dbf file parsing

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MileHighCelt - 04 Nov 2005 14:26 GMT

I have a standalone dbf file that I need to process after it is sent to
me. Since I am running Linux, I can't run dBase to extract the data
out. Is there anyway to parse that file in Java like I would with a
CSV or something? I Googled and didn't see any tools out there that
would work for my OS and lack of database engine running.

thank you,

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N. Shamsundar - 04 Nov 2005 15:26 GMT

> I have a standalone dbf file that I need to process after it is sent to
> me. Since I am running Linux, I can't run dBase to extract the data
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> thank you,

DBF files are a bit more complex in format than CSV files. The file has
a fairly long header, followed by the data. However, the formats
(slightly different versions, for dBase-3, dBase-4) are documented at,
for example, www.wotsit.org .

Alternative methods :

(i) Open the file in, e.g., OpenOffice and export as .CSV

(ii) Use ODBC.

N. Shamsundar
University of Houston

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MileHighCelt - 04 Nov 2005 17:13 GMT

Thank you for the ideas, but I don't know that those will work because
I won't be able to use ODBC on Linux right? Perhaps the best bet is to
have the customer save it off as a CSV. I think dBase does that for
you - assuming they can get to it.

I was hoping I could just read it row by row like other file types and
make each row a DAO. But if I have to react according to dBase type
then that introduces a whole level of issues that could go wrong.

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zhaoyh.hxtt@gmail.com - 05 Nov 2005 04:33 GMT

For Linux,
1. HXTT DBF at http://www.hxtt.net/dbf.html
2. Codebase JDBC at http://www.codebase.com/products/JDBC
3. xBaseJ at http://www.americancoders.com/xBaseJ/

Yonghong Zhao
System Analyst
www.hxtt.net

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dbf file parsing

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