Using Xbase Files

To facilitate the migration of Xbase applications, Recital products contain the following features:

Replaceable Database Drivers

Replaceable Database Drivers allow Xbase tables and indexes to be used in their native format. The Replaceable Database Drivers are not available on OpenVMS or 64-bit UNIX.

The Replaceable Database Drivers (RDDs) allow transparent use and creation of data and index files in the following product formats:

• dBASE3
• dBASE4
• Clipper
• FoxBase
• FoxPlus
• FoxPro
• Visual FoxPro

Use the SET FILETYPE command to set the required file type.

The Replaceable Database Drivers can be used to enable a once only transfer of data into Recital format when data and applications are being migrated from Xbase products. Each table is opened, and then copied to Recital format by ensuring that SET FILETYPE is set to Recital. They can also be used on a continuous basis where the same data tables and indexes need to be used by both Recital products and one of the Xbase products.

dbconvert | CONVERT

The dbconvert utility and the CONVERT Recital/4GL command can be used to convert binary Xbase files to Recital format and to alter the line feed character of ASCII files to the correct format for the new host platform. The dbconvert utility is available in Recital Terminal Developer; the CONVERT command can also be used with Recital server products.

SET COMPATIBLE

The SET COMPATIBLE command can be used in all Recital products to give added compatibility with Xbase dialects.

SET FILECASE

The SET FILECASE command determines whether references to file and directory names on UNIX and Linux are case-sensitive. If SET FILECASE is OFF, all file and directory names are treated as lower case. If SET FILECASE is ON, file and directory names are case-sensitive. For full details, please see the main entry in the SET COMMANDS documentation.

compat.db

The first time you start Recital Terminal Developer, or at any subsequent startup when the compat.db file does not exist in the Recital Terminal Developer home directory, you will be prompted to select the Language and Database compatibility settings. These correspond to the SET COMPATIBLE and SET FILETYPE settings and once saved are written to the compat.db file, which will be run every time Recital Terminal Developer is started. The following choices are available:

• Recital
• Visual FoxPro
• FoxPro
• FoxBase
• dBASE IV
• dBase 3
• Clipper 5
• Clipper ’87

The settings dialog can be redisplayed by issuing the SET COMPATIBLE command with no ON, OFF or TO clause.

fox

Calling Recital Terminal Developer with the fox script will automatically SET FILETYPE TO FOXPRO and SET COMPATIBLE TO FOXPRO. This can also be achieved by passing the –f argument to the db script.