CREATE FROM

Create new database file from a structure extended file

Syntax

      CREATE <xcFileName> FROM <xcFileFrom> [VIA <xcRDDName>];
              [NEW] [ALIAS <xcAlias>]

Arguments

<xcFileName&gt : is the target file name to create and then open. (.dbf) is the default extension if none is given. It can be specified as literal file name or as a character expression enclosed in parentheses.

<FROM xcFileFrom> : is a structure extended file name from which the target file <xcFileName> is going to be built. It can be specified as literal file name or as a character expression enclosed in parentheses.

<VIA xcRDDName> : is RDD name to create target with. If omitted, the default RDD is used. It can be specified as literal name or as a character expression enclosed in parentheses.

<NEW> : open the target file name <xcFileName> in the next available unused work-area and making it the current work-area. If omitted open the target file in current work-area.

<ALIAS xcAlias>  :  is an optional alias to USE the target file with. If not specified, alias is based on the root name of <xcFileName>.

Description

CREATE FROM open a structure extended file <xcFileFrom> where each record contain at least the following fields (in no particular order): FIELD_NAME, FIELD_TYPE, FIELD_LEN and FIELD_DEC. Any other field is ignored. From this information the file <xcFileName> is then created and opened in the current or new work-area (according to the NEW clause), if this is a new work-area it becomes the current.

For prehistoric compatibility reasons, structure extended file Character fields which are longer than 255 characters should be treated in a special way by writing part of the length in the FIELD_DEC according to the following formula:

      FIELD->FIELD_DEC := int( nLength / 256 )
      FIELD->FIELD_LEN := ( nLength % 256 )

CREATE FROM command is preprocessed into __dbCopyStruct() function during compile time and uses this mode.

Examples

      See example in the CREATE command

Compliance

Clipper

Platforms

All

Seealso

COPY STRUCTURE, COPY STRUCTURE EXTENDED, CREATE, DBCREATE(), DBSTRUCT(), __dbCopyStruct(), __dbCopyXStruct(), __dbCreate()