Hi Chester

>Howdy! :)

Howdy back!

>
>We have a lot of data stored in a FoxPro 2.5 database. The problem has arisen that many of the memo fields in Foxpro are very large and easily exceed the 255 character limit of most modern databases including Access. What I am looking for is:
>
>1. A modern mainstream user friendly database that operates under the Windows XP Pro environmnt.

Visual FoxPro

>
>2. That can accept "Memo" type field data that equals about 10 pages of M.S. Word documents (much much more than 255 characters).

Visual FoxPro

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>3. A database that is compatible (plays nicely) and shares information with programs such as Quick Books, Bitware (or another FAXing program), Outlook E-mail and of course M.S. Word and Excel.

>
>4. We want to be able to export data from this program in order to send invoices, FAXes, letters, etc without it having to be a major pain (integration) and so that we won't have to enter data twice in two (2) difference places.

That can be done via integrating FoxPro with QuickBooks, and via automating the faxing all from FoxPro.

>
>5. Something that won't break our very modest IT budget.

Do you have the current FoxPro 2.5 source code? If not, the program can be de-compiled and recompiled to run in Visual FoxPro without major changes. What was the original program called? Is it yours or is it commercial?

>
>6. And, of course, it would definitely be nice if this application could read and cleanly convert all the records accurately into the new format without errors or mess.
>
>We would be willing to invest in a separate database conversion program if necessary to get this done.
>
>So far we have tried Access which was relatively easy to use but badly chopped up the large memo fileds.
>
>ACT! Whose interface everyone liked better with the advantage of holding the large Memos in its "Notes" equivalent but it refuses to import more than 500 records from the original 1,600 record FoxPro 2.5 file and scatters the large "memo" fileds in completely unrelated records throughout the ACT! database; yuck! :mad:
>
>Things to know about our situation:
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>Our company has only two (2) PC's networked together running Windows XP in a single office. Only one has Inernet access.
>
>We do not have access to the original FoxPro 2.5 program to export the database which is in .dbf format. It broke when we went to Windows XP with the "Divide by Zero or Overflow" error. Sadly, the Microsoft patch out there only applies to FoxPro 2.6; we have FoxPro 2.5 for Windows. :(
>
>The database is for a small construction company which contains names of clients, addresses, contact information, representatives, reference I.D., etc. Kinda like a large organizer/build log combo. Nothing more than this.
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>The "Gotcha" are the memo fields which contain the contractor's individual extensive notes on each job's progress.
>
>We've looked at Visual Foxpro but it seems to be (a) more than we need as we don't want to design whole systems and (b) rather pricey.

Have someone decompile your program, give you the source code and an exe, and you're away!

>
>By the way, if anyone wants to earn a little bit of money converting the datbase to whatever format we end up going with, please let us know.
>
>Any recomendations as to what package to migrate to and how are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. :)
>
>- Chester Paul Sgroi * renovate-now@att.net

Hope that helps.