[REBOL] Re: dbase files under rebol ???
From: petr:krenzelok:trz:cz at: 16-Oct-2003 12:32
Tim Johnson wrote:
>* Gregg Irwin <[greggirwin--mindspring--com]> [031015 15:18]:
>
>>Hi Ronald,
>>
>>r> Is it possible to work with .dbf files under REBOL ??
>>
>>Like Petr, I've only seen a couple REBOL script implementations that
>>do some basics. For real work, Command might be your best bet.
>>
>>
>
> The dbf file format is a known (and fairly simple) layout.
> I once did a project with C using raw file I/O on dbf files.
> And example of .dbf layout is at
> http://www.geocities.com/geoff_wass/dBASE/GaryWhite/dBASE/FAQ/qformt.htm
>
> Given this information, one *should* be able to parse a .dbf file
> on a binary port with just rebol/core.
>
> Just don't do a skip in a port open in binary. RT hasn't
> fixed that one yet.
>
I think it is possible, but I would not use such solution. First, as you
said - open/skip is buggy for 3 years at least and I really don't
understand RT not fixing the problem. Second - once there are index
files involved, memo files etc., shared db access, things start to
complicate and I would warn from trying to change some data in database
that raw way :-) For some basic data extraction simple parser aproach
should work, but - I use 50MB databases, almost two hunderds of
collumns, relations, etc. :-) Command + /ODBC is good value here, really ...
-pekr-
