cardfile file format
microsoft applications note cardfile file format the cardfile file format is as follows: byte # description 0 - 2 "signature bytes --- always ""mgc"" (4d 47 43) " 3 - 4 number of cards in file beyond the first five bytes are the index lines --- the information about the top line of each"card. the first index entry begins at byte #5 in the file, and successive entries begin 34 bytes after the beginning of the last index entry (the second entry at byte #39, the third entry at byte #6d, etc.). the format for each index line entry is as follows: 0 - 5 null bytes, reserved for future use (should all be 00) 6 - 9 absolute position of card data in file a flag byte (00) b - 32 index line text 33 null byte ; indicates end of index entry after the last index entry, each card's data is stored. card data will be in one of four general formats: graphic and text, text only, graphic only, and blank. blank cards consist of four null bytes; the other card formats are below: graphic text graphic & text only only 0 - 1 0 - 1# 0 - 1 length of graphic bitmap. # 2 - 3 * 2 - 3 width of graphic. * 4 - 5 * 4 - 5 height of graphic. * 6 - 7 * 6 - 7 x-coordinate of graphic. * 8 - 9 * 8 - 9 y-coordinate of graphic. * a - x * a - x bitmap of graphic. * x+1 - x+2 2 - 3 x+1 - x+2#length of text entry. # x+3 - y 4 - z * text. * x = 9 + length of bitmap # - bytes are null if no bitmap/text y = x + 2 + length of text entry * - bytes don't exist if no bitmap/text z = 3 + length of text entry the first byte of any card's data entry is pointed to by bytes 6-9 in the index entry. note that no null byte is used to indicate the end of the card's data entry; the next card's data entry immediately follows the last byte of the previous entry, which will be null only if the previous card has no text (null length of text entry). all numbers in this document, including those in the descriptive text, should be interpreted as hexadecimal numerals. all data pointers and count bytes in the file are unsigned binary/hexadecimal integers in least- to most significant format. all text in the file is saved in low ascii format. in the text section of a card's data, <cr> is always followed by <lf>. |