Thanks to all who answered!!
I got several helpful replies and suggestions.
Probably the most useful for my purposes was from Keith Brown as follows:
"About a dozen years ago I did some fairly extensive
programming in order to convert Aspect files to something that could be
read on a PC. Unfortunately, I don't believe I have any of the source code
left. I do recall, however, having to read the '-1' sector which was just
the first 256 words of the file after being transferred to the PC ( I'm
going on recall here). The rest of the file is data, real, imaginary,
real, imaginary etc.
To get around the 24-bit problem I recall reading an Aspect 24-bit word
and stuffing it into a 32-bit PC word. Integers handled this way could be
read directly, floating point and text characters had to be converted from
Bruker's Aspect format to PC format (I don't recall at the moment how this
was done)."
Using the information above from Keith, I was able to read the first 256 3
byte words and find the commentary, stuffed 3 characters at a time, in words
17 through 41. One then subtracts 128 to convert Bruker ASCII to standard
and just reads the commentary. I now have a nice working Windows 95-98 32
bit program to handle my problems.
Again, thanks to all!
Scott
C. Scott Blackwell
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C. Scott Blackwell voice:847-391-3905
UOP R&D fax: 847-391-3719
50 E. Algonquin Road email: csblackw@uop.com
Des Plaines, IL 60017
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-
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blackwell, Crist Scott
> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 1999 8:53 AM
> To: BUM Bruker User's Mail- List (E-mail)
> Subject: How to read commentary text from Aspect files on a PC
> CD-ROM?
>
> Dear BUM'ers
>
> I have a large amount of Bruker Aspect data from CXP, MSL, and ACP
> machines. The data are archived on CD-ROM's in native Bruker format. We
> can convert files when needed to WINNMR format, but we don't have easy
> access to the title commentary data until then, which would help us
> identify files. We stored by a spectrum number that references a hard
> copy book. What I want to do is extract the commentary data to a text
> file. I have done this with Bruker Pascal on an Aspect computer, but the
> data are on a PC now. I want to write a Delphi (visual Pascal) program to
> do this. I have the nmrpar.pas format file, but unfortunately it
> references two items that are not compatible with PC data structures. The
> first is the -1 sector; PC blockreads don't reference sectors numbers per
> se or support random access, as far as I know. Also I suspect that -1
> sectors are a device Bruker came up with to store a larger parameter file,
> probably at the end of the old style data block. Second, the data
> structure uses 24 bit words, not 16 or 32 like PC's. I suspect that means
> a needed redefinition of all data types.
>
> Does anyone out there have the conversion structure/conversion code for
> DISNMR, DISCXP, and DISMSL files in PC format for either C, Pascal, or
> Delphi? Or has someone already written a similar program?
>
> I know that I could translate all files to JCAMP-DX, but that seems to
> involve going first from Bruker Aspect format to WINNMR format and then to
> JCAMP-DX. Also I would generate a lot of files that I probably don't need
> right now, since all I really want is titles.
>
> Any suggestions? I certainly don't need to re-invent the wheel.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Scott
>
> C. Scott Blackwell
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> C. Scott Blackwell voice:847-391-3905
> UOP R&D fax: 847-391-3719
> 50 E. Algonquin Road email: csblackw@uop.com
> Des Plaines, IL 60017
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>
>
>
>