UPDATE: 64-bit Office add-in

The 64-bit version of the SAVEDBF add-in is not yet ready...:-(

Unfortunately it is a bigger undertake than we originally estimated. Replacing/recompiling the standard VBA code is relatively straightforward. However, we replaced/rewrote the entire dBase database driver from scratch in the 2011 May release as Microsoft's ACE/OLE driver was way too buggy and unreliable. That part is using a lot of non-standard and more sophisticated VBA coding that is a bit more challenging to recompile/re-write for 64-bit.

We are getting there but there will be a few months of rigorous testing. Our software has been virtually bug free since its release and would like to keep it that way!...:-)

Thanks for your patience!

PS, Microsoft themselves advise people against installing the 64-bit version of office (even on a Win7 64 bit machine) as most developers need to re-write their 32-bit apps and unless they do very basic standard VBA coding, there are things to replace/rewrite (Office 2010 VBA is called VBA 7 with different syntax, and of course we need to write one add-in that works in both environments for now).

More on this can be found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681792.aspx

Gyula

Journey - Just beginning!

Over the last 2 years, quite a few people commented on the impressive qualities of the SaveDBF Excel add-in and its reliability.

I did a quick summary of my ever-growing customer list and I was surprised at the variety of industries and geographical diversity of the people who are using my software. The SaveDBF Excel add-in is used on every continent and over 80 countries.

My esteemed customer list includes researchers studying glaciers in Antarctica, students and professors from literally all universities in Europe and North America, Fortune 500 companies with multi-billion dollars of revenue and many government agencies in the US. I have non-profit organizations such as the Nature Conservancy Group, small business owners in South America, organizations supporting mine-recovery efforts in Afghanistan, some of the largest utility and forestry companies in the world, l and the list goes on...

If you are interested in the software and would like to evaluate it for your company or if you have a project in mind, please email me. 100% satisfaction guaranteed!

I have yet to find an Excel problem that I could not solve. Challenge me...:-)

Quick Note: 64-bit versus 32-bit Microsoft Excel 2010

The SaveDBF Excel add-in is a 32-bit add-in that will not run on a 64-bit version of Office under Windows 7.

There is no real advantage of installing the 64-bit version unless you are manipulating 2-GB+ files.

How can you tell if your version of Office 2010 will work with the add-in?

• If you have an XLSTART directory under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ then you have the 32-bit version installed.
• If you have an XLSTART directory under C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\ then you have the 64-bit version installed.

The merits of each system are described at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681792.aspx

I will be rolling out a 64-bit edition of the add-in likely by the end of the year.

SaveDBF Excel addin - New Version is Now Available!

In addition to bug fixes, here are the highlights of the new added features:

• Tested with the latest Excel 2010 on Windows XP/Vista and Win 7 (also with Excel 2007).
• Replaced the Microsoft database driver with my own that creates native binary DBF files. MS is slowly phasing out the DBF capabilities in its driver and this step had to be made sooner or later. No relying on MS database features anymore!
• Added the option to over-write the original DBF file (a backup is created).
• Added the option to auto-fix column names in an Excel file (this is limited to removing leading and trailing spaces automatically and replacing illegal characters with an underscore).
• Added the option to convert an Excel file to ALL TEXT fields based on the width of the columns. This is a great feature for labeling programs.
• There are no longer any issues with dashes/spaces etc in the file name or worksheet tab name! Any names are allowed.
• Excel files that contain error values are now converted and the error values are automatically replaced with a blank.
• Hidden columns are identified.
• Even more improved error handling and many more!

Many tireless weekends of development and testing went into this version so I hope you will like it!

Thank you for your patience!

Quick Note: SaveDBF add-in and Excel 2010

Some potential users asked me if the SaveDBF add-in is compatible with Excel 2010, the latest Excel version. I will be installing Excel 2010 in September on my machine and will thoroughly test it. However, several users reported that the add-in works with no problems at all in Excel 2010 on Windows 7. If you are one of those users with Excel 2010, please comment on your experience, things that might help other users decide to make the switch. I started losing count on the Excel versions people now are using all over the world...
UPDATE: a couple of users reported problems with Chinese characters on Excel 2010. Likely a code page issue that can be solved with the right database driver. Will investigate when I lay my hands on Excel 2010 in a few weeks...

