>precautions that a desktop database doesn't care about). I know that one
>of the
>fastest ways to do imports is to create an external file, but I haven't got a
>clue how to do that.

I import 65k records in 13 seconds using an external file. On a regular
basis - it's the average size of the weekly stolen card data file our
clients get from the bank.

1. Make sure that the external file access is enabled in the config file.

2. Make sure that the external file is fixed length fields.

3. Create a table with all of the fields that will be in your external
table. Make sure that ALL field types are "CHAR". (It just makes everything
easier ...)

4. Make sure to create a column for the EOL markers AS WELL. The EOL
markers depend on your OS. On windows, it is the CRLF pair - 2 chars.

5. Open the file using SQL ... I dump the records from the table (which I
call an import table) into a more permamanent table.

the same process used to take me 2 hours using Paradox ...

The entire procedure is WELL documented in the IB 6 docs\

Regards

Tim


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