DBF
[1/12] from: rebolek:seznam:cz at: 1-Nov-2001 19:57
Hello,
is there some DBF reader or parser or something like that?
Thanks, ReBolek
[2/12] from: tim:johnsons-web at: 1-Nov-2001 10:12
On Thu, Nov 01, 2001 at 07:57:58PM +0100, [rebolek--seznam--cz] wrote:
> Hello,
>
> is there some DBF reader or parser or something like that?
Hello ReBolek:
Sorry. Don't have an immediate answer for that one... I bet
that you will get some answers soon though.
If you don't - that's one I actually need to work up
myself - and I was planning on doing so by following
C
code that I have used a long time ago .......
> Thanks, ReBolek
I'm curious... If (and only if) it is appropriate, may
you tell us why the need to read DBF with rebol?
Mine needs would have to do with data imported in and out of
MS-Access.
regards
Tim
[3/12] from: olivier:auverlot:ac-lille at: 1-Nov-2001 20:33
Hi,
You can find a powerfull DBF explorer on the french site :
rebolfrance.multimania.com.
Regards
Olivier :-)
---- Messages dŽorigine ----
De: [rebolek--seznam--cz]
Date: Jeudi, Novembre 1, 2001 7:57 pm
Objet: [REBOL] DBF
> Hello,
> is there some DBF reader or parser or something like that?
<<quoted lines omitted: 3>>
> [rebol-request--rebol--com] with "unsubscribe" in the
> subject, without the quotes.
NTMail K12 - the Mail Server for Education
[4/12] from: petr:krenzelok:trz:cz at: 1-Nov-2001 20:54
Tim Johnson wrote:
>On Thu, Nov 01, 2001 at 07:57:58PM +0100, [rebolek--seznam--cz] wrote:
>>Hello,
<<quoted lines omitted: 13>>
>Mine needs would have to do with data imported in and out of
>MS-Access.
MS-Access is crap :-)
Well, .dbf format is database format I grow up with. Starting with DBASE
II many years ago, switching to Clipper (I am glad for it, as MS FoxPro
is/was child's toy back at that time, while Clipper offered powerfull
preprocessor, code block evaluation, RDD - replaceable database drivers,
later also replaceable gui drivers, but Clipper 5.3 was dead end, and
Computer Associates just wanted users to migrate to Windows Visual
Objects - that's the product we use here)
native index format for .dbf was .NTX It was not powerfull enough, so
there were also other index format. E.g. native FoxPro - .cdx - the most
used one, or also SixDriver .NSX format. Later company behind the
SixDriver product leaved VO and released Apollo for Delphi. But there
were also othe companies and index format, s MTX etc., etc. It was
beaufty of RDD system, and just case of one include in your app, and you
could switch to much more powerfull solution. Shame on MS, shame on
FoxPro! It's a crap from designer's pov.
I have full .DBF header description, so you could build native Rebol
driver. I was looking into it. But you will have to solve many
incompatibilities between various formats. I already looked at it some
time ago. I think it is not worth the effort. If you can, buy yourself
/Pro license, and go with some libraries. But then of course you lose
cross-platform compatibility. There should be no problem of getting odbc
drivers for dbf, but then we are talking 350 USD /Command price level.
There is few tools/viewers to work with .dbf, very advanced ones. .DBF
is however supported also by Excel, and natively supported by languages
as Delphi, VO, Clipper, FoxPro, VB (IIRC, maybe indirectly), etc.
My fried once laughed at me using .dbf. Well - we have 50MB beasts here
- 128 or more collumns, 100K rows, and it still performs good enough.
However - once you want to get to shared dbase app, better forget data
integrity and speed. You will be probably better with some free or not
so expensive SQL solutions - mySQL (lacking transactions, and so not
suitable for us), or PostGres SQL.
We use Novell Netware here however, and we wanted to stick with .dbf -
as we have many supporting apps here. We found very efficient and
powerfull database server for .dbfs - it is called Advantage Databse
Server (http://www.advantagedatabase.com ), and comes from Extended
Systems (IIRC Palm wanted to buy them before they went into financial
troubles). We haven't believed success stories, such as Disney doing
some 2mil recs daily succesfully using it, but we now fully believe in
performance/price ratio ... verey good product, but of course far from
being free ...
