How to Handle Path Issues When Moving Databases

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SUMMARY

When you move an application from one computer to another, and that application uses shared data on a network server, you may experiences problems with the paths. Programmers write their code so that paths are as generic as possible but when the application is moved and the paths are therefore different, it becomes a tremendous inconvenience to re-code the differences in the path information and redistribute the application.

This article explains and demonstrates how to avoid these path-related problems in relation to databases and the database container (DBC).

MORE INFORMATION

A Visual FoxPro database container (.dbc file) stores a relative path to the tables it contains. Therefore, if you move a .dbc file and its .dbf files to a new location, there shouldn't be any problems as long as the relative paths remain the same.

For example, you could move the following files from here:

   \prod\data\foo.dbc
   \prod\data\tables\bar.dbf
   \prod\data\tables\baz.dbf

   \dev\data\foo.dbc
   \dev\data\tables\bar.dbf
   \dev\data\tables\baz.dbf

Additionally, if you want to use drive letters to network drives, you can map a new network drive and path to the same drive letter like this:

 net use q: \\prod\data

     or

 net use q: \\dev\data