Palm Desktop Calendar

[bigaldoc]

From a long-time Palm user who knows zero about database software!

The Palm Desktop Calendar program will export calendar data, but ONLY with a file extension (format) of .DBA and I know nothing about that file format. Can someone tell me if there's any way to import that kind of file into a spreadsheet or some kind of text editor? The closest thing I found via Google was a program called DataEase, the lite version of which costs $60. I saw a trial download so I guess I could go back and give them ALL the @#$% information they want for TRACKING me, just for a trial download. Looking for a simpler way - is there one?

(I have about 300 entries in my calendar over the past five years that I want to get into a text or spreadsheet file.)

[JohnBF]

Did you look at the raw data layout in a hex editor? I thought that Palm DBA wasn't much more than a CSV with some header data, but that may be the file kept on the Palm PDA itself. If you use a sync program, have a look at your Palm sync file backups with a hex editor. it will be in something like:

C:Program FilesPalm<userinitials>datebookdatebook.dat

Can you sync your Palm to Outlook, from where you can do a CSV export? Yahoo Calendar support DBA imports, perhaps you can see if it or Google Calendar will work as an intermediary for CSV export?

See also:

http://www.livepim.com/pd-csv/index.htm
http://export-csv.qarchive.org/

(I do not expect that the Datease DBA file has the same layout as the Palm.)

[bigaldoc]

Thanks for the inputs, John. Yeah, I used BinEdit to look at the file(s) I exported and it sure ain't a CSV format. I also took your suggestion and looked at the Palm file itself and can't do anything (so far) with that either.

I never use Outlook but I went in just to look and it doesn't seem to recognize the dadburned file, but I must admit I gave up without trying ALL the possible formats.

I'm still working on the two links you suggested. The first one (LivePIM) is pretty easy to use until you get to a point in the conversion where you have to select the calendar entries you want to convert. It literally lists ALL of them, each one with a tick-box, and I can't find a way to "CONTROL-A" the whole list OR sort the entries alphabetically so I could select the group of 300 or so that I want. I can't see me sitting there with my finger on the space bar and the mouse and clicking through five years of calendar entries. But, I've gotta keep looking. I may have missed something. I did try a modest sized group and took it to completion and it DID make a nice CSV file which spreadsheet'd nicely.

Haven't looked at the second link yet, since I just got back in. Thanks again for the leads!

Edited Later: Oops, the two links seem to lead to the same product. But I'll keep looking...

[bigaldoc]

I just wanted to followup that I've been trying. I've also kept Googling for more choices but so far I haven't found anything. The program you linked to looks good except it bombs repeatedly on my machine and I've tried several variations, i.e. using the Palm file as direct input or the exported file I created (DBA). I did find a button that lets me select all the records - it was hiding down below the visible area on the GUI. When the program starts I get an "access violation" message in spite of having the Palm software and the exported file CLOSED. But it looks like it's continuing except that it stops with the progress bar at 3% and never completes. The bitch about it is that in spite of THAT, I do get an output CSV file that has some of the records very nicely in it, but only a small number of them.

I've repeated the process with as many variations as I could come up with, each time with the same result. It's not important enough for me to continue struggling with it, so I'm going onward to try to find another alternative.

[mbarron]

Al,

I think you may be misunderstanding what John was suggesting. He was suggesting that you sync with Outlook and then export the calendar from within Outlook, not try to open the DBA file with Outlook.

[bigaldoc]

You're right, I see that now. Guess I was reading so fast I didn't get the message. I'll have to think about this, for I can't remember what's involved in changing my cradle. Thanks for pointing that out...

[JohnBF]

Thanks, that was my intent. I got interrupted by paid work this afternoon. <img src=/S/anigrin.gif border=0 alt=anigrin width=19 height=19>

[bigaldoc]

Oh boy John, my embarrassment! <img src=/S/blush.gif border=0 alt=blush width=15 height=15>

I had forgotten that I have completely removed Office, including Outlook, when I started using Open Office some time ago. I still have it on my other machine, but I decided not to fool with it any further because: I found this one - LinkeSOFT - Software for Handhelds where a product called DIMEX does the job in a couple of seconds, directly from the Palm Desktop software and "only" costs $19 which is well worth it for a nice piece of shareware! Maybe you or some other Lounger might want to browse around his site...

I made a trial run which would only do a handful of selected entries, but it went so nicely that I have since registered and done the job on 355 calendar entries going back to 2003! Guten Tag, Linkesoft!