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Exporting to Access

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    Exporting to Access

    Does anyone know if an Alpha database can be exported to Access flawlessly? If so, is it hard to do?

    Sorry I don't know what version Alpha I am using but I can find out if you need that information. I do know its kind of old. Maybe from the 90's.

    Thanks for your help.

    #2
    Re: Exporting to Access

    Possibly a DOS version - V4, or possibly an early version of V5 which will be flat DBF files. Dbase4 style. Shouldn't make any difference.
    Open the Alpha database, find the Control Panel, select a table and export it to Excel, then Import to Access.
    It might be possible to open the tables in AS from Access if you have an ODBC driver for Dbase - I think it is shipped as standard. Then just open and copy/save as, in Access.
    You might have to juggle the Excel version to get it to work.
    Shouldn't be hard, but might be time consuming.

    If you are I the UK, PM me and I'll try to assist. Else, try Stan Mathews.
    See our Hybrid Option here;
    https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


    Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
    You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Exporting to Access

      Thanks for the reply. I have already exported an excel file from Alpha. So what I have now are .xls files from the export. The thing is, I did this a while back so I'm not sure why the file extension is .xls but I may have converted it somehow from what you mentioned, DBF files. Not sure. I guess the only way to find out is if I do the export again to see what type of file is exported.

      You mentioned opening tables in AS from Access. What is AS? Also how can you tell if you have ODBC drivers to read Dbase files?

      When I view the .xls files in Excel, there are a lot of fields/categories. Is this what you meant by juggle those fields to fit into Access and that it can be time consuming if there are a lot of fields to adjust?

      Sorry, I am very new to Access and I am still learning.

      Thank you for your help.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Exporting to Access

        Sorry, I am very new to Access and I am still learning.
        Ever consider posting your questions on an Access message board?
        There can be only one.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Exporting to Access

          Sorry Anakin. AS is Forum short name for Alpha Software.
          For the driver, you will most likely have it already.
          Open Accessl, select File/Open find the Alpha Database folder, identify the files with an extension of .dbf - like customer.dbf and try to open it.
          You will need to show all file types *.* to do this, as the default may not show .dbf.

          On reflection, you will need to get to grips with ODBC compliance - which Alpha is - so via the Excel route will be much easier unless you are prepared to study a bit.
          You can export from Alpha as a CSV as well, so that is another alternative as CSV one of the Access import options.
          Last edited by Ted Giles; 10-20-2013, 05:11 AM.
          See our Hybrid Option here;
          https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


          Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
          You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Exporting to Access

            I did the export from the .xls file and it transferred most of the records over ok. I would have to check it out more thoroughly to make sure all the fields are there but it looked pretty good. It said that some of the records didn't transfer properly and would be available in a separate table it created from the main table. I have heard of CSV files and DBF files so I'm thinking that's what the .xls file was originally but I may have some how converted it to an excel file to make it so I could open it in excel. I may have just changed the file extension manually because back then I was looking in to only using excel since I knew nothing of Access. Now I am more interested in Access since I know it will do a better job at keeping these records in order.

            The thing is that the computer that the Alpha software is on is about to die. So I will need to export the file to another computer. So the way you mentioned for me to use Access to import from the Alpha folder won't work because in order to do that, I would need to be doing everything with the same computer. This computer is SUPER old and it can barely run Alpha properly. It's extremely slow and its also on Win98. So even to export the file from Alpha takes ages to do so.

            What I wanted to mention is that I don't like how Access makes it so easy to create a record and especially change a record. I can only imagine what would happen when some of the clerks that are about to use this database are going to do. They are going to make mistakes and just save it not knowing they made errors because there's no official save button. I would want it to also ask if you want the record to be saved if you don't click the save button just in case you accidentally type something on the keyboard and don't know what the record said originally. That way if this happens you and you try to close it, it will ask if you want to save the changes and you can just click on NO. So I would really need to be careful how I create this database and set certain permissions per form, query, and table. I would also like to hide certain tables and forms so that only I can access them if I have to check something out. I need to make it user friendly. Even the query would need to be simple. I would like to make a query that uses a form that is bound to a table so that you can enter partial info in the form and hit enter and it will pull up the record that fits the criteria. Like maybe I enter a license number and it pulls up that person's info from the license number.

            Anyway, sorry this message is so long. If you can give me info on anything I've mentioned above, thank you very much.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Exporting to Access

              Couple of questions;
              1) what version of Alpha are you working on?
              2) would you rather stay with Alpha?
              3) what are you planning to replace the dying computer with? If you stay with Alpha you will need V12 if the new PC is Win8, else V11 will do on Win7.
              If the answer to 2) is Yes, zip the whole database and send it to me privately - [email protected] - and I will see if that can be done easily.
              Nothing you want to do is difficult in Alpha, so if the basic application is sound, it should be easy to create a runtime version for you to use.
              From your comments, it sounds like you prefer not to be too technical, so happy to help.
              By the way. I have no interest in your data - confidential or otherwise. I am cleared at a pretty high security level in the UK.
              See our Hybrid Option here;
              https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


              Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
              You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Exporting to Access

                Am i missing a point here.
                Using DAO export you can create an access database containing all the tables from an Alpha Database (workspace) in seconds or maybe minutes if lots of data
                Bob Whitaker

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Exporting to Access

                  1) what version of Alpha are you working on?
                  Waiting a response. Was DAO available in V4?
                  See our Hybrid Option here;
                  https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


                  Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
                  You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Exporting to Access

                    I believe the version is Alpha v4. I would have to double check that. Sorry I can't reply till I get home from work everyday since my office does not allow us to have internet.

                    I would rather move over to Access if possible. I would want it to be able to go to any computer my manager designates for this database. Right now most of the computers in our office, and I'm talking like 99% is running WinXP with anywhere from 2003 - 2010 Access. The dieing computer will be trashed I assume since it's really really really slow.

                    I can't forward the database to you even though I'm sure you are an honest person but this is very confidential information. The most I can give you are the fields which are the headings of the columns for what will be entered into the table. But I would want it entered in by a form ultimately since that would be much easier to manage since there are a lot of headings.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Exporting to Access

                      Quite right Ted I should have read the question more carefully not quite sure which version saw the introduction of DAO.
                      Bob Whitaker

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Exporting to Access

                        Anakin. Access will definitely be a backwards step, but it's your choice.
                        Sounds like you have an introverted manager, so I wish you well.
                        Access is free - there is a reason for that.
                        See our Hybrid Option here;
                        https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


                        Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
                        You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Exporting to Access

                          Anakin

                          You should be able to connect Access to the Alpha tables. Use the Visual FoxPro ODBC driver. You can do the tables individually .dbf by .dbf or if you select the Free Tables option in the ODBC driver you deal with all the tables at once. When you are done you can import all the tables by the method chosen into the Access database.

                          Here is a link to a short video I did to help someone set up the ODBC connection. The process is the same though you are using Access

                          http://www.customreportwriters.net/d...PODBCSetup.wmv
                          Regards,

                          John W.
                          www.CustomReportWriters.net

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Exporting to Access

                            Not sure what you are implying but Access is not free. Access comes with one of the higher versions of Microsoft Office and is quite expensive. I don't really hear much about Alpha, at least here in the U.S.A. is it more popular in the U.K.?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Exporting to Access

                              I already got the file imported to Access. The file that was exported from Alpha was a .xls file. It seemed to have transferred over pretty nicely. I just need to figure out some adjustments and also execute some features within Access to make it work.

                              Comment

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