mlF> GT> Does anyone know of a program that can easily import CD-ROMs 
 mlF> GT> into the filebase?  I.E.  Not having to manually enter each 
 mlF> GT> file area. Also I am using ra 2.6 so earlier utilities like 
 mlF> GT> addrom don't  work. Even a command-line utility that can add 
 mlF> GT> a file area would  do the trick nicely.  I have many CDs to 
 mlF> GT> import.

 mlF> are you saying that RAFILE IMPORT won't work for you? simply 
 mlF> create the basic area definition for each area in RACONFIG and 
 mlF> then run the import...

 GT> The importing is not the issue, it is the tedious task of adding 
 GT> each area. I have 30 plus cds which have 50 plus areas on each.

ohhhh... yeah, i can see that...

 GT> I have done a few already and can see it is going to take me a 
 GT> LONG time.

yeah, i've always done these chores manually and written them off as part
of the task of setting up and configuring a system... once it is done,
that's another task removed from the TODO list ;) 

 GT> Programs like addrom do the trick nicely but it doesn't work on ra 
 GT> 2.50+.  I was hoping someone had found a quicker way of doing it.

i'm trying to remember if i ever looked at addrom... i think i did way back
but still had to manually edit the areas for some reason... probably
security or groups or some such... but then i'm kinda weird in how i want
my CD rom areas laid out... even areas that get imported into my system via
allfix have to be edited... mainly because it doesn't place them in the
sequence where i want them placed... it seems to always put them into the
first free area instead of at the end or at least in the same area group as
the template i told it to use...

 GT> Thank you for your reply,

one possibility might be to install an older RA that addrom works with and
then convert those file areas database files up to 2.6's format... i don't
know if that would work well, though... i would attempt it in another set
of directories well away from your install you are working on now... and
make sure that you don't have any RA environment variables pointing to your
final installation... essentially you would have another, older install,
set up the files areas, then upgrade it to 2.5 or 2.6... check that the
file areas upgraded properly and then copy the file areas files over...
files.idx, fgroups.idx and the files/hdr/*.*, files/idx/*.* and
files/txt/*.* database files...

i don't know who wrote addrom but if the sources are pascal and available,
i could try to update it with the new structures if no one else could or
wanted to... i still have a working compile environment for TP6 and TP7 ;) 

)\/(ark