Converting Windows cardfile.exe files to HTML

Free Tools

This small tool lets you convert data "hijacked" in a windows cardfile.exe file into usable HTML.

Some Windows users use the simplistic cardfile.exe "database" to organize their data.

The .CRD files are in a proprietary format and cardfile has no export features. I suggest against using the limited Cardfile for any data.

The following program reads a binary .CRD file and prints the contents out as HTML, one list item per card. From the HTML it is easy to convert the data into anything you may need.

This has been tested with a "large" 1100-entry 100kbyte cardfile database.

Download DOS/Windows CRD2HTML.EXE program (about 10k), Linux static ELF x86 binary (GNU-zipped, 100k) or C source code (about 3k).

Windows Instructions
Copy this program and your cardfile files to some directory, e.g. C:\TEMP. Then start a MS-DOS prompt from the Start menu, and type:
C:
CD \TEMP
CRD2HTML file.CRD > OUTPUT.HTM

Unix Instructions
Compile the program if necessary with cc -o crd2html crd2html.c
Then run on the cardfile file as follows: ./crd2html file.crd > output.html

Notes
The program needs to have random access to the cardfile file so it has to be given to the program as the first argument and not as input.

If the tool detects any problem, it will display an "assert" error. The .CRD file may be corrupt, try transferring it again in binary mode. If the problem persists, contact us by e-mail.

Note: A different, probably newer, version of cardfile.exe exists, which supports e.g. embedding images within the cards. This tool does not currently support cardfile files from that version of cardfile.exe.

Thanks: The DOS version was compiled with a free old version of Turbo C from Borland's museum (!) web site (and it is PC-free, it was compiled on a Mac running VirtualPC).