Re Converting Xy to dbf

[Patricia M Godfrey pmgodfrey@xxxxxxxx]

You say you have c. 10 very long files. Are they all on the same pattern
as the list of field names you gave? If so, you should probably merge
them into one, but it might be more prudent to structure them first; one
file that big could put you out of memory. Or you could import each in
turn to your spreadsheet, which, if it's a 32-bit (Windows native) one,
might not have the memory problems (or it might, if it's as buggy as most
Win apps).

Anyway, call the first file. Put your field names in the first row,
separated by commas, preferably all caps, and each no more than 10
characters, no spaces or fancy chars (&,-,*, or anything like that). End
with a carriage return-line feed (i.e., hit return). Then each set of
items should be in one line, with a CR/LF at the end, and each item
within should be separated from the next by a comma. If any of the items
(e.g., Notes) have commas or quotation marks within them, that field will
have to have quotes around it (and the internal quotes will have to be
single quotes) Here's how you'd do it for a classic name, address, phone
no. file:

SURNAME,GNAME,TITLE,COMP,ADDR1,ADDR2,CITY,STATE,ZIP,PHONE,FAX
"Smith","John","Mr".,"XYZ Corp.","123 Maple
St.","Suite
33","Podunk","NJ","07621","201-123-1234","201-123-5678"
"Brown","Mary","Ms.","VBC, Inc.","25 Laurel
Drive","
",Harborview","NJ","07072","201-987-5432","201-987-9876"

Note that if in any record (line) a field (column) is blank, it must
still have its commas, and a space between them, though not necessary,
can keep a simple-minded algorithm from getting "confused." If there are
no field-internal commas or quotes, you can skip the quotes around
non-number fields.

Cut and paste a few lines to a sample file, save it, and try importing to
your speadsheet. (Check the help files for how. I can tell you for
Quattro Pro or 123, but I don't have Excel, though it's the only halfway
decent thing M$ makes.) Each item should be in a separate column. Try it
both with and without the quotation marks around the fields and see which
comes over better. Once you see which method works best (assuming you
have a choice), structure all the files that way, and either Merge them
in Xy and then import or import one, save the resulting spreadsheet,
import another, either to that worksheet or to another and cut and paste
it to the first (you'll need to experiment to see which works best), and
proceed like that.

Once you have everyting nicely lined up in your spreadsheet, SAveAs and
choose .dbf. Once it's saved, close immediately.

Let me know if there is anything I didn't cover, and good luck.

Patricia