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When an average computer user thinks of databases, they probably think of
a Microsoft product, in particular Microsoft
Access. But long before Microsoft
Access was dBase. It was the standard for flat-file databases, and is still
in use today. WhiteTown
Software has created a powerful utility, CDBF
for Windows,
that allows you to edit DBF files.
The installation of the software was quick and easy. One thing of note is
the many languages that you can choose from to run the program. I chose English,
but there are over a dozen other languages in the basic installation routine
to choose from.
The main program window is setup similar to Windows Explorer. On the left
is a list of drives available where you can choose files to open. On the right
are the files opened. The window also has a tabbed interface that lets you
easily choose between open files.
Features
- The
software lets you perform all of the standard functions on DBF files. These
functions are available either through the various menus
or through the toolbar:
- Append
- Insert
- Delete
- Pack
- Zap
- Truncate
 The Favorites menu lets you set certain databases as favourites so
you can
open them quickly.- The
software lets you view both database and field information for any of the
database files that you open. In the example on the right, the DBF file was
a dBase
III file that hadn't been modified since July 27, 1998. It also provides
other information on the file that advanced users may find useful.
- There are also many database-wide operations that can be performed like
case conversions, deletion of duplicate records and more.
- There were many databases that used the DBF format, and CDBF supports all
of these, including dBase III, dBase IV, FoxPro,
and Visual FoxPro.
- You can export the database tables to
text, DBF, MS Excel, Clipper, FoxPro and SQL Server files
I am certainly not a database expert, but with the limited knowledge that
I have I was able to open up DBF files, easily edit and delete information.
I work with a couple of older systems that use DBF files in an MS-DOS environment,
and the changes that I made in the raw files were then reflected in the software.
The ability to use my Windows
XP Professional workstation to point
and click to edit the files was welcome.
Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access allow you to open DBF files, but since
DBF is not the native format for this software, you won't be able to perform
all of the functions. CDBF for Windows opens up the DBF files, allows you to
edit the data, and then it saves the data in its native format.
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