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From: Jeffrey Needle on 15 Jul 2010 19:05
H-Man wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:17:03 -0700, Jeffrey Needle wrote:
>
>> Man-wai Chang wrote:
>>> On 7/15/2010 12:33, Jeffrey Needle wrote:
>>>> Does anyone know of a freeware app that will let me alter the structure
>>>> of a dbase IV file without owning the dBase product?
>>>
>>> 1. Remember to BACK UP the file FIRST!!
>>> 2. Google "modistru.exe"
>>> 3. ODBC is free!
>>> 4. google "freeware modify dbase structure"
>>>
>>
>> Sigh.
>>
>> Mass response to all. Tried all the suggestions -- nothing works. I'm
>> trying to use the data in Softmaker Office and it seems to require
>> dBaseIV format files for its database. All of these programs open the
>> dBase files, but produce a file not readable by Softmaker.
>>
>> Thanks to all. I'll continue searching.
>
> Jeffry,
> I've SO 2006. PlanMaker should open a .dbf file and allow access to the
> data anyway. I've not tried it so I can't verify results.
>

Now there's an idea!

I just tried it, and by using various manipulations, managed to bring in
the dbf data, and then used one of the other apps offered in this thread
to make the changes and save the data back. It worked!

My greatest thanks to you for this thought, and to all who helped in
this effort.

From: B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson on 16 Jul 2010 12:16
On Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:05:51 -0700, Jeffrey Needle wrote:

> by using various manipulations, managed to bring in the dbf data, and
> then used one of the other apps offered in this thread to make the
> changes and save the data back. It worked!

Although I'd like to say "Congratulations!" for your success, reading
all your old and new posts in this thread, I'm more and more at loss,
what you wanted to accomplish in the first place. (And why you did
not have been successful, earlier.)

Softmaker 2006 (Planmaker *and* Textmaker) reads /any/ version of dBase,
that supports memo fields (i.e.: dBase III, IV and 5 - all tested with
files containing memo fields). Planmaker also writes dBase files.
Planmaker also reads and writes *.csv, tab-separated and other textual
database files. (Among a couple of other database/calc formats.) Softmaker
Office does /not/ read (Visual) Foxpro files (which also come with the
extension *.dbf), though.

DbfNavigator reads and writes any of the above formats. So if you have
(for instance) a Foxpro *.dbf, which will not open with Softmaker Office,
then open the file in dbfNavigator and save it to dBase IV or the like.

With DbfTools, you can modify the structure of any *.dbf mentioned
above (memo fields or not), including Foxpro, but excluding Visual
Foxpro files. (This format is too new for DbfTools, while dBase 5 files,
OTOH, should be fine, again.)

So you should have been successful without huge detours. For later use
I'd suggest to identify the source of your problems. Else you may run
into them over and over again. Chances are, that your original database
is damaged. If this is the case, the export->change->import cycle
*may* have repaired it. But there *may* as well be data missing or
damaged.

Btw.: After a step like exporting and re-importing the data I always
found it mandatory to check the result for charset problems. The *.dbf
export and import filters are especially prone to creating mess with
charsets... :-(

Best wishes.
BeAr
--
===========================================================================
= What do you mean with: "Perfection is always an illusion"? =
===============================================================--(Oops!)===
From: Jeffrey Needle on 17 Jul 2010 01:05
> Although I'd like to say "Congratulations!" for your success, reading
> all your old and new posts in this thread, I'm more and more at loss,
> what you wanted to accomplish in the first place. (And why you did
> not have been successful, earlier.)
>

Snipping the rest of the post...

Good questions. Here is my experience.

When you create a dBase-compatible file and try to open it in Softmaker
Office, there can be unexpected problems. Specifically, I use several
date-oriented fields in a csv file that are not formatted as dates. I
often need to include other data than a simple date. I use a simple
text field and insert dates into that field. Programs that convert from
csv to dbase look at field names (first row in the csv file), see the
word Date, and format the field as a date. This is precisely *not* what
I want. Additionally, memo fields are difficult to manage using the csv
format.

These are the kinds of difficulties I've encountered with Softmaker. If
they had a simple csv file import, it would likely never have been a
problem.

Thanks for the help.
From: Man-wai Chang on 17 Jul 2010 04:28
> Mass response to all. Tried all the suggestions -- nothing works. I'm
> trying to use the data in Softmaker Office and it seems to require
> dBaseIV format files for its database. All of these programs open the
> dBase files, but produce a file not readable by Softmaker.

Do you know Clipper (a xBase compiler)? It got a new life here.

http://www.harbour-project.org

But I suppose you were not a programmer... :)

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From: B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson on 17 Jul 2010 09:26
On Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:05:00 -0700, Jeffrey Needle wrote:

> When you create a dBase-compatible file and try to open it in Softmaker
> Office, there can be unexpected problems. [...]

Hm. Although most tests I ran through Softmaker worked out fine, you
may have specialities in your data, that don't come out so well with
that Office suite.

Maybe you switch to Open Office? At least, you'd have access to OO Base,
then, which permits direct change of the structure of dBase files. These
steps are necessary:
- Select "Connect to an existing database: dBase"
- Choose the Path where your *.dbf file(s) reside(s)
Options: it is not necessary to register the database with OO, but it
should be opened for editing and tables will /not/ be created with
table wizard
- Choose the name for an *.odb file, which acts as a wrapper for the
access to your *.dbf
- Select <Tables> from the database main bar and select the *.dbf file,
whose structure shall be changed inside the [Tables] window
- Select <Edit -> Edit...> from menu
- Highlight the fields you wish to change and edit "Field type" and/or
Field Properties
- New fields can only be *appended* at the end of the field list (you
can create any type of dBase fields, including date and memo)
- Close the Window and save the changes when prompted
Done. ;-)

> Thanks for the help.

No problem. It is nice to come up-to-date with these tools, again.
Since I have lots of payware and some self-written stuff for xBase
at hands, freeware xBase programs get out of focus from time to time.
;-)

BeAr
--
===========================================================================
= What do you mean with: "Perfection is always an illusion"? =
===============================================================--(Oops!)===
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