This week we will be examining how to use SDK functions to read and write structured “parameter-value” pairs and how they can be used to access information from menu functions. Our main example will show how to open a file in the application desktop, perform EDGAR validation and get the results.

No, they don’t actually go BOOM! Legato features both implode and explode functions that allow strings to be created from or turned into arrays of strings. There are actually a number of functions for different purposes, such as exploding formatted text or a parameter array. These functions bundle a lot of horsepower into just a few operations and when combined with other functions, they make it easy to load or write complex data.

One of the design goals of Legato was to make it easy for programmers to process and manage textual information. To that end, there are hundreds of string functions in Legato that simplify parsing and manipulating text.

Monday, November 14, 2016 is a day that some will later remember as nerve-wracking and irritating. At about quarter after 4PM, e-mail messages started being exchanged among members of the EDGAR Filing Consortium, which is an informal group of industry members from financial printers, law firms, and EDGAR software developers. These e-mails were asking if anyone was experiencing problems transmitting filings to the SEC.

This week we will examine SGML parsing in Legato with two simple scripts. Many times you may want to simply scan or parse HTML or XML in order to locate particular data or log information. At that point, the data can be modified or other operations can be performed upon it. Legato contains word parsing and a full SGML Parse object. Full SGML parsing provides for DTD (Document Type Definition or Schema) checking, error checking and recovery, multiple line tag support, writing tools, as well as many other things. It’s powerful, but it also has a steeper learning curve. The SGML Parse object will be covered in a later series of articles. For now, let’s focus on the SGML mini-parse functions.