On 5 Oct 2001, at 11:52, Helen Borrie wrote:

> At 09:01 AM 05-10-01 +0800, you wrote:
>
> >It was built as Dialect 3. The problem with the date (data) is that it is
> > from a Dbase III+ file, and there is no datatype like TIMESTAMP, there is
> >not even one for TIME.
>
> Do you _want_ to store data and time separately, or would you prefer to
> amalgamate the two Dbase columns as TIMESTAMP?

Forgeting about Clipper (dbase) limitations, would the TIMESTAMP
datatype still enable me to:

(i) Search between date ranges (no time values specified)
(ii) Search between time values (no date values specified)
(iii) Search on date and time ranges
(iv) Load the TIMESTAMP with a value of

DateValue + nill

because we have many files with dates, and no times

Any other limitations we would experince going from seperate DATE,
TIME columns to a TIMESTAMP ?

I have dropped the DATE , TIME columns , added the TIMESTAMP and
with the (www.clevercomponents.com) datapump, loaded a Dbase
CHAR datatype to the TIMESTAMP datatype.

Guess what, ........ now there are no errors. Thanks !! :)

> >I can't see such a help file in either D6 or Interbase help files.
>
> The Data Definition Manual is not a help file - it is part of the
> seven-volume InterBase documentation set. It's in Adobe PDF format so you
> will need Acrobat Reader 4 (free from www.adobe.com). For a link, go the
> Documentation Index section of the interbase2000.org website
> http://www.interbase2000.org

Will check that out, thanks

> Those who have been used to the BDE techniques sometimes have a lot of
> trouble adapting to the native IBO techniques. You are so far fairly
> uncontaminated, I think! I wonder whether Lester might have some
> advice on this matter!

Yes, fortunately, I haven't had much exposure at all to the BDE, and the
"pre-purchase" D6 months, I spent reading thru the
Borland.public.delphi... and borland.public.interbase... ng's, also the
...bde newsgroup. After a few months of that, I was convinced not to go
anywhere near the BDE.

Thanks,

Peter