populating tables from text files

[Jamie]

Hi there,

I'm not sure if SQL is capable of this so I would like your ideas and
comments.

I have over a thousand text files with in the below format.

[Win32_Operating System]
ComputerName=co mputerHostName
OSName=Microsof t Windows XP Professional
OSVersion=5.1.2 600
ServicePackMajo rVersion=1
ServicePackMino rVersion=0
OSSerialNumber= bla bla bla
InstallDate=08/09/2004 15:53
LastBootUpTime= 04/11/2004 09:10

[Win32_ComputerS ystem]
Domain=mine.com
Manufacturer=He wlett-Packard
Model=HP Compaq nc6000
TotalPhysicalMe mory=1,023 MB

[Win32_Processor]
Count=1
CurrentClockSpe ed=797

[Win32_BIOS]
SMBIOSVersion=6 8BDD Ver. F.0A
SerialNumber=Bl a Bla Bla

[Win32_LogicalDi sk (size in MB)]
Count=2
Size of C: drive=29,996
FreeSpace on C: drive=19,885
%FreeSpace on C: drive=66%
Size of D: drive=8,151

What i want to do is take each field from these text files and put them into
a MySQL table. Ignoring the lines with the headings in i.e [ignore]

Is there an sql statement i could use to readline from a text file and put
it into MySQL or is this something i would need to write a VB script for?

Also the second problem comes once it has finished one text file i want it
to move onto the next text file in the folder. As i say this folder
contains over 2 thousand text files and I will want to run this script at
least once a week to update the tables.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
--

Jamie Allison
Sheffield Hallam University
Software Engineering
Final Year

[Bill Karwin]

Jamie wrote:

What i want to do is take each field from these text files and put them into
a MySQL table. Ignoring the lines with the headings in i.e [ignore]

Is there an sql statement i could use to readline from a text file and put
it into MySQL or is this something i would need to write a VB script for?

I would do this in some application code, and VB should be just fine for
that (other languages would be fine too). I can't think of a
straightforward way to do this purely in SQL.

Also, these problems have a tendency to expand: next you'll be parsing
other types of files, or the files will have new kinds of syntax within
them. Writing a script or a series of scripts is a better way to
accommodate changing requirements, since a SQL solution would be more
complex and more difficult to alter.

Regards,
Bill K.

[usenet]

>Jamie wrote:

What i want to do is take each field from these text files and put them into
a MySQL table. Ignoring the lines with the headings in i.e [ignore]

Is there an sql statement i could use to readline from a text file and put
it into MySQL or is this something i would need to write a VB script for?

If you're looking at a one-time import, and don't mind a kludge, you can use an
app (maybe Excel / OpenOffice) ? to export the HTML table to CSV, and then
import that file into MySQL. It's certainly not a programmatic solution, nor
one to be proud of, but it'll get the job done fairly quickly. <g>

Other ideas are available via Google :
http://www.google.com/search?num=25&...SV&btnG=Search