[GLLUG] Reading/converting unknown database file

[Alain D D Williams]

On Tue, Sep 24, 2024 at 12:37:24PM +0100, Greater London Linux UUG wrote:

> I have used Collectorz software for cataloguing, but they are moving away
> from their totally awesome thick client to a crappy web-based thing, so I
> started writing my own replacement in Python.
> 
> Problem is that populating the Collectorz catalogue has taken years, so I was
> hoping I could read or convert its database file, however, it appears to be
> in a totally unknown format.
> 
> Both Google and ChatGPT suggests the same, but it surprises me a bit as it is
> just a tiny company. I think they are now twenty people, but the software was
> started by just two of them. Would they really have invented their own
> database format? They could have just encrypted it, if they didn't want it
> read.

Use the strings program, you should see some of what you have in the catalogue.
If you cannot then it is possible that the data is encrypted or maybe just
compressed.

Has it got a print function - ie could you print the catalogue to a file and
scrape your data from there ?

-- 
Alain Williams
Linux/GNU Consultant - Mail systems, Web sites, Networking, Programmer, IT Lecturer.
+44 (0) 787 668 0256  https://www.phcomp.co.uk/
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