| Starting from release 1.16, the MaxBase suite has gained another application: the file converter. Use it to import external databases, encode/decode files with the Base 64 algorithm, or convert files between platforms. The application can be started by typing 'java nrio.utils.convert' (of course you must have the MaxBase classes in your classpath), or from inside MaxBase. The first page contains the options that will let you import/export databases:
| You can import from the following formats: DBF (Ashton Tate's DB III) CSV (Character Separated Values) QIF (Quicken Interchange Format) Additionally, you can export to one of the following formats: CSV (Character Separated Values) DBF (Ashton Tate's DB III) When you have finished entering information, press the convert button and the status label will keep you informed about the status of the conversion. Notes: After you have imported a database table, you will only get an index on the first field (MaxBase databases need at least a field on a db); since you can only order a database by a field which has some kind of index (and considering also that queries are faster if you have an index on the most used fields), the best thing to do after importing a db is to add indexes in the most used fields. You can specify which character separates fields in the CSV import/export routines by typing it into the "CSV delimiter" text field. Some DB applications set erroneously the "deleted" flag on certain records -- if this is the case, just check the "import deleted records" checkbox before converting a DBF file. The only QIF databases that File Converter has been tried upon are those of type "Asset Accounts" (files beginning with "Oth A"); if you have problems importing other files just drop us a note and we will improve those routines. On the second page, you will find a small Base 64 encoder/decoder for your DBs (it only works with ASCII files, such as MaxBase dbs).
| Import a file with the "load file.." button, check the "encode" or "decode" button, and press "go!" to convert it. Then, you can export the converted file by pressing "save file.." or "select all" buttons (in this latter case you can thus insert the whole text into the clipboard). Finally, in the third page you can convert files among platforms. As you probably know, the line terminator sequence is not standard among the operating systems. For example, Unix uses the \n character to terminate a line, while Macs use the \r character. since MaxBase files are text files, you need this utility to export/import your DBs to/from other operating systems.
| To convert a file, just enter two file names, select their format and press "convert". The status label will show information on the outcome of the conversion.