Reading Paradox Database files

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1616939

06-07-2019
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Question

I'm working with a client who has an existing system, built on what is apparently a Paradox database. I've got the database, in the form of a zip file containing .DB, .MB and .PX files, one for each table.

I need to take (some) of this data and import it in to a Web application that's using MySQL. Does anybody have a way for me to extract this data, that doesn't involve installing Paradox?

If not, does Paradox export in some readable format? Either as SQL or something that can be parsed reasonably easily? The person in charge of this system for my client is a volunteer (they're a non-profit), so I'd like to go to him with a solution - because last time I asked for the data, I got this, which is clearly no good.

Solution

Both the Paradox for DOS and Paradox for Windows platforms will export data tables in Delimited Text, Fixed-Length Text, and Lotus 1-2-3 formats. The older Paradox for DOS also writes Lotus Symphony, while the slightly less antique Paradox for Windows does a passable Excel 5.

However, someone will have to sit down and export the tables one by one, or write a script do to it. Of course you'd need to have Paradox installed to write the script.

-Al.

OTHER TIPS

The wikipedia article about Paradox lists two other things, that might be interessant, both under GPL license:

And if you have Delphi and want to write a converter yourself (which would need the BDE to work) you can take a look at this article or at the source code of ConvertCodeLib on this web site. Both make use of TClientDataset, which can write a CDS (binary format) or an XML file.

MS has instructions for using the MS Jet driver to read data from files produced by Paradox 3-5. That can act as (at least) an ODBC driver, so you can use it to read a Paradox file from just about anything that knows how to use ODBC.

You have a few options:

Get your hands on the original Paradox software, and use it to export the database into CSV format. Unfortunately, Borland no longer sells it and the most recent version doesn't run well on Windows XP or above.
Access the database using either a Paradox or dBase/xBase ODBC driver. Paradox and xBase are very similar, so you may be able to extract the data using drivers meant for either of them. You may be able to get a Paradox ODBC driver somewhere on firebirdsql.org.
Use Borland Delphi to write a program which will export the data you need. As someone else mentioned, you can get a free version called Turbo Explorer. You will also have to install the BDE seperately, as it doesn't come with Turbo Explorer.

I've been working on a gigantic data migration from Paradox to MySQL. My general approach has been to export CSV files from Paradox, and then import the CSV files from the MySQL command line. However this system breaks down when there are M (memo) fields in Paradox, because that data doesn't get pulled into the CSV file as expected.

Here's my long-winded process for getting Paradox data into MySQL, hopefully it helps somebody!

Open Paradox file in Paradox, export to dbase (.dbf) file. What this does is it exports the memo data into dbase's blob format.
Open the .dbf file in Paradox. It might be necessary to convert double format to long integer or number before opening in dbfviewer. Double format appears to not be working. Save file.
Use this program to open up the dbase file and then export to Excel: http://dbfviewer.org/ Export -> XLS-File … this opens it in Excel
Now we need to create a macro because Excel doesn't have any native way to enclose CSV fields with quotes or anything else. I've pasted the macro below, but here are the reference sites that I found. One site had better instructions but corrupted text: http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?320531-export-as-csv-file-enclosed-quotes http://www.markinns.com/articles/full/export_excel_csvs_with_double_quotes/
In Excel replace all " with ' by CTRL-F, replace... any " in records will mess stuff up

In Excel press ALT - F11 to open up macros Insert -> Module Create this macro to save CSV files enclosed with double quotes:

Sub CSVFile()

Dim SrcRg As Range
Dim CurrRow As Range
Dim CurrCell As Range
Dim CurrTextStr As String
Dim ListSep As String
Dim FName As Variant
FName = Application.GetSaveAsFilename("", "CSV File (*.csv), *.csv")

If FName <> False Then
ListSep = Application.International(xlListSeparator)
If Selection.Cells.Count > 1 Then
Set SrcRg = Selection
Else
Set SrcRg = ActiveSheet.UsedRange
End If
Open FName For Output As #1
For Each CurrRow In SrcRg.Rows
CurrTextStr = ""
For Each CurrCell In CurrRow.Cells
CurrTextStr = CurrTextStr & """" & CurrCell.Value & """" & ListSep
Next
While Right(CurrTextStr, 1) = ListSep
CurrTextStr = Left(CurrTextStr, Len(CurrTextStr) - 1)
Wend
Print #1, CurrTextStr
Next
Close #1
End If
End Sub

Then Run -> Run Macro
Set up target MySQL db schema with text fields where we want the blobs to go
In MySQL command line here's an example of how to do the import:

LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE 'C:/data.csv' INTO TABLE table_name FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' ENCLOSED BY '"' LINES TERMINATED BY '\r\n' (column1, column2)

Paradox is a native format for the Borland Database Engine, which is included with various Delphi programming products. Ownership has changed hands at least once recently, but at one point there were free "Express" versions of Delphi available that would let you write a simple program to export this stuff. If a free version is no longer available, the lowest available SKU should include BDE functionality.

Using MS Access 2007 you can import Paradox 7 and below using the BDE distribution included with the free Paradox Database Editor program (google it). Use a connection such as:

DoCmd.TransferDatabase acImport, "ODBC Database", _
    "Paradox 3.X;HDR=NO;IMEX=2;ACCDB=YES;DATABASE=C:\apache\Archive;TABLE=Messages#db", _
    acReport, DailyArchiveName, "MyDatabase"

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