Your goal here is to get record counts in each of the boxes on the left. You want to see numbers kind of like these ( they may / will be bigger by the time you see this program and run it yourself ):

Read on below !!!! You can :

A ) Click 'Update all tables' ( leaving all the 'get current file' boxes checked ), and come back in 3 or so hours It makes a good overnight run. Although you can continue using your computer while it's running, it will be very VERY slow until the update is done. It will download the files and update the database. OR you can

B ) Click 'Get selected files' now ( ~ 2 minutes on broadband, more on dial-up ), and do the updates later, either by 'update all' ( with the 'get current file' boxes un-checked'), or individual tables with each button. OR you can

C ) Click any individual table with 'Get current files' checked, to get that file from WWW.FEC.GOV and update that table.

Once you've done the inital load, you can stay current weekly on any given table by selecting that button. If you are consistent on updating the Contributions file ( the big slow one )with Add / Change / Delete ( the bottom button ), you won't have to get the Master again. If you miss a week or whatever - just go get the Master ( Individual Contributions ) again. No biggy.

File stats are in the folder /Stats, and documentation on layouts, formats, keys, codes, etc is in /Docs and /Format Dictionaries.

Depending on your computer's speed, FECTOOL will update ~ 750,000 records per hour ( typical on an older desktop like mine ) into the database. Updates of small tables like Candidates and Committees take ~ 30 seconds, a full master build of Contributions may take an hour or two. Updates to Contributions, using the FEC files for Add, Change, and Delete, take much less time ( after the one-time master load is done ). After doing a full 'Contributions Master load' 2 hour run, your computer may seem a bit slow, due to it's little buffers being rather tired and full. If you had to move over 1,000,000 records from a website to a database, you'd be tired, too ! Time ( as Windows manages memory, things will get back to normal ), or a re-boot, will cure this.

It is recommended that you run 'Help / Compact DB' after each update, to keep the MDB file size minimized.

Suggestions, bug reports, etc, are always welcome ! Send them to PJM@FourCatsConsulting.com . I am also available for custom programming work and projects.

All the 'basic user' needs to do is update each table with the buttons above, and go. Most of what follows is for the more computer-centric who wish to expand on the use of the data.

FECTOOL's FECTOOL.MDB ( MS-Access format file ) database is pre-configured, and also pre-loaded with some tables of normalization constants and some queries / indexing DDL, but does not ship with any live data. The reasons for this are several

The FEC files online are the most current available,

There is no point in me allocating bandwidth and storage to distribute data files that may be out of date, and

This way you know you are not getting some redacted or edited file influenced by me.

It is entirely possible to use FECTOOL as the data acquisition agent to load the DB, and then 'go from there' with your own interface in whatever platform ( Access, Excel, MS-SQL, VB, ASP, PHP, CF, ADO, ODBC, etc ) you may prefer. It is also of course easy to import the updated MDB into SQL-Server, MYSQL, etc with a T-SQL, DTS or other script. This is all encouraged ! If I've helped 'free up the data' for other developers, this is a Good Thing ( TM ) !

To facilitate use of the FECTOOL.MDB data, I have moved most of the SQL and T/JET-SQL to Access Queries ( instead of inline in VB ), to make it even more accessible to third parties. I have kept the SQL very simple and granular, on purpose. Certainly more complex queries can be written by anyone who cares to. Any constructs of Joins, etc, that are normally allowed by MS-ACCESS can be used. Normalization is that provided by the FEC ( as extracted by me from their documentation ). The normalizing one-to-many tables will be self-explanatory by name.

The FECTOOL database currently ( in March 08 ) takes about 600 MB. That will grow, of course. Add in the source data files, and room for compacting ( which equals the database size, for a temporary copy ), and you should plan on having at least 2 gig free disk space to devote to this data, and, of course, as much memory as possible ( 256 mb minimum ).

1024 x 768 or higher resolution display

The FEC makes 8 ZIP'd data files available for each election cycle, as follows:

http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/ftpdet.shtml#a2007_2008 ( link is also a menu item )

These zip files contain ASCII text files ending in *.dta, and they are fixed-length 'COBOL-STYLE' files. The FEC provides detailed documentation on each one, at the website made available via the Links menu options. Sizes will of course grow with time. These documetns are included with this distro, in the sub-folders.

cm08.zip - ~ 134 KB zipped, unzips file foiacn.dta to ~ 2.5 MB Committee Master File ~ 30 seconds table load time, ~ 9,500 records

cn08.zip - ~ 180 KB zipped, unzips file foiacn.dta to ~ 500 KB Candidate Master File ~ 10 seconds table load time, ~ 3,500 records

indiv08.zip - ~ 35 MB zipped, unzips file itcont.dta to ~ 177 MB Contributions by Individuals

add08.zip - Adds to "Contributions by Individuals" since last master update of indiv08.zip

chg08.zip - Changes to "Contributions by Individuals" since last master update of indiv08.zip

delete08.zip - Deletes to "Contributions by Individuals" since last master update of indiv08.zip

pas208.zip - Contributions to Candidates (and other expenditures) from Committees

oth08.zip - Any Transaction from One Committee to Another

F:\FEC\program\FECTOOLAUTORUN.bat