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| Version 2.07 © 2003 by CapeSoft Software (Pty) Ltd www.capesoft.com Updated Wednesday 12 January 2005 |
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Contents
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| Before running this utility you must have a good understanding of the product (FM3 and/or Replicate) for which you are making these changes. | |||
| Introduction | |||
| Features | |||
| A brief Run-through | |||
| License and Copyright | |||
| Support | |||
| Version History | |||
| 1. | Export your dictionary to a TXD file. |
| 2. | Run the Bulk Dictionary Editor (in your Clarion IDE - in the Accessories menu, click the Bulk Dictionary Editor option). |
| 3. | Import your converted TXD file to a new dictionary - and then overwrite the old dictionary with the converted one. |
| 1. | Select the TXD file that you have exported from your current dictionary and select a file to contain your converted dictionary (a TXD file). |

| You can make use of the file select buttons to bring up a File select box to aid you in selecting the files. | |
| 2. | Click the Next button to proceed to the Task Selection window. |

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Check the Convert Dictionary To Support Replicate checkbox if you are wanting to convert your dictionary to support Replicate (add GUID fields and keys, add site fields and keys and/or add the Site file and the LogHistory file) |
| 2.2 | Check the General Dictionary Maintenance checkbox to enable you to do things like change drivers, and file properties. |
| 2.3 | Check the Convert Dictionary to SQL checkbox if you have arrays (Dimensioned fields) in your dictionary. This function will add the necessary OVER fields to allow FM3 to perform it's magic. |
| 2.4 | Check the Make All Fields, Keys and Files have descriptions if you require a description for each field, key and file. Note: New fields, keys and files will have descriptions when added regardless of whether this is checked or not (although where necessary you can specify if you don't want descriptions for your fields). |
| 2.5 | Check the Force File Version insert if non-Existent
checkbox if you are adding FM3 to your application and have not yet added
Version numbers to your files in the dictionary. You must select at least one task in order to be able to proceed. Click the Next button to proceed to the Next Screen. |
| 3. | If you checked the Convert Dictionary to SQL checkbox, then the SQL Conversion Options window will appear (else proceed to Step 5). |

| 3.1 | If you would like to convert the file drivers as well, you can check the Convert File Drivers to SQL, which will bring up a screen later to enable you to do a bulk driver change (based on the existing filedrivers). Note: You will almost certainly need to do this (if converting from a TPS app to a MSSQL app). |
| 3.2 | Check the Set Old Name Attribute to set the oldname attribute to contain the default file name of old TPS/DAT files. |
| 3.3 | Check the Set External NAME for keys checkbox to add the NAME attribute to each key to ensure that each key has a globally unique NAME. This is the external NAME that will be used by SQL drivers. |
| 3.4 | Check the Set External NAME for Fields checkbox to add the NAME attribute to each key to ensure that each field has a globally unique NAME. This is the external NAME that will be used by SQL drivers. |
| 3.5 | If you check the Convert Arrays checkbox, then when BDE does your dictionary conversion it will: |
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| 3.6 | You can use the File Driver list box to select FileDriver
types to exclude from the array conversion (like DOS, BASIC and ASCII).
To exclude, click the checkbox to the right of the FileDriver (which must
be excluded) and the checkbox will be cleared. You can use the Select All
and Select None buttons instead of checking/clearing all the check boxes. Click the Next button to proceed to the next screen. |
| 4. | The SQL Field Conversion Options screen appears, which will allow you to make bulk changes to fields. |

| 4.1 | If you have used the variable types: DATE and TIME in pairs
in that sequence, then you can bulk change these to be within a GROUP over
a STRING(8) by selecting the Group,over option in the Set DateTime
Pair to option group. Note: Selecting this option will not affect DATEs and TIMEs that are not in a pair, in the DATE/TIME sequence. |
| 4.2 | You can enforce the SQL backend to do the auto-numbering instead of the Clarion file drivers. Check the SQL Do Auto Numbering checkbox. This will add a UserOption to your Auto-Numbered field and remove th AUTO attribute from the key. |
| 4.3 | You can create a file of data types that you would like BDE
to convert. Use the list box to add field types to. You can choose to ignore
arrays (in which case BDE will convert them to a GROUP,over as in Step 3).
You can also disable a Field Type conversion. In the above diagram the DECIMAL
to PDECIMAL conversion is disabled. You can also specify field conversions
for a specific driver type only. Note: You will notice in the above diagram that DATEs and TIMEs are set to be converted to LONGs. This is if these data types occur outside the pair (as specified in 4.1.). |
| 4.4 | If you would not like BDE to convert the field types in the list, then you can check the Ignore Conversion List. Click the Next button to proceed to the next screen. |
| 5. | If you checked the Convert Dictionary to support Replicate checkbox then the Replicate Options window will appear (else proceed to step 7). |

