Hello forum. I apologize for what is likely to be a common question, but it is important to me. In the mid to late 1980's, we had a fairly robust and complex Dbase program customized for my company. The programmer is LONG gone, and I personally have no DBase or Access skills. I have milked this DOS program for a long time now, and simply cannot get it to run on anything above XP, and even then printing is a hassle, as I have to redirect LPT1 output to a USB port, it is not networkable, etc.
All I know is that to run the program (on an XP computer), I start Dbase with the DOS command "dbase app" (in a desktop icon these days), where "app" is the sole application we use, but we use it all day long, every day. I am a real estate appraiser, so "app" actually stands for "appraisal program", not "application", though I guess it really is an application...
Currently in my Dbase directory, there are hundreds of .DBF files (one for each month back to the '80's), quite a few .PRG and .TBK files, and handful of misc files like .FRM, .FMT, .NDX, and .OVL.
My question is: How difficult will it be for me to convert all of this mess into a working Access program (recognizing that I know NOTHING about DBase III or Access, but am fairly computer knowledgeable otherwise)? If not me, is it reasonably simple for an Access savvy individual to do? Con you recommend a BASIC book or article which would illustrate how to, IF it is simple? Will an entire new access program need to be written to duplicate the functionality of the old one? (hope not). In the end, if it is not VERY simple, I will be looking for someone to do this for us. Any clues on where to start looking if help is needed?
I am very thankful for your input and help on this!
All I know is that to run the program (on an XP computer), I start Dbase with the DOS command "dbase app" (in a desktop icon these days), where "app" is the sole application we use, but we use it all day long, every day. I am a real estate appraiser, so "app" actually stands for "appraisal program", not "application", though I guess it really is an application...
Currently in my Dbase directory, there are hundreds of .DBF files (one for each month back to the '80's), quite a few .PRG and .TBK files, and handful of misc files like .FRM, .FMT, .NDX, and .OVL.
My question is: How difficult will it be for me to convert all of this mess into a working Access program (recognizing that I know NOTHING about DBase III or Access, but am fairly computer knowledgeable otherwise)? If not me, is it reasonably simple for an Access savvy individual to do? Con you recommend a BASIC book or article which would illustrate how to, IF it is simple? Will an entire new access program need to be written to duplicate the functionality of the old one? (hope not). In the end, if it is not VERY simple, I will be looking for someone to do this for us. Any clues on where to start looking if help is needed?
I am very thankful for your input and help on this!