DataFlex COLLATE Utility

The COLLATE utility allows you to specify the order in which ASCII data 
fields are sorted in indexes.  The standard ASCII collating sequence as
listed on any ASCII chart is frequently inappropriate.

Example;  In standard ASCII a lower case "a" comes after an upper case "Z". 
In most cases it is preferable to have lower case "a" immediately after
upper case "A".

It is also frequently necessary to change the collating sequence of 
non-U.S. character sets.

THE COLLATE SEQUENCE FILE:

The COLLATE utility reads a file called "COLLATE.CFG".  This file is created
with the DataFlex editor and specifies the collating sequence that DataFlex 
should use.  The standard COLLATE.CFG is as follows:

/ Standard DataFlex collate table
/
/ control chars
RANGE 0 31
/SPECIAL CHARACTERS
RANGE 32 47
RANGE 58 63
RANGE 91 96
RANGE 123 255
/ NUMBERS
RANGE 48 57
/ Alpha characters
T@AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOnPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz

This table specifies the full 256 possible ASCII characters.  The new collate
sequence is specified by the order in which the characters appear in the file.  The "RANGE" lines specify a range of characters based on their decimal ASCII values.  You may also specify one decimal ASCII value with the key word "SINGLE".  On the last line the first character of the line "T" specifies that printable TEXT characters follow; Just type the characters in the order in which you want them to collate.  Finally "/" start

RUNNING THE COLLATE UTILITY

Once the table is complete you must patch the collating table into the 
DataFlex programs.  The COLLATE utility, COLLATE.CFG and the DataFlex 
system should all be on the default disk drive.  Just type COLLATE and 
the programs will be patched.