Importing a Paradox Table to an Advantage (ADT) Table

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

The Advantage Data Architect is a tool used for developing and maintaining databases and for testing Advantage functionality. It can also be used to import Paradox data into the Advantage Database Table (ADT) format.

The Advantage Data Architect is available from the Download area of the Advantage Solutions Web site.

Importing Paradox Data

To import Paradox data into the Advantage Database Table (ADT) format:

1. Open Data Architect.
2. Choose the Database | Import menu item.
3. In the Import File Name edit box enter the directory and file name of the Paradox table to import. Wild cards are accepted to import all tables in a directory. For example C:\DATA\*.DB would import all Paradox tables in the C:\DATA directory.
4. In the Destination Directory edit box enter the directory path where the newly imported tables will be placed.
5. In the Import Table Type combo box, choose the Paradox table type.
6. In the Destination Table Type combo box, choose the Advantage Database Table type.
7. Click the Execute button. A report for each table being imported will be displayed in the output window.

Once the import process has finished, the table/database is ready for use. The location of the tables will be in the path specified in the Destination Directory edit box.

Field Data Type Conversion

This table shows how field types are converted when Paradox tables are imported to the Advantage ADT Table format.

Primary Indexes

An index named PRIMARY is created for each of the Paradox tables during the import process. The PRIMARY index is not the default index with an Advantage application. The PRIMARY index name will need to be specified in the application wherever needed.

Index Structures

Advantage places all individual indexes into a single file called a compound index file. Specific indexes within a compound index file are differentiated via tag names. Tag names are a way to speci