Database corruption of dBase III files after using Clipper

[fbizzell]

I have been using dBase III Plus in connection with Clipper for over 15 years and never had this problem before. All of a sudden anytime I make changes to a data file using Clipper 5.2 the data file DBF becomes unaccessible by dBase III Plus. I get the message "Not a dBase database". I can use a Clipper program to copy the database and then I can access it but once I make any changes to the data through a clipper program it becomes unaccessible again. I am using Blinker 4.0. Any ides what might be causing this problem?

 

[BULLET]

I was told by CA support that Blinker 4.0 does not work. Move to 5.0 It works fine. I 'm not sure that is the problem but I suspect it is.

bvolz3850@aol.com

 

[fbizzell]

I am not sure what you mean by "Blinker 4 does not work". It has been working for years now and this problem only occurred after January 1, 2001 so it has something to do with the year change...a year 2001 bug that no one seems to know about....has to do with how Clipper writes the header information apparently. Thanks for your input but Blinker is not the problem.

 

[Locarno]

I recall reading during Y2K crisis that Dbase III Plus was not Y2K compliant because if any program changed the creation date in the header to a year 2000 date, Dbase III would not recognize it. I still use Dbase III Plus as a quick and dirty editor, so I was very worried, but nothing ever happened. I am still using Dbase III Plus. A possible alternative is to use Dclip from Donnay software as an editor.

 

[fbizzell]

dBase III Plus works fine on any file that was created in year 2000 and prior. The problem is with files created or changed after January 1, 2001. The problem is the way Clipper writes the header information containing the date. I have found a temporary fix...open the file using wdbu for windows, make a change that I can live with such as delete and recall a record, close the file then I came open it with dBASE III Plus again. Of course once I update the file using CLIPPER application it is unaccessible again by dBase III Plus. I wish there were some way to make the Clipper program write the header in a way that dBase III can access the file.

 

[Vic1234]

Dbase 3+ has a problem writing the header correctly after the year 2001. We wrote a program in clipper to make a change in the dbf so it updates the header so dBase can open it. I guess it is time to drop dBase and move to windows.