Reading MS 5.xx data files in Visual Basic

[Matt Bounds <mbounds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am currently using Metastock Version 5.1

I have been trying to read the Metastock Binary  . Dat files directly from
32 bit Microsoft Visual Basic.

I have followed a crib sheet given to me by a friend from an old DOS
Metastock Manual  which details how to read Metastock files into GW or Quick
Basic, but unfortunately the functions CVI( ), CVS( ) are not directly
supported in Visual Basic

Microsoft do have a .dll which provides CVS( ), CVL( ) but not CVI( )
functions - this works fine in 16 bit Visual Basic 3, and the CVI function
can be emulated using the HMemCpy function from the "kernel.dll" provided
with windows 3.1.  The dll is available from the Microsoft File Library as a
self exploding zip, "mbf2ieee.exe"


In VB 3 .1 I can get all the functionality I need by combiming the two
different techniques and in this way I can read the .dat files correctly.
However sadly Microsoft do not provide an updated 32 bit version of the
mbf2ieee.dll so in order to read the MBF files I have tried to use the
Microsoft's suggested emulation of CVS( ) using the 32 bit equivalent of the
HMemCpy functions. Both 16 and 32 bit functions are listed below.
Unfortunately, both the emulated CVS functions misinterpret the MBF numbers
in exactly the same way, yielding for example:-

True number             Misinterpreted Number
" 930112"        =       -1.1464515535577E-26
" 970722"        =      -1.1965060105891E-26

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to  correct this ?


Here are the functions that are causing me problems: 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 16 Bit CVI and CVS  Emulation using HmemCpy

Ref : How to Emulate MKI$ and CVI in VB Using Windows HMemCpy 
        Microsoft Knowledge Base :Q87970 >

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Declare Sub hmemcpy Lib "kernel" (hpvdest As Any, hpvsource As Any, ByVal
cbCopy As Long)    

Function CVI (x As String) As Integer
Dim temp%
If Len(x) <> 2 Then
    MsgBox "illegal function call on CVI"
    Stop
End If
hmemcpy temp%, ByVal x, 2
CVI = temp%
End Function

Function CVS (x As String) As Single
Dim temp!
If Len(x) <> 4 Then
MsgBox "Illegal Function Call"
Stop
End If
hmemcpy temp!, ByVal x, 4
cvs = temp!
End Function

    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
32 Bit Equivalent of the above functions
Ref : Win32 Replacement of HMemCpy Functions
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article ID:  Q129947
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "KERNEL32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (hpvDest As Any,
hpvSource As Any, ByVal cbCopy As Long)
   
   Function CVI(x As String) As Integer
    Dim temp as integer
      If Len(x) <> 2 Then
         MsgBox "Illegal Function Call"
         Stop
      End If
      CopyMemory temp%, ByVal x, 2
      CVI = temp%
   End Function


   Function CVS(x As String) As Single
   Dim temp As Single
   
      If Len(x) <> 4 Then
         MsgBox "Illegal Function Call"
         Stop
      End If
      CopyMemory temp, ByVal x, 4
      CVS = temp
   End Function


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


***********************************************************************
Matt Bounds
mbounds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
***********************************************************************