Open a FoxPro DAT file?

4 Jun 2009 4:49 PM

Thomas Malia

I know I've done this before, but what is the process to be able to open a
FoxPro .DAT file so that I can execute a SQL statement and generate a result
set?

Thanks In advance.

4 Jun 2009 5:38 PM

Nobody

"Thomas Malia" <tomma***@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:ev81qRT5JHA.972@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>I know I've done this before, but what is the process to be able to open a
>FoxPro .DAT file so that I can execute a SQL statement and generate a
>result set?

Search MSKB for "ADO FoxPro".

4 Jun 2009 5:44 PM

Jeff Johnson

"Thomas Malia" <tomma***@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:ev81qRT5JHA.972@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>I know I've done this before, but what is the process to be able to open a
>FoxPro .DAT file so that I can execute a SQL statement and generate a
>result set?

..DAT is a generic extension. What exactly does FoxPro use .DAT for? Not
data, I can tell you that. FoxPro stores its data in .DBFs.

4 Jun 2009 5:51 PM

Thomas Malia

Ok,

Well, the "database" I'm actually working with is technically a mix mash of
Froxpro and Sybase "Advantage" tables. I'm using an Advantage Database Tool
to open the *.DAT files to be able to browse them and can even do some
management. When I open these files in this tool I have to indicate if the
file should be treated as an Advantage table or a FoxPro table. If I select
FoxPro, the files open just fine.

Show quoteHide quote

"Jeff Johnson" <i.get@enough.spam> wrote in message
news:OHzmhwT5JHA.1432@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> "Thomas Malia" <tomma***@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:ev81qRT5JHA.972@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
>>I know I've done this before, but what is the process to be able to open a
>>FoxPro .DAT file so that I can execute a SQL statement and generate a
>>result set?
>
> .DAT is a generic extension. What exactly does FoxPro use .DAT for? Not
> data, I can tell you that. FoxPro stores its data in .DBFs.
>

4 Jun 2009 6:18 PM

Nobody

"Thomas Malia" <tomma***@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:%23Xm9f0T5JHA.3476@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Ok,
>
> Well, the "database" I'm actually working with is technically a mix mash
> of Froxpro and Sybase "Advantage" tables. I'm using an Advantage Database
> Tool to open the *.DAT files to be able to browse them and can even do
> some management. When I open these files in this tool I have to indicate
> if the file should be treated as an Advantage table or a FoxPro table. If
> I select FoxPro, the files open just fine.

See if this article helps:

HOW TO: Use Jet OLE DB Provider 4.0 to Connect to ISAM Databases
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;326548

4 Jun 2009 6:34 PM

Nobody

See also:

How To Use Visual FoxPro Tables in Visual Basic
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/161307

The above is using DAO. If you prefer to use ADO, then you have to use
Foxpro OLE DB provider, or use Jet provider for ODBC, and tell it to use
FoxPro ODBC driver. FoxPro ODBC driver is not included in ADO 2.6 and after
according to this article:

Visual FoxPro ODBC Driver not included in MDAC 2.6 and later
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/277772/

INFO: Issues Migrating from DAO/Jet to ADO/Jet
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/225048

Quote: "The third issue is that Jet 4.0 drops support for the FoxPro IISAM.
Any FoxPro tables must be accessed through the FoxPro ODBC driver. If your
Jet database uses linked FoxPro tables, and you convert to Jet 4.0, you will
have to re-link them to use the FoxPro ODBC driver instead."

This article may be helpful as well. It uses VBScript in ASP, which is easy
to convert:

How to use ADO with ASP to display Visual FoxPro data
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/165492

4 Jun 2009 7:13 PM

Jeff Johnson

"Nobody" <nob***@nobody.com> wrote in message
news:u6FlUMU5JHA.480@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

> Quote: "The third issue is that Jet 4.0 drops support for the FoxPro
> IISAM. Any FoxPro tables must be accessed through the FoxPro ODBC driver.
> If your Jet database uses linked FoxPro tables, and you convert to Jet
> 4.0, you will have to re-link them to use the FoxPro ODBC driver instead."

This isn't a huge problem, since in my experience the VFPOLEDB driver runs
rings around Jet for DBFs.