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1990-02-15
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HEADFIX
December 1989
Erik A McBeth
DOCUMENTATION FOR HEADFIX
What is it?
HEADFIX is a new incarnation of NEWHEAD.COM. NEWHEAD.COM
was a utility designed to help repair damaged dBase file
headers by copying over a corrupt header with a fresh, new
one. HEADFIX accomplishes this same task but adds
additional features such as dBase II compatibility and
estimation of record count. HEADFIX CAN ONLY REPAIR DAMAGE
TO THE HEADER, DATA IS UNAFFECTED!! IF YOUR DATA WAS
CORRUPT BEFORE HEADFIX IS RUN THEN IT WILL BE CORRUPT AFTER
HEADFIX IS RUN.
When would I use it?
Primarily in those cases when dBase returns the error
message "Not a dBase database" when you try to use your
database file. This message is returned because dBase
checks the first few bytes of the file to double-check that
it is in fact using a dBase file and not a file from some
other product. If it doesn't find the information it's
looking for it assumes you're trying to use some foreign
file. When we replace the header with a new one we of
course set those special bytes back to the proper values
that dBase requires.
How do I use it?
What you'll need is a database file which has the exact
structure (fields, etc.) of your damaged file. If you do
not have a copy of the header you might have to run a
utility called HEADXTRK first. The header/structure of this
file will simply replace the header of the bad file.
BECAUSE YOU ARE DEALING WITH CORRUPT FILES YOU SHOULD RUN
CHKDSK /F BEFORE RUNNING HEADFIX OR HEADXTRK. The command
you would enter from DOS would look something like this:
HEADFIX badfile goodfile ?
'Badfile' and 'goodfile' would be the names of your database
files and the '?' tells HEADFIX to guess at the number of
records in 'badfile.dbf.' You could also specify the number
of records instead of using the '?.'
HEADFIX ERROR MESSAGES
Unable to allocate memory for header record
There was not enough RAM in the system to allocate memory
for HEADFIX.
Unable to find file info on ->
HEADFIX could not find the size of the bad file.
Unable to open ->
Couldn't find or open a file. Make sure you give the full
path name and extension to the good and bad file. Also make
sure that the output file is not READ ONLY.
Unable to read header from ->
Unable to read header length from ->
The good file is either empty or not a dBase database.
Unable to seek BOF of ->
Couldn't find the beginning of the good file.
Unable to write header to ->
Either the output file is read-only or some other read/write
error occurred.
WARNING - Estimate of dBase II records may be set too high
Because dBase II saves files in multiples of 512 bytes,
HEADFIX's estimate of the number of records will probably be
high.
WARNING - Number of records may be set too high
Your estimate of the number of records is greater than
HEADFIX's.
WARNING - Number of records may be set too low
Your estimate of the number of records is smaller than
HEADFIX's. It is better to guess high than to guess low.