Major milestone - 500 users!

Just for the bragging rights...;-)

In a short 5 months time I surpassed 500 registered users! I have users from literally every continent (yeah, even from Antarctica) and from over 80 countries! I have users from some very large corporations to university students, from electrical engineers to GIS analysts!

Pretty neat!

Just a small sample of testimonials:

"I work with the ArcView GIS software where I routinely edit the attribute DBF tables of the shape files in Excel. I used to do this in Excel 2003 but I had to use a lot of workaround in Excel 2007 to make it work. I love that the SaveDBF add-in does not overwrite the original file and it is especially helpful that the add-in warns me if the attribute table does not satisfy the DBF standards. This was a big problem for me in Excel 2003. All in all the SaveDBF program is a marvelous tool that is a must-have for all GIS analysts if they have Office 2007 on their system."

Thomas (Hungary)

"Your Save DBF add-in literally saved my GIS course this autumn at <>. I teach GIS Applications for Earth and Environmental Scientists. Much of the course involves creating geo data bases of various map attributes (mineral assays, geologic structural measurements, precipitation values, geochemical analyses, etc.) then plotting and or contouring this data them in the ArcGIS-ArcMap platform. In the past we were able to directly convert Excel 2003 data files into the DBF format required by ArcMap. Our upgraded computers now carry Excel 2007 which no longer has that conversion functionality. Your add-in program was easy to install and works beautifully. Its error check function also helps students easily find and fix simple errors such as spaces in column headings or too many characters. I appreciate your generosity in sharing the program with us."

John (United States)

"Without the SaveDBF add-in, I would have had to reinvent a lot of IT processes to get around the elimination of saving to dbf in Excel 2007. The add-in was easy to install and the users have found it very easy to use."

Karen (United States)

"Saving data to DBF format is a must have when working with GIS systems such as ArcGIS. SaveDBF is an easy to use application that nicely overcomes new limitations in Excel when writing to DBFs."

Steven (Australia)

"SaveDBF played a critical role in my converting Excel 2007 files to dbase format for use in ArcView 9.0. Without SaveDBF, I was at a dead-end, with no option but to spend another 1K (which I don't have) for upgrading to Arcview 9.3, which reads Excel files directly. So SaveDBF saved me big bucks" It's a great product; easy to install and works flawlessly. Gyula has done a tremendous job in developing this product."

Anthony (Canada)

"I was very pleased with how quickly and easily I was able to get a fully working version of the software. This add-in will make life a lot easier with all of the GIS work I do!"

Adam (United States)

DOWNLOAD the latest version from HERE!.

SaveDBF Excel Add-in future plans

Dear Fellow DBF Users,

The latest upgrade of the SaveDBF Excel 2007 add-in (used to be called XLSX2DBF) can be now downloaded from HERE!.

The changes include fixes related to minor bugs in Microsoft's OLEDB engine and some improved field type identification for users who start out with an Excel file.

Future plans:

I plan one more upgrade in Jan/Feb 2010. This will be a major upgrade with lots of planned improvements as listed below:

- Add a Preference window where users can set to:

• Overwrite the original DBF file (and create a date-stamped backup file in the same folder).

• Mimic Microsoft's Excel 2003 behaviour (i.e. automatically replace spaces in field names with an underscore, accept field names longer than 10 characters)
  

- Add a Data Conversion window where the user can change the field type and size from what the add-in determined from the data. This is useful for people who start with an Excel file with data that do not necessarily reflect the maximum field size for a character field, for example. The add-in will guess the maximum size from the data, but the user can over-ride it in the new window. Or you can simply click OK and the add-in will behave exactly as it does now.

- Batch processing capabilities (i.e. calling the macro from a third party program (e.g. Python or Perl or C++ etc) and mass-process many files without user interaction.

- Improved speed for very large DBF files and a progress bar with % complete reported.

If you have other improvement ideas this is the time to email them to me at gygulyas - at - yahoo - dot - ca!

Thank you very much for your continued support!

Long live the DBF!