eForms
Connecting to a Visual FoxPro Database Through Microsoft Access
Microsoft Access uses a menu system to connect to Visual FoxPro databases. For this example, the Visual FoxPro
(VFP) tables and database are located in a directory C:\F1ViewDB.
To connect to Visual FoxPro, begin by launching Access and creating
a new database. When Access starts, the first window will appear.
Click the button "Blank Access database", and then click "OK"
to create the new database.
The second window will then appear. Use the file menu to specify
the directory for the database. In this example, the database
name is "Link_To_VFP" and is located in the
same directory as the VFP tables and database (C:\f1viewdb). Make sure this database remains open;
this stores the links to the VFP tables as well as any queries and reports that are created.
Once the Access database is created, from menus across the top click on "File", then
"Get External Data". The screen will appear as shown:
It is suggested that the Link Tables option is selected rather than Import. The links will read the latest version of
the data every time the VFP database and tables are downloaded.
Once the Link Tables option is selected, the following window appears.
Click on the "Files of Type" dropdown at the bottom of this form. In the popup that appears, scroll
to the bottom of the list and select "ODBC Database()".
The "Select Data Source" window will open with the "File Data Source" tab selected.
Click on the "Machine Data Source" tab. Highlight the line for "Visual FoxPro Database".
The tables are contained in a database; they are not free tables. Next, click on the "OK" button.
On the "Configure Connection" window, the button for "Visual FoxPro database (.DBC)"
must be selected. Click on the Browse button and use the File Open Dialog window to locate the VFP database.
Click on the Open button in the Dialog window and the path to the VFP database will be inserted into the
Path field of the above form. There is no need to change any Options on this form. Click the "OK" button,
and the following window will appear, which shows the tables in the VFP database.
Any table can be selected by clicking on the file name. Clicking a highlighted line will deselect the table. When the
appropriate tables are selected, click "OK".
When linking to the VFP tables, the following prompt may appear. This is asking the user to identify a primary key
for the linked table. A primary key is required only if the user will be updating or changing the data in the VFP
tables through Access. If the keys are not needed, click on the Cancel button to close the window.
When finished, the tables will appear on the Tables tab of the Access database. A globe icon precedes the linked tables
names to distinguish them from tables created in Access.
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