Converting Microsoft Works databases.... *shudder*

[Paul McNett]

Michael B. Trausch wrote:
> GISDude wrote:
>> Mike,
>> I totally forgot that MS Works was out there. Haven't used that one in
>> about 6 or 7 years. Honestly, your best bet is to convert to .csv or
>> some delimited .txt file. Once that is done, all your rows/columns will
>> be "nice and neat" .
>> Once that is done, (and since your client doesn't have ACCESS, try
>> MYSQL or POSTGRESQL(they are open source). They can handle A LOT OF
>> DATA, so however big your orginal DB is, you can import it to one of
>> these more than capable OS freebie Databases.
> 
> Yeah; the only thing is that I am going to have to write a solution to
> give them "easy" access to their data.  Sometimes, they just want to
> look up a row of data, but they don't want to put their data in a
> database server -- they want it on their machine so that it is "private"
> (FSVO private--it's a Windows box).

You can set up database servers that only serve to the local machine. I 
have a couple applications out there that have MySQL server running on a 
Windows box and the only client that connects is the local machine. 
However, you may find it easier and every bit as rewarding to go with 
the simpler solution: sqlite.

As far as easy access to the data, it is quite possible that Dabo could 
help you there. Once you have your data in sqlite or MySQL, the Dabo 
AppWizard can generate a basic application for you to search, browse, 
edit, and report on your records. The basic application generated can 
then be modified by you (in Python) to make it more custom and to 
enhance it as your needs grow.

sqlite information: http://initd.org/tracker/pysqlite
dabo information: http://dabodev.com

(Please note that the dabodev website is going through some scheduled 
maintenance so it may not be available when you call this weekend, but 
in any case it will be fully functional by Monday).

-- 
pkm ~ http://paulmcnett.com