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- Newsgroups: comp.databases
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!cs.utexas.edu!convex!egsner!adaptex!sdf!labamba
- From: labamba@sdf.lonestar.org (Peter Steiger)
- Subject: Re: Looking for DBF & Clipper index format...
- Message-ID: <C0o610.nL@sdf.lonestar.org>
- Organization: sdf public access Unix, Dallas -- 214-436-3281
- References: <1993Jan8.024856.9610@news.ysu.edu>
- Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 03:07:47 GMT
- Lines: 30
-
- > I would like to know where I can find some documentation on the
- > format of DBase3++ files. Furthermore, and here's the *real*
- > wish-list part, I need to know enough information to access
- > Clipper index files (.NTX).
-
- Jon,
-
- Six months ago, you would have been out of luck, but as I understand it,
- the new Clipper release will provide MUCH more information about file structures
- for the sake of Replaceable Database Driver vendors. For the time being, though, good luck.
-
-
- One company, SuccessWare, wanted to write an improved index driver for Clipper
- and requested information on the database/index format. They were stonewalled
- and eventually had to reverse-engineer the work themselves. The result was
- an INCREDIBLE improvement (they followed FoxPro's index format, which is much
- more efficient). This little anecdote doesn't help you much, but explains
- how hard it is to get .NTX information from CA (formerly Nantucket).
-
- Why do you need to have low-level file layouts? Your best bet would be to
- write your export routine in Clipper (or Fox, or Force...), compile it into
- an .EXE, and call it from your mailmerge application. Or am I missing something?
-
- As for recommended libraries, I can't give enough praise to Successware's
- DBFSIX driver. Among other things, it provides Foxpro-compatible index files,
- lets you store multiple index keys in one file (the "condensed" index),
- and has optimized queries (the "mach six" driver). Who knows--- maybe they'd
- even be more cooperative about low-level file formats, after all they went
- through!
-
-