V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

[Dave LeYanna]

How do I use the production cdx (the one with the same name as the FoxPro table) in V5 beta. I am adding the table to V5 beta in the following manner:

Control Panel
Table/Sets TAB
File
Add Table/Set
(Selct the dbf that you want)
Add Table
OK

The table Icon appears in the work area but I can find no way to bring the production cdx into Alpha5 so the cdx will be updated by Alpha5 and the tags can be used for queries and so on.

Thank you in advance.

djl

[Selwyn Rabins]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

i presume you are talking about foxpro v2.6 table because these are the ones that a5 uses as its native file format.

a5 automatically associates the production .cdx file with the table when you open it. the assumption, of course, is that the production .cdx file has the same name as the table.

so, if your table is called customer.dbf, then the assumption is that the indexes are stored in customer.cdx.

if that is NOT the case, and you have an index file that has a different filename, then you can still have a5 open and maintain the indexes in that file, however, you will have to use xbasic code to open the .cdx file each time the table is opened. while a5 supports this, it would be extremely rare to have an index file with a different name than the table it is associated with. i have never heard of an a5 user doing this.

[Dave LeYanna]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

Selwyn:

You are correct in the the cdx is the same name as the dbf.
However when I add the table to a5 as I described (remember that I am using a5 v5.0 beta) I don't see anywhere I have access to any of the indexes.

What am I missing here?

djl

[forskare]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

Have you checked the folder to see if the .csx files are there?

kenn

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

Dave,

If your CDX is Foxpro 2.6 compatible,

Select Tables / Sets tab in the Alpha Five control panel;
Right click on desired table;
Define or update indexes is an option on the drop down list.

Also, if you open the default form for the table, and press Ctrl-I, you'll get a little dialog box that lets you select among various indexes.

-- tom

[Dave LeYanna]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

I have done these things...

I have never seen any of the indexes in the production cdx.
Do I have to go into the "define index" area and redefine all the indexes that are already in the cdx so that A5 can use them? I would have thought that one I select the table to add the system would automatically bring in the production cdx.

djl

[Dave LeYanna]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

No.
I just opened Alpha5 v5 beta, added my table from the control pannel, created a default form, default browse, saveded them and tried to create a little query to search by last anme. There is a lastname index in the cdx but I couldn't find how to access it anywhere. ^I does not bring it up...

djl

[Peter.Wayne]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

you didn't answer which version of foxpro created the indexes. you shouldn't have to re-create the index if the index is a5-compatible.
you also have to make sure that the .cdx file is in the same folder as the .dbf file.

[Dave LeYanna]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

FoxPro v2.6 DOS creeated the cdx. FoxPro v.2.6 maintains this cdx just fine. We have bothe DOS progrgams and Windows programs accessing the sames files at the same time, no problem.

Because I have been told that A5 uses FoxPro v.2.6 files as it's native format, I should have no problem.

I may have done something wrong when I added the table to the v.5.0 beta control panel. I tried to start over again by removing the table from the system and adding it again. I must have to do something else also because a couple of indexex/queries that I had created before are still in the system when I press ^I.

I am going to try an entirely differt table that has a production index and see how that goes...

Thanks everyone for all your help.

djl

[Dave LeYanna]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

Well...

That's the problem!

I must have done something wrong when I first added the table. When I added another table with a cdx. every one of the indexes are avail. when I ^I.

I need to be able to completly remove the first table from the system and start over. When I try to do this with the "remove table" button or menu option, it dissapears but the index/query stuff is stall laying around somewhere! I need to know how to get rid of that also and start fresh!

Back to the docs.

djl

[Peter.Wayne]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

erase all the $$*.mpx files in your a5v5beta directory and any that might be in your data directory. that's where the queries reside. the last queries also are in the registry, but you probably don't want to mess with that if you don't have to. there is also an option in a5v5 to remove all temporary queries when exiting a5. it's in view/settings somewhere.

[Selwyn Rabins]

RE: V5 beta FoxPro CDXs

if the foxpro table has indexes then you can select the tag in the index that you want to set as your "primary index" (i.e. the index that controls the record order) by clicking the "select index/query" button on the toolbar, or clicking "ctrl I".

however, you can also let a5 use indexes transparently for you. i.e. if you have index on "lastname" and you give focus to the lastname field (while you are in a form view or browse view) and you click the "quick sort" icon, then a5 will "sort" the data instantaneously becuase all that it is really doing is making the "lastname" index tag active.

[CALocklin]

RE: i have never heard of an a5 user doing this.

I have occassionally used this feature (alternate index files with a different name than the table) to create temporary indexes for things that are done infrequently.

I believe the reason I did this was to keep the production index as small as possible. Dropping an index does not actually remove it from the index file. It just marks it deleted similar to deleting a record without packing the table. To fully remove the index, the whole index file must be rebuilt and that can take significant time.