Local User *.DBF Files

Yahoo Archive
1
Lon,

Thank you for the information. I am glad to hear others are using
Access to provide reports from Progress as well.

I have used Access for reports also (8 level BOM and Job Costs per
projects with POs and delivery dates).

Thanks again.

Dave Kwiatkowski
Barber-Nichols Inc.





--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, <lonwiksell@...> wrote:
>
> DBF files are the old dbase II, III, IV format. These are files are
> predefined by Vantage. When you run a Crystal Report (at least it
works
> this way in 6.1, I don't know 8.0) the data is dowloaded from
Vantage to
> the DBF files on your C drive. If you want data that is not in the
DBF
> files you have to add a subreport that uses ODBC to the Vantage
tables
> to get that data. This can be slow and frustrating. We modified
the
> Crystal Reports so much that our invoicing report had to have 8
> subreports and took forever to print (17 minutes to be exact). We
now
> use Access through ODBC to get the data from Vantage. We can print
an
> invoice in 1 second.
>
>
>
> Lon A. Wiksell
>
> ROM Corp
>
> 913-318-8000
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf
> Of davek2127
> Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 9:55 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Vantage] Local User *.DBF Files
>
>
>
> What is the purpose of the local user *.dbf files?
>
> Can these files be created through a write procedure from Progress?
>
> I have seen that several of our Crystal reports use a combination
of
> ODBC data sources and local datasources (*.dbf files residing on
local
> C drives).
>
> Any help here would be greatly appreciated? Even pointing me
> to a description of the use of these files in Vantage
> documentation.
>
> Dave Kwiatkowski
> Barber-Nichols Inc.
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
2
What is the purpose of the local user *.dbf files?

Can these files be created through a write procedure from Progress?

I have seen that several of our Crystal reports use a combination of
ODBC data sources and local datasources (*.dbf files residing on local
C drives).

Any help here would be greatly appreciated? Even pointing me
to a description of the use of these files in Vantage
documentation.


Dave Kwiatkowski
Barber-Nichols Inc.
3
.DBF files (sort of a glorified .CSV file) are Epicor's way in 6.1 and prior of passing selected data to Crystal Forms and Reports. If you hazve ODBC blended in someone else has done that locally because the "standard" reports do not depend on ODBC. The .DBF files are somewhat limiting (to say the least) in that you only get the fields you are provided with from the Progress routines that create the files. Each user has their own so that the selection criteria they ask for do not interfere with anyone else. The downside in the limited field availability is in often needing to conect via ODBC to the database to use other fields. Sometimes people use VB Form fields to pass data to Crystal Reports via the .DBF files in order to avoid ODBC. There are some specific database verification steps in the report design that need to be followed to be able to "see" the VB form fields (see help).

Vantage 8.0+ has switched to XML files and offers much greater flexibility in adding fields so in some way ODBC is supposed to be no longer needed.

-Todd C.


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of davek2127
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 9:55 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Local User *.DBF Files



What is the purpose of the local user *.dbf files?

Can these files be created through a write procedure from Progress?

I have seen that several of our Crystal reports use a combination of
ODBC data sources and local datasources (*.dbf files residing on local
C drives).

Any help here would be greatly appreciated? Even pointing me
to a description of the use of these files in Vantage
documentation.

Dave Kwiatkowski
Barber-Nichols Inc.







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4
DBF files are the old dbase II, III, IV format. These are files are
predefined by Vantage. When you run a Crystal Report (at least it works
this way in 6.1, I don't know 8.0) the data is dowloaded from Vantage to
the DBF files on your C drive. If you want data that is not in the DBF
files you have to add a subreport that uses ODBC to the Vantage tables
to get that data. This can be slow and frustrating. We modified the
Crystal Reports so much that our invoicing report had to have 8
subreports and took forever to print (17 minutes to be exact). We now
use Access through ODBC to get the data from Vantage. We can print an
invoice in 1 second.



Lon A. Wiksell

ROM Corp

913-318-8000



________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of davek2127
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 9:55 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Local User *.DBF Files



What is the purpose of the local user *.dbf files?

Can these files be created through a write procedure from Progress?

I have seen that several of our Crystal reports use a combination of
ODBC data sources and local datasources (*.dbf files residing on local
C drives).

Any help here would be greatly appreciated? Even pointing me
to a description of the use of these files in Vantage
documentation.

Dave Kwiatkowski
Barber-Nichols Inc.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]