| 5.1 | You can set the Site field name (which will be the field name used in the added site file (if requested) and the added site fields to your existing files (if requested)). This must be the same as the name specified in your Replicate Global Extension template (on the Site tab). |
| 5.2. | If you've selected a Site field name, then you can specifiy an Initial Value for the site field to be primed with. This is defaulted to RepGLO:Site, which is a global variable, set in the Init method of replicate. |
| 5.3 | You can check the Add Site fields to your existing files if you would like to do this. This will enable you to select which files and keys you would like to add the site field to (which you can setup in the next window). |
| 5.4 | If you are using a SQL backend and do not have FM3, then it will be necessary to add the fields required to the end of the record structure (and not to the beginning - by default). Check the Add Fields to the End of the Record Structure to do this. |
| 5.5 | Check the Add a Site File to your dictionary if you would like the BDE utility to do this. It will not add the Site File if it finds one existing in your dictionary. |
| 5.6 | Check the Add a LogHistory File to your dictionary if you would like the BDE utility to do this. It will not add the LogHistory File if it finds one in existing your dictionary. |
| 5.7 | Check the No Descriptions For New Fields if you don't
want your new fields to have descriptions. Click the Next button to proceed to the next screen. |
| 5.8 | You can check the Set external NAME for fields checkbox if you want an external name. This makes an XML (and SQL) compliant field name for your fields as they are entered in the logfile. |
| 6. | If you checked the Add Site Fields to your existing files checkbox (on the Replicate Options window) then the Setup Site Field addition window will appear (else proceed to step 7). You need to wait until the Dictionary is assessed for the file content. The Progress indicator at the bottom of the window will indicate when the assessment is complete. |

| You will see a tree of the files in your dictionary. Each file forms a level 1 item in the tree, and the files' keys are listed as level 2 items. Each relationship that is based on that key are level3 items in the tree. | |
| 6.1 | You can click on the black check boxes in the columns to change the adding options. The last 4 columns (Site Field: Add, Site Field: Prime, Add Site to: Keys and Add Site to: Where) indicate the actions that you want to perform on the file. If you want to: |
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| 6.2 | You can use the Default when Site field added group to preset defaults for adding Site fields: |
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| Some Cautionary Notes | |
| Make sure you know which tables to make Site-related tables and which to make global tables BEFORE you convert your dictionary. | |
| You should not select First in the Position group and Keys Only in the Related Files group (this will force NOLINKs for the first component in the relationship which is illegal). | |
| You can change the position of the Site field within a keys components. If the number of components are not the same between the 2 relating keys and you change the position of the Site field, this can lead to an illegal relationship (with NOLINKs occuring in front of the Site Field). | |
| Select None in the Add to Keys group - this will ensure that you select each key with the minimum amount of cascading occurring when adding a site field to file. | |
| If you have already run the Bulk Dictionary Editor on your
dictionary and are re-running it, then Bulk Dictionary Editor will find
your GUIDkey and GUID field in the file. Although your GUIDKey is a unique
key, you will not be able to add the Site field to it's field component. Click the Next button to proceed to the next screen. |
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| 7. | If you checked the the General Dictionary Maintenance checkbox on the Task Selection window then the General Dictionary Maintenance window appears (else proceed to step 8). |

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| Once you have finished setting up the options that you want to change, click the Next button to proceed to the next screen. 8. The Confirmation window appears. From here you can click the Go! button to convert the dictionary. The Progress indicator will show the size of the dictionary and how far the conversion is. |
If there were some irregularities in the TXD to be imported (into the Clarion
dictionary editor), then these will be reported at the end of the conversion.
Irregularities so far found are:
1. More than 512 chars in the SCREENCONTROL prompts.
2. The BOXED attribute in a TEXT control.
The BOXED attribute is removed during the conversion, because the TXD will not
be imported into the Clarion Dictionary Editor with these included. The warning
will indicate each BOXED attribute that is removed and the line number (of the
TXD file) from which it was removed. In the case of the long SCREENCONTROL
prompt, you will need to manually shorten the indicated lines (with a text
editor), and replace the deletions once you've re-imported the dictionary into
the Clarion dictionary editor.
Please note: There is nothing we can do about these irregularities as they are not supported by the dictionary importer (although they are successfully exported from this same Clarion dictionary editor).
| Question: | I am not sure what to put in the "Full Pathname" of the "Table Properties" when I'm changing my driver to a SQL driver. |
| Answer: | You can check the Set OldName File Attribute checkbox on the SQL Conversion Options tab. This will ensure that the OldName attribute is set to the old file name. |
| Question: | Is there a way to bulk add the Owner Name (!Glo:Owner to each table)? |
| Answer: | Yes. In the conversion process, when you get to the 'General Dictionary Maintenance' window, right-click on the 'Owner' column (in the 'Attributes' column group) and you can copy the current owner name throughout the tables. If there is none set for the current one, edit that one (to the one you want for all your tables) and then right-click on that block and duplicate it for all your other tables. You can also hold down the control key and select certain tables that you would like to change (if you don't want all the tables to have the same owner name). |
| Telephone |
+27 21 715 4000
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| Fax |
+27 21 715 2535
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| Post |
PO Box 511, Plumstead, 7801, South Africa
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CapeSoft Sales
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| Web | |||
| Telephone |
+27 21 715 4000
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| Fax |
+27 21 715 2535
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| Post |
PO Box 511, Plumstead, 7801, South Africa
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Version 1.54: Released October 13, 2003
Version 1.53: Released August 26, 2003
Version 1.049: Released June 2, 2003
Version 1.045: Released May 12, 2003