importing AS400 formated text into InDesign?

[CAkshell]

Hello!

We just upgraded from CS2 to CS4, and we can no longer run in "classic mode."

We are using an AS400 data base, and I used to have to import translated text into a Quark 4.3 document (Text is a coded AS400 file that is translated into text file). Then I would open the translated text into a .qxd file, then open it in InDesign, and all would be fine. Now with the new CS4, I no longer have Quark 4.3, and niether Quark 7.3, or InDesign seem to work to want to open this text file.

Does anyone know of a plugin for InDesign that would allow me to retrieve this AS400 text? I thought it might be having issues with the lack-of extension on the file, but not sure what extension it would require.

Would appreciate any insight into this problem.

Thanks in advance!

CAkshell

[BradMacPro]

are you sure it's formatted? if not, try a .txt extension and a monospaced font like courier.

[Joel Cherney]

I'm going off of very old memories here, so I don't know for certain that I really have a good answer for you. However, I'm 85% certain that the output from your AS/400 is not in ANSI or ASCII encoding, but in EBCDIC encoding. InDesign doesn't understand that text encoding, so the previous poster's suggestion to rename as .txt would not work. (Once again, that's iff my memories are correct.)

So, you'd need some sort of conversion tool. If you don't mind exposing your data to the Internet there are free online encoding converters. If not, I spotted some libraries so you (or someone) could write a conversion tool. If you have a time machine, take me back eleven years and let me talk to the 1999 version of me, the old me will happily gin up a Perl script that you can use in Terminal on the command line to convert the output of your AS/400 database to UTF-8 text.

(The 2010 version of me knows for a fact that Perl is, like any other language, a use-it-or-lose-it proposition; I forgot that stuff obscenely fast.)