If you still seek for Rebol native db, maybe there is some place for it,
but then - it should be one script, using clear api. But be carefull,
once you will be ready with your driver, you will want to add other and
other features, and solution will become slow, possibly buggy and
bloated, while still missing features as transaction support, etc.
So, - think before you throw months of development thru the window.
Today I would probably go with free and still improving mySQL database,
supported thru various platforms, and free DocKimbel's mysql scheme. It
will allow to concentrate on Rebol stuff, rather then reinventing the
wheel. If you want Rebol solution - stick with plain text files, or
something along the Elan's dbm engine (I don't know if it is still
available though).
Maybe something better could be thought of, but Holger mentioned some
time ago there will be new port type, suitable for
opened-file-operations. So, Holger, should ppl wait for it? (in your
port description, it was mentioned as last, not yet implemented port
type ...)
-pekr-
[5/12] from: tim:johnsons-web at: 1-Nov-2001 11:00
On Thu, Nov 01, 2001 at 08:33:07PM +0100, AUVERLOT Olivier wrote:
> Hi,
>
> You can find a powerfull DBF explorer on the french site :
> rebolfrance.multimania.com.
>
> Regards
> Olivier :-)
Hi Olivier:
I tried to access that site and got the following error message:
Fatal error: Unable to open index.php in Unknown on line 0
Tim
> ---- Messages dŽorigine ----
> De: [rebolek--seznam--cz]
<<quoted lines omitted: 16>>
> [rebol-request--rebol--com] with "unsubscribe" in the
> subject, without the quotes.
--
Tim Johnson <[tim--johnsons-web--com]>
http://www.johnsons-web.com
[6/12] from: tim:johnsons-web at: 1-Nov-2001 11:13
Hi pekr:
On Thu, Nov 01, 2001 at 08:54:06PM +0100, Petr Krenzelok wrote:
> >
> >Mine needs would have to do with data imported in and out of
> >MS-Access.
> >
And small needs they are....
> MS-Access is crap :-)
Hahahaha! I bet we could exchange war stories on THAT matter!
............
> supported thru various platforms, and free DocKimbel's mysql scheme. It
DocKimbel is my db God right now!
> will allow to concentrate on Rebol stuff, rather then reinventing the
> wheel. If you want Rebol solution - stick with plain text files, or
> something along the Elan's dbm engine (I don't know if it is still
> available though).
Is "The Official Guide" out-of-print? That would be sad.
If so, I have it and source on CD.
Regards
--
Tim Johnson <[tim--johnsons-web--com]>
http://www.johnsons-web.com
[7/12] from: olivier:auverlot:ac-lille at: 1-Nov-2001 21:22
Hi Tim,
Try again ... It would be ok.
Regards
Olivier :-)
---- Messages dŽorigine ----
De: Tim Johnson <[tim--johnsons-web--com]>
Date: Jeudi, Novembre 1, 2001 9:00 pm
Objet: [REBOL] Re: DBF
> On Thu, Nov 01, 2001 at 08:33:07PM +0100, AUVERLOT Olivier wrote:
> > Hi,
<<quoted lines omitted: 39>>
> [rebol-request--rebol--com] with "unsubscribe" in the
> subject, without the quotes.
NTMail K12 - the Mail Server for Education
[8/12] from: james:mustard at: 2-Nov-2001 9:37
> MS-Access is crap :-)
Not so - for its intended purpose there is nothing as rapid that I have
found on the market and thats in 8 years of database development.
Sure its sucks in a few areas but I have yet to see a better IDE for a
database system.
Have you seen Access XP?
> There is few tools/viewers to work with .dbf, very advanced ones. .DBF
> is however supported also by Excel, and natively supported by languages
> as Delphi, VO, Clipper, FoxPro, VB (IIRC, maybe indirectly), etc.
>
VB Support for .pdf is third party only. ;-)
> However - once you want to get to shared dbase app, better forget data
> integrity and speed. You will be probably better with some free or not
> so expensive SQL solutions - mySQL (lacking transactions, and so not
> suitable for us), or PostGres SQL.
