Combining Files

[Brian Davidson]

Ok, I'm doing a conversion of a pretty large and complex database I built in V6. Uses a number of files. Well, thanks to the Multiple Tables per file feature in v7, I can cut the number of files used in my solution significantly. So my question is.. Can I import the fields and layouts of one file, into another file as a new table?

[Sheldon Morgan]

As far as I had found out from pre-sales tech support at FM... the answer was a definitive "NO". OUCH! As I have converted many solutions, to some degree this is OK, as you need far fewer fields (Globals, calcs [particularly for compound joins]) than you did in the past. Once the tables are defined however, the new import mapping within the script function is much easier to work with.

Overall, this is still quite a drawback for me as many of my solution tables start out as SQL queries. I guess I'll have to learn to type faster or hire someone who can.

Also, be aware... importing a fm7 table imports all rows all the time (not current found set). Maybe this will changed in V3 (I've asked).

[RalphL]

Have you read the Migration Foundations and Methodogies document available on the FMI web site?

NMCI offers a tool (Robot) that will make a many table file from seperate files. You will still have to add layouts but you can copy and paste most of a layout. You will need to add fields to these new layouts. You may also have to define relationships. There may be a number of other changes you could make.