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xBase-Compatible Databases Icon xBase ODBC Driver

The xBase ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live xBase- compatible databases, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access xBase databases like FoxPro & Clipper (.dbf, .ndx, .ntx, .dbt, etc) from virtually anywhere through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

Replicate xBase Data from PowerShell



Write a quick PowerShell script to query xBase data. Use connectivity to the live data to replicate xBase data to SQL Server.



The CData ODBC Driver for xBase enables out-of-the-box integration with Microsoft's built-in support for ODBC. The ODBC driver instantly integrates connectivity to the real xBase data with PowerShell.

You can use the .NET Framework Provider for ODBC built into PowerShell to quickly automate integration tasks like replicating xBase data to other databases. This article shows how to replicate xBase data to SQL Server in 5 lines of code.

You can also write PowerShell code to download xBase data. See the examples below.

Create an ODBC Data Source for xBase

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

The DataSource property must be set to the name of the folder that contains the .dbf files. Specify the IncludeFiles property to work with xBase table files having extensions that differ from .dbf. Specify multiple extensions in a comma-separated list.

Connect to xBase

The code below shows how to use the DSN to initialize the connection to xBase data in PowerShell:

$conn = New-Object System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection $conn.ConnectionString = "DSN=CData xBase Source x64"

Back Up xBase Data to SQL Server

After you enable caching, you can use the code below to replicate data to SQL Server.

Set the following connection properties to configure the caching database:

  • CacheProvider: The name of the ADO.NET provider. This can be found in the Machine.config for your version of .NET. For example, to configure SQL Server, enter System.Data.SqlClient.

  • CacheConnection: The connection string of properties required to connect to the database. Below is an example for SQL Server:

    Server=localhost;Database=RSB;User Id=sqltest;Password=sqltest;

The SQL query in the example can be used to refresh the entire cached table, including its schema. Any already existing cache is deleted.

$conn.Open() # Create and execute the SQL Query $SQL = "CACHE DROP EXISTING SELECT * FROM " + $Invoices $cmd = New-Object System.Data.Odbc.OdbcCommand($sql,$conn) $count = $cmd.ExecuteNonQuery() $conn.Close()

The driver gives you complete control over the caching functionality. See the help documentation for more caching commands and usage examples. See the help documentation for steps to replicate to other databases.

Other Operations

To retrieve xBase data in PowerShell, call the Fill method of the OdbcDataAdapter method. To execute data manipulation commands, initialize the OdbcCommand object and then call ExecuteNonQuery. Below are some more examples commands to xBase through the .NET Framework Provider for ODBC:

Retrieve xBase Data

$sql="SELECT Company, Total from Invoices" $da= New-Object System.Data.Odbc.OdbcDataAdapter($sql, $conn) $dt= New-Object System.Data.DataTable $da.Fill($dt) $dt.Rows | foreach { $dt.Columns | foreach ($col in dt{ Write-Host $1[$_] } }