JxBase

• JxBase - Copyright (c) 2019-2021 Julien Férard (https://github.com/jferard)
• JDBF - Copyright (c) 2012-2018 Ivan Ryndin (https://github.com/iryndin)

JxBase is a fork from jdbf, a Java utility to read/write DBF files

Convert a DBF file to SQLite from command line

Call, from command line, the class com.github.jferard.jxbase.tool.DatabaseLoader. Here's an example:

...$ java -cp "$HOME/.m2/repository/com/github/jferard/jxbase/0.0.1-SNAPSHOT/jxbase-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar" com.github.jferard.jxbase.tool.DatabaseLoader
Usage: java -cp 'path/to/jxbase/jar:path/to/jdbc/driver/jar' com.github.jferard.jxbase.tool.DatabaseLoader [option] [source] [connect_string]

   -h, --help          Print this message
   -c driver_class     Load the driver using Class.forName
   -d                  Drop tables if they exist
   -s N                Chunk size (default is one chunk of the size of the file)
                       Use this to avoid an out of memory for big files
   source              A directory or a single dbf file
   connection_string   A connection string to the database
...$java -cp "$HOME/.m2/repository/org/xerial/sqlite-jdbc/3.32.3.2/sqlite-jdbc-3.32.3.2.jar:$HOME/.m2/repository/com/github/jferard/jxbase/0.0.1-SNAPSHOT/jxbase-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar" com.github.jferard.jxbase.tool.DatabaseLoader -d -s 10000 $HOME/prog/java/jxbase/src/test/resources/data1 "jdbc:sqlite:./test.sqlite"
oct. 17, 2020 10:52:55 PM com.github.jferard.jxbase.tool.DatabaseLoader buildAndFillTables
INFOS: Build tables
oct. 17, 2020 10:52:55 PM com.github.jferard.jxbase.tool.DatabaseLoader buildAndFillTable
INFOS:  > /home/jferard/prog/java/jxbase/src/test/resources/data1/gds_im.dbf
oct. 17, 2020 10:52:55 PM com.github.jferard.jxbase.tool.DatabaseLoader buildAndFillTable
INFOS:  > /home/jferard/prog/java/jxbase/src/test/resources/data1/tir_im.dbf

User Guide

Read a DBF file

TODO

See the integration test example

Read a DBF file with MEMO fields

TODO

See the integration test example

Write a DBF file

TODO

See the integration test example

Write a DBF file with MEMO fields

TODO

See the integration test example

Design of an xBase database

The database is a simple set of files.

References

See:

• https://www.clicketyclick.dk/databases/xbase/format/
• http://www.dbase.com/KnowledgeBase/int/db7_file_fmt.htm
• http://devzone.advantagedatabase.com/dz/webhelp/Advantage12/index.html?master_advantage_isam_file_types.htm
• https://dbfread.readthedocs.io/en/latest/field_types.html: comprehensive list of data types.
• http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~TableFileStructure~Wiki: comprehensive list of data types.

The DBF file

The main file. Contains the header and the records.

+------- Header ---------+
|       Metadata         |   <- XBaseMetaDataReader/Writer    
| Field Descriptor Array |   <- XBaseFieldDescriptorArrayReader/Writer
|        Optional        |   <- XBaseOptionalReader/Writer
+------------------------+
|        Records         |   <- XBaseRecordReader/Writer
+------------------------+

DBT file (memo: optional)

This file contains block of data.

+------------------------+  \
|         Header         |   |
+------------------------+   } <- XBaseMemoReader/Writer
|        Records         |   |
+------------------------+  /

NDX file (index: optional)

TODO

Design of JxBase

JxBase aims to build DBF format reader and writer by layers. Each dialect derives an existing format and adds fields, formats, files.

The covariance parameter problem

Whereas a GenericRecordReader has a GenericDialect parameter, a FoxProRecordReader needs a FoxProDialect parameter. A covariant parameter (the parameters type varies with the class type) is a real problem because it violates the Liskov substitution principle: the subclass FoxProRecordReader won't work with a GenericDialect parameter (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covariance_and_contravariance_(computer_science)#Covariant_method_parameter_type). Usually, one solves this problem with generics:

    class GenericRecordReader<D extends GenericDialect> {
        ...
    }
    
    class FoxProRecordReader extends GenericRecordReader<FoxProDialect> {
        ...
    }

Currently, JxBase doesn't use generics for covariance because this would lead to a really complex situation. The fallaback used to achieve the covariance is a simple cast: we accept a GenericDialect and try to cast the instance into a FoxProDialect