Memo fields in dbf

Question

I am aware that .dbf database holds (text) fields larger than 254 characters in separate .dbt files linking them with an M memo field.

I have a legacy database which I can plainly see contains a field with a stated (max) length of 255 characters.

When I edit that file and save it with OpenOffice Calc, it creates a .dbf and a .dbt. I would like to leave the edited file in the format I have found, that is with a 255 characters field.

Is that possible?

Does it depend on the character set (the only option I can see when using OpenOffice and Excel, versions that supported .dbf)?

Answer 1

There are many versions of dbf files; some of them, such as Clipper, actually allowed for character fields longer than 254 to be stored in the dbf file itself.

I don't believe OpenOffice nor Excel support writing to those formats, so if you want to make changes (and not just read the data) you will need to find another tool.

Answer 2

So far as telling the xBase version, you could start with Data File Header Structure for the dBASE Version 7 Table File.

As for DBF file editors, Google is your friend. A quick search gave me, for example, GTK DBF Editor and CDBF. The latter I remember using about three years back with a client who was still running Clipper 5.2 apps under Microsoft Windows 98.