Need some clarificatio please

[Aruna]

Hi everyone, I am working on a legacy database tool that supports dBase.Clipper, Foxpro, and while investigating deeper into the data type for the field I was rather surprised to see:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. { Part of DBCommon, but temporarily defined here (bug 8206) }

So my concerns are where do I find further information about this bug 8206? Is there anythig I should watch out for when using a classic Tdbf component? The attached screenshot shows the comment in question.

If it is part of DBCommon why redefine here? Thank you, Aruna.

[paweld]

Hi @Aruna,
This is the bug number from bugtracker: https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/fpc/source/-/issues/8206

[Thaddy]

That one is closed. Maybe that comment should be removed.

About TDbf: I don't think indices for Clipper and Foxpro are supported.
If you need those, the ms odbc driver for dbf format supports them.
A 32 bit dbf driver is included or downloadable from microsoft for all windows versions.
FPC's TSqlDb supports it through TODBCConnection.
ODBC is a bit cumbersome to setup first, but once done it has way more options than TDbf.
Progress has many odbc drivers including clipper but may require a small fee which should not be a problem for commercial software.
https://www.progress.com/trial-datadirect
During my carreer I had good experience with their software.

[Aruna]

Hi @Aruna,
This is the bug number from bugtracker: https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/fpc/source/-/issues/8206

Hi @paweld, many thanks. Wow, this is way back from 18 years ago!

[Aruna]

That one is closed. Maybe that comment should be removed.

I would leave it in @Thaddy. Reasons to Keep It: Context for future maintainers — it explains why a normally shared piece of code is duplicated. And it is just one line does not add any serious over-head or bloat? Up to the dev's but if it was up to me I would leave it in.

About TDbf: I don't think indices for Clipper and Foxpro are supported.

Ah, now that is useful I did not know this. Thank you for pointing this out.

If you need those, the ms odbc driver for dbf format supports them.
A 32 bit dbf driver is included or downloadable from microsoft for all windows versions.
FPC's TSqlDb supports it through TODBCConnection.
ODBC is a bit cumbersome to setup first, but once done it has way more options than TDbf.
Progress has many odbc drivers including clipper but may require a small fee which should not be a problem for commercial software.
https://www.progress.com/trial-datadirect
During my carreer I had good experience with their software.

I suppose I can always use *.ndx there is no reason to stick with *.ntx or *.mdx. I guess I will experiment and see how it goes. I retired this month @Thaddy I am officially a senior citizen on a fixed-income so prefer not to use anything that comes with a fee Many thanks for all the useful info.