jdbf

jdbf is a library for reading dBASE files, specifically supporting the main .DBF file format in the following versions:

• dBASE 5
• dBASE 7

Limitations

The library does not support:

• Binary fields
• Memo fields
• OLE fields

These unsupported fields are typically stored in .DBT files or other related file formats such as .MDX.

Background

This library was developed to fulfill the author's specific requirements.

Usage

To use the jdbf library, follow these steps:

1. Creating a Reader:

   • Create a JDBFReader instance using the Builder class. You can initialize it with a file name, a File object, or a byte array.

   JDBFReader reader = new JDBFReader.Builder("path/to/file.dbf").build();

2. Customizing Charset:

   • You can specify a custom charset provider if required.
   • Default charset is ISO-8859-1.

   Map<JDBFSupportedDbaseVersion, String> dbfEncoding = Map.of(
            JDBFSupportedDbaseVersion.DBASE_V, "CP852",
            JDBFSupportedDbaseVersion.DBASE_VII, "CP1250"
   );
   JDBFCharsetProvider myCharsetProvider = dbfEncoding::get;
   JDBFReader reader = new JDBFReader.Builder("path/to/file.dbf")
       .withCharsetProvider(myCharsetProvider)
       .build();

3. Reading Data:

   • Access the headers using:

     int headerSize = reader.getHeaderSize();
     
     JHeaderField header = reader.getHeader("ColumnName");
     
     int position = 5;
     JHeaderField header = reader.getHeader(position);

   • Access rows and their values:

     int rowCount = reader.getRowCount();
     
     int rowIndex = 2;
     Object value = reader.getValue("ColumnName", rowIndex);
     
     int position = 5;
     Object value = reader.getValue(position, rowIndex);

4. Handling Unsupported Features: Note that binary, memo, and OLE fields are not supported, so ensure your .DBF file does not rely on these features.

Additional Information

For detailed information, see the specifications in the following files:

• dBASE 5 specification
• dBASE 7 specification

License

Copyright 2024-2025 David Pilar

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.