DAT

Status

Field	Value
Extension(s)	.dat
Common ecosystem	Barudan lead
Format family	Machine-specific lead
Satin Studio status	Researching
Open / import	No
Export	No
Confidence	Low-medium.

What it is

DAT is tracked as a Barudan embroidery format lead. The .dat extension is very broad outside embroidery, so Satin Studio should not infer embroidery content by extension alone.

Satin Studio direction

Research lead only.

Versions and variants

Unknown.

File identification notes

Reported structure includes a 256-byte header followed by unsigned x, y, control-style records.

Observed structure notes

• At least two incompatible embroidery DAT dialects are reported: Barudan-style and Sunstar-style. Do not probe DAT by extension alone.
• Barudan-style records are three bytes in control, y, x order. Bit 0x80 is expected; bit 0x20 negates X; bit 0x40 negates Y. Low five command bits match the Barudan U-series family for stitch, jump, speed, trims, stops, needle changes, and end.
• Sunstar-style records are three bytes in x, y, control order. High bits on X/Y encode signs. Observed controls include 0x07 stitch, 0x04 jump, 0x80 trim, 0x87 color change, 0x84 initialization stitch, and 0x00 end.

Structure sketch

DAT needs dialect-specific shapes:

struct BarudanDatCandidate<'a> {
    records: &'a [BarudanDatRecord],
}

struct BarudanDatRecord {
    control: u8,                       // bit 0x80 expected; 0x20 negates x; 0x40 negates y
    y: u8,
    x: u8,
}

struct SunstarDatCandidate<'a> {
    header: [u8; 0x100],
    records: &'a [SunstarDatRecord],
}

struct SunstarDatRecord {
    x_with_sign: u8,                    // high bit negates magnitude
    y_with_sign: u8,                    // high bit negates magnitude
    control: u8,
}

What we still need

Known Barudan DAT files, signatures or safe probes, and reader validation.