12. TRANSFERRING FILES
At some time, you may wish to send information from EIES® to your PC or send a file from your PC to EIES®. There are a number of ways to do this; however, all file transferring is highly dependent upon the type of communication software you are using to access EIES®. The instructions that follow explain how file transfers work in general. We have also provided specific instructions for some popular software packages. If your software does not appear here, we suggest you read your software’s documentation on file transfers.
12.1 Sending a File with Cut and Paste
Perhaps the simplest way of moving a single item (or a number of small items) off of EIES® is to use the cut and paste functions of Microsoft Windows. If you are using a Windows package to access EIES® follow the steps below to move data. You’ll need to be familiar with your PC and Windows in order to use this method.
Obtain the EIES® item number of the item you wish to move to your PC and turn on your PC’s word processor or notepad.
Type +batch and press <return>.
Type +view followed by the item number you wish to transfer (i.e., +view c1.1cc25) and press <return>. You will see the item displayed on your screen.
Using your mouse, or the keystrokes designated by your software, highlight the item on your screen.
Select Cut (or copy) from your communication software menu (this is usually found in the file or edit menus).
Enter the PC’s word processor or notepad and select Paste. Your EIES® item should now be displayed on your PC’s word processor or notepad. You may now save this item as if it had been created on the PC.
IMPORTANT: Type +screen when you return to EIES® to restore your session to screen mode.
12.2 Capturing a file
Another easy way to send a small amount of data to your PC is to use the file capture function of your communication software. You’ll need to have a good understanding of your communication software in order to use this method.
Obtain the EIES® item number of the item you wish to move to your PC.
Type +batch and press <return>.
Type the command to turn on your software’s file capture (some software packages call this File Log). See the table in section 12.5 for the specific commands for some popular software packages.
Your communication software may request a filename at this point. Type in the filename you would like the EIES® information to be stored as. Be sure to include directory information in the filename, otherwise the file may be stored in your communication software directory.
Type +view followed by the item number you wish to transfer (i.e., +view c1.1cc25) and press <return>. You will see the item displayed on your screen.
Type +screen to restore your EIES® session to screen mode.
You now have a file on your PC which contains the information you sent from EIES®. You can use this file as you would any text file created on your PC.
12.3 Downloading Data from EIES® to Your PC
Transferring a large amount of data from EIES® to your PC is best done with downloading. You must use this method is you want to download binary data. follow the steps below:
Record the item number (#,m#,c#cc#) of the item you wish to download.
Prepare EIES® for downloading by typing +download.
EIES® will prompt you for the file transfer protocol. Select the file transfer protocol you wish (we suggest using ASCII for text-only transfers). Be sure the file transfer protocol for your communication software is set to the protocol you choose here.
Type the download command for your communications software (see the table below for the download commands for some popular software).
When prompted, type in the complete filename, including all directories, for your new file. If the filename already exists, the previous file will be overwritten.
Type +batch and press <return>.
If you are not using a DOS-based Procomm or similar software, set your file transfer protocol to ASCII. Type the download command for your communications software. Commands for common software packages are listed at the end of the instructions. A DOS-based Procomm or similar software will now prompt you for the transfer protocol (still ASCII). When prompted for the filename, enter the name of the file (including all directories) to which you wish to download the items. Anything already in that file will be overwritten.
If you are downloading many items, you should now be back to the item number prompt. Type in the item numbers of the items to be downloaded, separated by commas, and followed by a <CR>. If you type +screen and the screen still isn’t right, <CTRL>-L will refresh it.
Common Communications Software Commands
Software Package Download Command