needs to convert omnis7 data to access

[Guest]

anybody know how to convert omnis7 data base file into access file or even
into a flat files (text)

 

[Van T. Dinh]

It is about 13 years since I last used Omnis7 (Windows version). However, I
remember importing data from flat files (Text) into Omnis7 so I am sure you
can export data from Omnis7 to a text file and then use the text file for
importing into Access.

Of course, this only works for data. The GUI design will have to be done
from scratch in Access.

 

[jerichar99]

I am wondering if a solution was ever discovered. I have the sam
problem with this 12 year old program (which is still working fine)
However, I would like to migrate the data into something lik
Access

I have Omnis7 1.20, and I can't find any export menu item. Yes, yo
can import data, but nothing about exporting. I can't open th
datafile (.df1) with the latest Omnis program (demo on their site
because the datafile is too old. However, they say you have t
convert the datafile to Omnis7 version 3, then from there you ca
open it with the latest omnis program. Does anyone have Omnis
version 3 (or any Omnis 7)? It's not for sale anywhere I can find
so it's not a matter of just buying it. It's a matter of finding it

I'm assuming that if I open it in Omnis 7 version 3, I may be able t
export it from there

Can anyone shed any light on this? I've honestly spent a lot of tim
on this and I am truly stumped. :-

My email is (e-mail address removed). Thanks

 

[Van T. Dinh]

If you use the Windows version (there is a Mac version which Omnis was
developed for), the Export Data Menu is a Sub-Menu of the Utilities Menu.
According to my old book, you can export to the following formats:
* Dif
* Sylk
* dBase
* Delimited commas (CSV)
* Delimited tabs
* One field per line
* Omnis data transfer

My book is published in 1991 by Blyth Software, the creator of Omnis and
IIRC, it was the first version of Omnis-7 for Windows (Omnis-5 was ported to
Windows 3 originally).

 

[jerichar99]

Thanks for the info about the Utilities->Export menu. Why I neve
saw it was because the application I used to open the data file woul
remove the utilities menu. Thus, I never knew such a menu existe
until you mentioned it

I doubt anybody will ever the problem like I had, but I'll explain i
in the hopes it may help someone in the future. The application
inherited (ri.app using ri.df1 as the datafile) would load up an
remove all menus that allow modification of the program itself (suc
as the design menu). The Achilles' heel, as I learned, was to ope
the app as normal but lock ri.df1 (I had it open in a hex editor).
This would throw an error, bringing up the debugger screen, an
viola, I can edit the app's code. I eventually found the line tha
removes the utilities menu, and I thus removed that line. I save
the application, unlocked ri.df1, and reopened the application, no
with the utilities menu. Then from there it was easy; I jus
exported the data to a csv file

I should mention a couple of things about exporting. It's ver
annoying how you have to type out every field you want exported. I
would have been better if checkboxes or something were used, but thi
program is about 13 years old. Also, "file" in omnis really mean
table (on the export screen, it asks for "main file" which means fro
what table do you want data)

As pathetic as it sounds, I wrote a visual basic program that emulate
a user exporting the data (pretty much just mouse clicks and keyboar
emulation). Why? Because the app had about 40 tables, some table
had 3 fields and others had over 200! I would have to type all thes
by hand; why not write a program that does it?! Anyway, it worke
well. It takes about 15 minutes to do a full export, and no use
intervention is required (the visual basic program even opens an
closes omnis7)

Well, thanks again for this thread. It's amazing people still us
this program

-Jami

 

[Van T. Dinh]

I was very impressed when I first saw Omnis-5 and later Omnis-7 (for
Windows). The technical contents were impressive and IMHO, was well ahead
of Access 1.0 which came out later.

Pity about the marketing power of Blythe Software. In Australia, a company
in Gold Coast (more or less a holiday area) had the exclusive marketing
right to the software while the main markets are Sydney, Melbourne and
Canberra. I knew straight away the penetration would be small and if I
concentrated on it, I wouldn't have enough jobs to keep me going.

I actually surprised that Omnis-7 is still going and there is Omnis-7
(version 8). 7 was the version number previously. They should have named
it Omnis-14. It sounds exactly Pentium IV ( "Pent" means 5, i.e. 8086
architecture chip version 5). Perhaps, the chip should be renamed "Nonium".

 

[chairman56]

Am struggling with Omnis7 as well. I can get to the Export facility and enter the table name correctly. Beyond that I cannot understand how to select the fields for export. There is no Help on this feature.

Any suggestions most welcome.

Thanks - Andy

 

[sherisk8z]

As far as I can tell Andy, you have to type each field in manually. I pulled up the file to help me with that.

Question for the experts (I am a novice at best) ~ is there a way to add a header for each field in the export?

Thanks for any help!

Sheri

 

[kingrobb]

So you eventually got the export to work but what I am wondering is ...
Did you not have any "relational" tables?
And if so, how did you join those back up in the new database?

My clients Omnis database started as Omnis 3. Was converted to Omnis 7. Then to Studio 3.0. I am thinking of upgrading again but this time wondering if it would be a good idea to get away from the Omnis custom database format and convert the data to SQL. But this data has relational connections. I can see exporting tables to CSV as a possibility but I can't see how I can re-join the relationships between tables. For example I have one table for "clients" and another for "dependents". There is a relational join and no specific field that is mirrored in each.