Clipper application to work with .dbc files

[AndrewMozley]

I have an accounting application which I am converting from Clipper to VFP9, and will probably keep the tables in a database container.

I have, however, another Clipper application (order processing) which makes use of some tables in the first application; I do not plan to re-write this application at present.

Is there any way that I can modify my SOP application so that it can work with the tables of the accounting application stored in the new format?

Thanks.

 

[GriffMG]

I think that VFP tables in a dbcontainer woul be unreadable by Clipper.

Also, you would need to think about index files... and memo fields

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

 

[mspratt]

Hi Andrew,

To access the tables from VFP and Clipper you have to keep them as Free Tables. The header is changed when you add them to a DBC and clipper will stop recognizing them as Not a Database. I am currently porting clipper apps to xHarbour to use compound indexes that are supported by VFP. I will still be able to access the tables from clipper but I will have to be especially careful that my clipper apps only read from the tables. Clipper and VFP don't use the same indexes and they don't honor each other's record and file locks.

Regards,

Mike

 

[jcarls]

I went through a process of moving a set of Clipper applications to VFP a while back, and found that the best approach was to keep the applications separate, but use the standard xBase format as a communications medium for transactions between them. I don't know if that will help your specific situation, but using VFP's COPY TO...FOXPLUS option along with Clipper's native dbf format allowed me to send updates between the modules with ease. Even now, the company has some Clipper trend analysis engines that have never been converted because there is simply no need to. Your main challenge will be to set up a system that generates the key values that tie these parts together in only one place. If you can do that, the new application can keep what are essentially duplicate tables in the order processing system in synch with the masters (it may still require some work in the old app to force it to update its tables, but that's hardly "re-writing" it).

Jim Carls