>
MySQL since version 3.23 has supported transactions if you use the InnoDB
table format. Transaction support is guarenteed from mySQL 4.0 up (still in
alpha)
Regards,
James
[9/12] from: petr::krenzelok::trz::cz at: 1-Nov-2001 22:11
James Marsden wrote:
>>MS-Access is crap :-)
>>
<<quoted lines omitted: 3>>
>database system.
>Have you seen Access XP?
No, I don't use such tools at all. I remember Access as opponent to
Lotus Aproach. But - problem is, that I prefer stand-alone apps, not
some installed bloated IDEs, with run-time support. I remember few years
ago one customer leaving VO in favor of Access. Well, we laughed on the
other end of phone - as those were the ppl calling themselves profi
programmers ;-)
Of course you can do many things with Aproach. But I somehow hate to use
predefined templates. I don't like Windows dependency too. I mean -
dependency upon product behavior - can you catch events in Aproach, so
that enter or arrows will allow you to move between the fields and
buttons, esc leaves screen, enter on browse enters form, etc.? I always
have to laough, once I see primitive browser, featuring VCR like buttons
for mouse click to go one record down, one record up, etc., as from user
perspective, it is completyl nonsense ...
Maybe I am just too much concentrated on "heavy" database stuff, where
each unwanted user interaction with UI denerves our users ...
>>There is few tools/viewers to work with .dbf, very advanced ones. .DBF
>>is however supported also by Excel, and natively supported by languages
>>as Delphi, VO, Clipper, FoxPro, VB (IIRC, maybe indirectly), etc.
>>
>VB Support for .pdf is third party only. ;-)
>
PDF? I was not talking pdf :-)
>>However - once you want to get to shared dbase app, better forget data
>>integrity and speed. You will be probably better with some free or not
<<quoted lines omitted: 4>>
>table format. Transaction support is guarenteed from mySQL 4.0 up (still in
>alpha)
I know about it. I just contacted my friend heavily using both
solutions, and he still prefers postGress. I recomended him to look at
alpha mySQL 4.0 and he told me it is sometimes unstable, and reading
thru docs you could find things like "if this doesn't work, try to
comment this .." etc. stuff ...
But I agree, that in many cases, mySQL is great dbms ...
btw: as for Linux, you could probably even try Sybase 11 or so, - it is
free, and features e.g. stored procedures ... (or so I was told)
as for Rebol, it would be good if mySQL or any other database could be
run from one .exe with some parameters (path to databases, configs), to
be portable without installation :-)
-pekr-
[10/12] from: james:mustard at: 2-Nov-2001 10:22
> >>There is few tools/viewers to work with .dbf, very advanced ones. .DBF
> >>is however supported also by Excel, and natively supported by languages
<<quoted lines omitted: 3>>
> >
> PDF? I was not talking pdf :-)
heh - think i had just read one to many pdf articles on the maillist and my
poor overstressed brain said DBF: PDF .. ;-)
James
[11/12] from: ralph:abooks at: 1-Nov-2001 16:35
on the other hand, as a publisher with tons of PDFs to keep track of, I
could use a good REBOL-manipulated PDF DBF.
PDQ.
<g>
--Ralph
[12/12] from: tim:johnsons-web at: 1-Nov-2001 14:29
On Thu, Nov 01, 2001 at 09:22:57PM +0100, AUVERLOT Olivier wrote:
> Hi Tim,
>
> Try again ... It would be ok.
>
> Regards
> Olivier :-)
Hi Olivier:
Aha! It's there. What a great looking site!
But alas, I am handicapped by being language
challenged. (Can't read French, don't see an English
option) My loss, I'm afraid, because it looks like
it has much offer.
Regards
Tim
> ---- Messages dŽorigine ----
> De: Tim Johnson <[tim--johnsons-web--com]>
<<quoted lines omitted: 51>>
> [rebol-request--rebol--com] with "unsubscribe" in the
> subject, without the quotes.
--
Tim Johnson <[tim--johnsons-web--com]>
http://www.johnsons-web.com
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