Hello, all!
I am a PB3 afficianado, and wish to use the following structures to create
a program which allows me to open the file, read in the data, work with
it, and write back new data.
My question is, being I am not experienced with how to translate structures
into actual code (knowing if the file is binary, how to use templates and/or
the best way to read in the data) maybe someone here could offer some
insights.  Not code, but really a brief explanation of what major steps
to do with very brief examples to get me on the right track.
For example:
  BoardRecord = record (* MSGCFG.DAT *)
                  Name            : String[40];
                  Typ             : TypeMsgs;
                  Kinds           : KindMsgs;
                  Combined        : Boolean;
                  Aliases         : AskType;
                  Aka             : Byte;
                  OriginLine      : String[58];
                  AllowDelete     : Boolean;
                  KeepCnt,                (* Max # of Msgs to keep *)
                  KillRcvd,               (* Kill received msgs after this 
an
                  KillOld         : Word; (* Kill msgs after this many days 
)
                  ReadSec         : SecurityRecord;
                  WriteSec        : SecurityRecord;
                  TemplateSec     : SecurityRecord;
                  SysopSec        : SecurityRecord;
                  FileArea        : Integer;  (* for Fmail *)
                  Group           : Byte;
                  Spare           : Array[4..12] of Byte;
                end;
These are public structures to a file used by my BBS software which I want
to write a utility for, and my utility will open the message base config
file, for sorting, etc.
Can someone here post an English layman's explanation of what major steps
to follow, and how to write a PB routine to read this file?  No code,
unless you wanna, just an overview.  I wanna do the work!
-James
--- QuickBBS 2.80 GoldBase (Zeta-1)
---------------