Problem:

File Type:  LINE SEQUENTIAL

File Charasteristics: Tab-delimited fields

If you view a record via the "Examine" option when animating, or directly via the data file editor in a project, the tab characters are not visible. If, when in the animator, you toggle to view in HEX, it shows spaces where the tab characters are assumed to be.

Resolution:

To see the tab characters, you need to set the EXPANDTAB runtime configuration switch to OFF.

You can do this by setting this in either extfh.cfg (which is the default file-handler configuration file) in the local directory, or by using the EXTFH environment variable to specify a different file-handler configuration file.

For example: set EXTFH=C:\\working directory\\my.cfg

An example of a config file is as follows (either my.cfg or extfh.cfg):

[XFH-DEFAULT]

EXPANDTAB=OFF

By default EXPANDTAB is ON. This means that if the file is viewed via either the data file editor, or  "Examined" from the animator, the tab characters are expanded to spaces.

One little trick when you are doing an "Examine" on a field in Net Express during animation:

when the field or record being viewed is loaded in the "Examine List",  left-click on the data. This loads the "Change of value" box. Then click on the Hex tab on the right, and this loads both the text and hex chars along side each other, like it used to do in the old workbench editor.