Need OOo base help
 

I need to convert a database from MS Access to something I can use in Linux. (In a moment of weakness I took over as Secretary for a club I belong to) I need data base functionality, like views and queries etc. I had the Access db file exported in excel format, opened it in OOo and then opened base and imported it as a dBase format file. Then I created a form using the form wizard. The data is all there. However when I go to open the file it always wants to create a form again. I read (in a book on OOo) that this is standard and that I should go to another OOo function, like Writer, and use File Open to open the file. But when I do that I get a Calc spreadsheet. :confused:

I have been trying to find documentation on the base function, with no luck. I have two books on OOo, but the sections on base are way too simplistic, and anyway doesn't seem to match my results. I went to the OOo web site but the documentation for OOo 2.x does not include base documentation.:scratch:

How do I set up and use queries and views in base? How do I create input forms? I can't get to the form I created when I first imported the data.

Also, what is the dBase format? Is it the old DOS dBase format? Or is it a new linux relational format. The DOS dBase format was not a true relational data Base, I believe it was a linked list of some sort (I used to do a lot of xBase stuff in DOS but I've forgotten some of the particulars) Can I change the base dBase format to a true relational data base format like mySQL?

And does anyone know where I can get solid documentation on base?

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated ;)

The simplest thing might be connecting from your db client to the db server. If you still can open de DB with M$ Access, may be you can export it to your MySQL server following the steps on this link:
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/.../msaccess.html
Then you may access it with whatever you want as client.

The lack of an MS Access type database is one of the toughest things about Linux. I have not heard that OO Base is ready. Kexi is another program that claims some Access compatibility, and I have recently been hearing of another program named Knoda. Check them out. If you are willing to work with a real RDBMS, (and that is a big bite to chew), I wrote a tutorial about getting Access data to Postgresql using ReKall. ReKall is a fairly mature front-end patterned after Access, and if you're pretty good at what you're doing, it may be just what you need.

Thanks, I'll try it
 

Thanks to both of you. However I have zero MS capability, I am strictly Linux.

I'll check out your tutorial and see if I can get the data transferred over. If Postgresq is sql capable I can handle it.

I'll post my results either way.

I read the tutorial - some questions
 

:study: OK, I printed and read your tutorial. Seems straight forward. However I do have a question. If POSTGRESQL is a RDBMS and ReKall is just a gui front end, why do you say that POSTGRESQL can't access a db created by ReKall? :confused:

I have never worked with POSTGRESQL but don't the tables exist in a POSTGRESQL data base? If I need to do something with the data that ReKall can't handle, shouldn't I be able to do it just about anything I need with just plain sql?

And to anyone following this thread, I'd still like to solve my OOo problems because at some point in the future I'm going to have to reverse this process and give the data to someone who only has MS software. :cry:

Stay tuned, I'm going to install POSTGRESQL and ReKall and try to move the data over.

The big question I forgot to ask
 

I forgot to ask, if I do the work of converting my data to postgresSQL, can OOo read it for merge operations? After all, that's really the most impotant reason I need to get it into a db format, so I can run a query to create a view, and then create a mailing from it.

Sorry to interrupt. May be this can help some way: Yesterday after I read your problem, I just checked how I can solve it in the easiest & fastest way, well, I created a MS Access relational db and I used the MySQL Migration Toolkit that is included in the MySQL GUI Tools Bundle; I selected the Access DB, then I selected the MySQL server, and... done (everything under GNU/Linux), and it work migrating both ways with several other relational kind DB types.

MySQL GUI Tools Bundle, download from:

http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/gui-tools/5.0.html

Thank you
 

I did some checking and OOo mail merge will connect with MySQL but there is no indication that ir can connect with postgresSQL. Combined with the ability to convert back to MS Access in the future makes it a simple choice. I am going to install MySQL and go from there. Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to help me with my problem.

I'll post the results after I get it working. :)

OK, My problem has been solved thank you all for your help in this and other threads.