Old Foxpro database

[Topkapi]

Hi There
I've been asked by the management of our small company to recover the data from a backup of an old Foxpro database that they have recently decided contains some data they need.( A DB of which I have no previous experience). The old PC that this ran on was ditched long ago!

They can't remember other details which might help although I gather this was definitely a Windows version.

Does anyone know what would be the best tools to accomplish this which would not involve us buying various version of Foxpro before we discover which one will work.

Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[rob444]

If it is an old version use foxpro 2.6a.
That will work OK.

Rob.

 

[JRB-Bldr]

Depending on what you want to do with the data there are some alternatives.

As Rob suggests, the best option would be to use Foxpro.

A second alternative would be to use Excel which can open DBF files for reading. Note - many times these data "conversions" result in "modified" data formats, etc., but typically most of the data is most often readable.

There are other "generic" database "readers" which will enable a user without Foxpro to view database contents. Search this forum to find links to some of the referenced products.

Good Luck,


JRB-Bldr
VisionQuest Consulting
Business Analyst & CIO Consulting Services
CIOServices@yahoo.com

 

[DSummZZZ]

Does anyone know what would be the best tools to accomplish this which would not involve us buying various version of Foxpro before we discover which one will work.

In answer to that question, the .dbf format hasn't really changed all that much over the years/versions. Index files though are a different story.
The .dbf's you have will most like be able to be read just fine with any version of FoxPro from 2.5 and up. And as long as you are not concerned with updating them at this point in time, the associated indexes won't even come into play.
If your company is willing to purchase VFP at this time to retrieve the data, you won't have any compatability issues with reading the files.

-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.davesummers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[rob444]

Another question is to what format the old databases have to be converted to?

If you specify that perhaps I can help.
That way you do not have to buy any software.

Rob.

 

[cricket]

Make a safety backup of all the files first.

Use Excel to open
File->open
Set 'Files of Type' selection box to dbf

This will allow you to see the data- excluding memo fields. My experience of people's requirement to access old data is that they think there is gold in the file but are usually disappointed. You may not need to process the data further

 

[Topkapi]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think I'll try the low cost option ( Excel ) first and see how that goes. It may very well be that on viewing the data it will not seem worth the cost of Foxpro.

I'll keep you posted!

 

[Stella740pl]

Keep in mind, though, that if tables are large, they may not fit completely into Excel. Depending on Excel version, number of records Excel can open can be approximately 16K or 64K, the rest will be truncated. Of course, it's enough to take a look at the data, but if you decide you actually going to use it, you might need a more powerful solution.