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XBase and DBD::XBase
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This is the README file for the XBase and DBD::XBase packages for work
with *.dbf files. Please read it if you install this module for the
first time or if there are any problems with the module.
What is this module for:
Module XBase provides access to XBase (dBase, Fox*) dbf files.
It also handles memo files (dbt, fpt) and to certain extend
index files (ndx, ntx, mdx, idx and cdx). The DBD::XBase is
a database driver for DBI and provides simple SQL interface for
reading and writing the database files. So this package offers
two ways of accessing your beloved data in dbf files: XBase.pm
and DBD::XBase. I recommend using DBD::XBase and only resort
to XBase.pm if you need something special which is not
supported by the DBI interface.
You do not need any other servers/software, these modules
directly read and write the dbf (and other) files. The main
goal was to create a parser, mainly to work with data from
your legacy applications. If you are looking for something
more powerfull, check real relation database servers, such as
Oracle, MySQL or PostgreSQL.
How does the code look like:
The DBI (DBD::XBase) way of doing things is
use DBI;
my $dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:XBase:/directory',
undef, undef, { RaiseError => 1 });
my $data = $dbh->selectall_arrayref(q!
select * from table
!);
which is the same as would be with any other database.
Remember, this is only a simple parser, so no joins or
subselecects are supported.
If you want to use the base XBase.pm interface, you'd use code
like
use XBase;
my $table = new XBase 'table.dbf';
my @data = $table->get_record(0);
The distribution also includes a dbfdump script that prints
the content of the table in readable form.
Index support:
The support for ndx/ntx/idx/mdx/cdx index files still needs
quite a lot of work. It currently allows you to search
directly to the record you want, using the
prepare_select_with_index method of the XBase table object.
But you cannot create the index, nor is the index updated
when you change the dbf. Check the XBase::Index(3) man page
and the eg/ directory for how you can help to make it better.
Recently, support for SDBM index files was added. I hope to
make it a fully working and reference implementation before
attacking the world of undocumented mess of XBase index types
again.
Support, documentation:
This module is provided in a hope you might find it useful.
My intent is to support as many variations of formats as
possible, but I do not have dBase/Fox* and do not plan to
have, so send me examples of your data files if you feel your
native XBase engines produce data incompatible with this
module.
Man pages for XBase, DBD::XBase, dbfdump, XBase::Index and
XBase::SDBM are included, examples of little scripts can also
be found in eg/ directory of the distribution. Read the DBI
man page for DBI specific issues, and the XBase::FAQ page.
Installation:
For installation and problem and bug reporting, please read
the INSTALL file.
If it works for you:
I'd appreciate any message if you use the module and find it
usefull -- I'm just curious what tasks people use the module
for and what they expect from it. You can of course also send
something more valuable.
Available:
http://www.adelton.com/perl/DBD-XBase/ and from your favorite
CPAN site in the authors/id/JANPAZ/ directory.
Contact the author at jpx dash perl at adelton dot com.
Copyright: (c) 1997--2011 Jan Pazdziora.
All rights reserved. This package is free software; you can
redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl
itself.
