DOCUMENT:Q101742  02-NOV-2001  [vbwin]
TITLE   :How to Open dBASE Table with Nonstandard File Extension
PRODUCT :Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
PROD/VER::3.0
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition for Windows, version 3.0 
 - Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, version 3.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

To open a dBASE table file that has a non-standard file extension, specify the
table name as <filename>#<extension>.

MORE INFORMATION
================

The standard file extension used by dBASE for tables is .DBF. In Visual Basic
version 3.0 using the dBASE installable ISAMs, you can open a table by
specifying the file name without this extension because the dBASE installable
ISAM assumes the extension to be .DBF by default. If you specify the extension
<filename>.<extension>, the dBASE installable ISAM will not
recognize it and will give you the following error message:

   <filename>.<extension> isn't a valid name.

To open a dBASE table file that has a non-standard file extension, specify the
table name as <filename>#<extension>. The dBASE installable ISAM
interprets the pound sign (#) in the table name as a period and opens the dBASE
table.

Example
-------

The following code example demonstrates how to open a dBASE table file that has a
non-standard file extension (AUTHORS.OLD) and print the first field of all
records in the table to the form. The following example assumes that you have a
dBASE III table with a file name of AUTHORS.OLD located in the
C:\DBASEIII\OLDBOOKS directory. You may need to modify the example and create a
dBASE III database with a table called AUTHORS.OLD in order for it to work
correctly.

1. Start Visual Basic or from the File menu, choose New Project (ALT, F, N) if
   Visual Basic is already running. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add a Command Button (Command1) to Form1.

3. Add the following code to the Click event of Command1:

      Sub Command1_Click()
         Dim db As Database
         Dim OldAuthors As Table

         Connect$ = "dBASE III"          ' Specify database type
         dbName$ = "C:\DBASEIII\OLDBOOKS"      ' Specify database directory

         Set db = OpenDatabase(dbName$, False, False, Connect$)
         Set OldAuthors = db.OpenTable("Authors#Old") ' Open table
         While Not OldAuthors.EOF
            Print OldAuthors(0)           ' Print field(0) to the form
            OldAuthors.MoveNext           ' for all records.
         Wend

         OldAuthors.Close
         db.Close
      End Sub

4. Run the example.

5. Click the Command1 button.

Additional query words: 3.00

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB300Search kbVB300
Version           : :3.0

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