The Import command of the File menu allows you to read project data saved in ASCII files with a version of the Spiral program earlier than 4.0, created with the Spiral Export command, or created manually outside the Spiral program with an ASCII editor.
Starting with version 4.0 of the Spiral program, the Project Data File is a binary file that can no longer be viewed or manipulated outside the Spiral program. Use the Open command to read project data files created with the Save command of version 4.0 or higher of Spiral. The default extension for Spiral project files is .spiral, the default extension for the Spiral project files of previous versions or exported data files is .dat.
The command then displays the Open dialog window, which is illustrated in Figure 5.4. The program will read the corresponding Project Data File (*.dat) and Department Data File (*.dep).
The Project Data File and the Department Data File can be created with any text editor or word processor capable of generating pure ASCII files or with the Export command. Since word processors usually insert special formatting codes into their regular document files, which cannot be read by the Spiral program, special care should be taken when using a word processor to generate a pure ASCII file. The project data file also should not contain any blank lines. Once these input files have been created, they can be used repeatedly by the Spiral program.