DBF is a small fast library for reading dBase, xBase, Clipper and FoxPro database files
- Project page: http://github.com/infused/dbf
- API Documentation: http://rubydoc.info/github/infused/dbf/frames
- Report bugs: http://github.com/infused/dbf/issues
- Questions: Email mailto:keithm@infused.org and put DBF somewhere in the subject line
DBF is tested to work with the following versions of ruby:
- MRI Ruby 1.8.6, 1.8.7, 1.9.1, 1.9.2 and 1.9.3
- JRuby 1.6.x, 1.7.x
- REE 1.8.6, 1.8.7
- Rubinius (1.8 mode)
gem install dbf
Open a DBF file:
require 'dbf'
widgets = DBF::Table.new("widgets.dbf")
Enumerate all records
widgets.each do |record|
puts record.name
puts record.email
end
Find a single record
widget = widgets.find(6)
Note that find() will return nil if the requested record has been deleted and not yet pruned from the database.
The value for a attribute can be accessed via element reference in one of three ways
widget["SlotNumber"] # original field name in dbf file
widget['slot_number'] # underscored field name string
widget[:slot_number] # underscored field name symbol
Get a hash of all attributes. The keys are the original column names.
widgets.attributes
=> {"Name" => "Thing1", "SlotNumber" => 1}
Search for records using a simple hash format. Multiple search criteria are ANDed. Use the block form if the resulting recordset could be large, otherwise all records will be loaded into memory.
# find all records with slot_number equal to s42
widgets.find(:all, :slot_number => 's42') do |widget|
# the record will be nil if deleted, but not yet pruned from the database
if widget
puts widget.serial_number
end
end
# find the first record with slot_number equal to s42
widgets.find :first, :slot_number => 's42'
# find record number 10
widgets.find(10)
An example of migrating a DBF book table to ActiveRecord using a migration:
require 'dbf'
class Book < ActiveRecord::Base; end
class CreateBooks < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
table = DBF::Table.new('db/dbf/books.dbf')
eval(table.schema)
Book.reset_column_information
table.each do |record|
Book.create(:title => record.title, :author => record.author)
end
end
def self.down
drop_table :books
end
end
A small command-line utility called dbf is installed along with the gem.
$ dbf -h
usage: dbf [-h|-s|-a] filename
-h = print this message
-s = print summary information
-a = create an ActiveRecord::Schema
-c = create a csv file
Create an executable ActiveRecord schema:
dbf -a books.dbf > books_schema.rb
Dump all records to a CSV file:
dbf -c books.dbf > books.csv
The basic dBase data types are generally supported well. Support for the advanced data types in dbase V and FoxPro are still experimental or not supported. If you have insight into how any of the unsupported data types are implemented, please give me a shout. FoxBase/dBase II files are not supported at this time.
See doc/supported_types.markdown for a full list of supported column types.
- DBF is read-only
- Index files are not utilized
Copyright (c) 2006-2012 Keith Morrison keithm@infused.org
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.