CobMerge

A fixed-format COBOL app that merges pre-defined files.

• Author: Ethan Kletschke
• Version: 1.0.0
• Developed and Tested On: Windows 11
• Targeted Platform(s): Windows 10 and above
• License: MIT
• Project Metadata File: project.yaml

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• CobMerge
  • Using the app
    • How it Works
    • Running CobMerge
      • Via the GitHub Release
      • Compiling from Source
  • Note on CSV Data Used by the Program
    • Data Format

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Using the app

How it Works

This program sorts the user's input .csv files (as per COBOL's merging requirements), then merges them into a new Output.csv file.

Running CobMerge

Via the GitHub Release

All you have to do is run the .exe in the compressed folder provided, and follow the prompts. Note that the CSV data files will be overwritten when sorted.

Compiling from Source

If you have cobc and GnuCOBOL's runtime on your system, you can clone the app and compile it from source.

This is done by:

1. Cloning the app with git clone
2. Navigating into the cloned project folder
3. Navigating into scripts
4. Running build.cmd

For Linux users, run the following in the project root folder:

cobc -I ./src -x ./src/**.cbl -o ./bin/CobMerge  -w -q
./bin/CobMerge

NOTE: The app has NOT been tested on Linux. Proceed with caution and make a GitHub issue for me to fix whatever the problem is.

Note on CSV Data Used by the Program

The repo's provided .csv data may include duplicate user IDs but with different data. This is due to how I generated the data (it is randomly generated by a Visual Studio Code extension, specifically jrebocho.vscode-random).

If you want to use your own data with my program, follow the guidelines specified below:

Data Format

The format of the CSV data has to be as follows, without headers:

1. User Number (3 digits, including leading zeros)
2. User ID (6-character alphanumeric string, with letters and/or digits)
3. A 25-character user name and surname