bit characters)
    dependent on iconv. not currently supported by the version on OS X
    "PIC X(03)"  =>  .as(:abcdic_string).with_width(3)
comp3 (COBOL signed comp-3 packed field)
    with_width specifies the number of bytes:
    "COMP-3 PIC S9(07)V99"  =>  .as(:comp3).with_width(5).with_precision(2)

Notes: Most things default to zero. Fields default to strings. at_position is zero-based.

Copyright

Copyright(c) 2012 Guy Royse & Alyssa Diaz. See LICENSE for further details.