  Accessing a data file? 
 The Question is:
 
I'm a new IS Manager in a phone company downtown Panama City, Panama.  We
have a remote switchboard that runs OpenVMS 7.1 and in our headquarters we
use Windows '95.  The invoice data of all our custumers is recorded in tape
in the Digital machine at the switchboard.  We use an emulator to see the
OpenVMS DAT files in our PC.  But now we need to create a WinWord macro
(or the like) that can open the DAT files secuencialy from the remote node as
Word files and put the name, address, account number and the other
information of the custumer in its  respective fields of a Word template for
distribution.
     Can you show me the way to start off this thing?  If you can,
I'll be eternaly in debt with you, Wizard.  Thank you.
 
 The Answer is:
 
  The Wizard would use OpenVMS tools for this.  (You have reached the
  OpenVMS Wizard, not the Microsoft Word Macro Wizard, after all.)
 
  OpenVMS does not have a single "DAT" file format, there are effectively
  no limits to the numbers of different formats available.  Further, the
  OpenVMS RMS system supports a variety of general file systems, such as
  indexed, relative, and sequential.
 
  You will need to determine the specifics of the file format -- given
  that you are looking at the file remotely from a PC, and given that
  you are apparently able to make sense of the file, then it is likely
  a sequential file with a simple format.  As such, it can easily be read
  and processed from a DCL procedure.  Using some simple DCL, you can
  create a second sequential file, reading and applying the formatting
  required for the PC system as the file is read.
 
  You can then transfer this file over to the PC using a COPY/FTP or
  similar file transfer command, assuming that you have IP configured on
  the PC and on OpenVMS.  Once transfered, the file can be processed by
  the tools on the PC system.
 
  Books on DCL are available from various sources, including as part of
  the OpenVMS manual set.  (Once you become familiar with DCL procedures,
  you may not need to use the Microsoft platform -- an OpenVMS DCL command
  procedure can certainly perform a mail merge itself, and with a minimum
  of hassles.)
 
  If, on the other hand, you require assistance with Microsoft Word Macros
  or with a mailing package once you have transfered the file over to the
  PC system, you will want to check with a PC Wizard.
 
