Data processing

ENGDAT is the abbreviation of Engineering Data. The ENGDAT format is widely used as a standard form for transmissions of technical data. It is not used for commercial data.

Currently there are three versions of ENGDAT available. They are not compatible to each other. All three version of ENGDAT are supported by !MC5. Because of the lack of compatibility both parties have to agree to one version. Version 1 is still the most common version of ENGDAT.

!MC5 supports the receiving of files in ENGDAT format as well as the sending of files in this format.

The ENGDAT-format

ENGDAT can be seen as an envelope for files. Additional information regarding sender, receiver, file type, etc. can be included in the transmission. ENGDAT uses a naming convention for files which identifies each set of files uniquely. A small file is added to the set of files which is called the ENGDAT abstract file. It contains the additional information. Because ENGDAT includes several mechanisms for forwarding major companies use it to route the file internally. This enables you to address a single employee directly.

Example

ENG04081216355400000003001

ENG04081216355400000003002

ENG04081216355400000003003

In this example two user files (...002 and ..003) are sent with ENGDAT. The first file (ENG04081216355400000003001) contains only information about sender, receiver and the two files. The naming of the files indicates ENGDAT which needs further processing. The filenames also a include a timestamp which identifies this set of files uniquely. In this example it is August, 12th 2004, 16:35:54 (...040821163554...).