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I am writing a program based on an SQL database to take the base of a Clarion 16 bit program which is soon to be non functional. However, I need to get their old records and the program does not offer much as far as export, and TopScan is like 600 dollars for a year. Is there any way for me to convert the .tps files they have to .csv? Before you start spitting out ideas here's what I've tried:

  • Data Management Center (only lets me do the first 20 and also like 600 dollars)
  • tpsUtil (returns database must start with lm= however I can't modify database)
  • DBFView (lied, can't handle TPS files)
  • Clarion Conversion Assistant (only generates the code necessary to convert with Clarion, this still requires I buy TopSpeed)

If you know how to convert TPS to CSV you will be my hero...

DanM7
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Snymax
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  • Do you have any info on the `.tps` format? – James A Mohler Jan 16 '14 at 03:48
  • i didnt even know there was multiple formats it could be in i have never worked with clarion im just trying to extract the data – Snymax Jan 16 '14 at 03:56
  • have you tried TopScan ODBC Driver(http://www.softvelocity.com/Drivers/TSODBC.htm) you may also be interested in this SO post http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9930268/how-to-extract-data-from-a-tps-topscan-clarion-file and the utility mentioned http://www.ctrl-alt-dev.nl/Projects/TPS-to-CSV/TPS-to-CSV.html. – bansi Jan 16 '14 at 03:57
  • bansi your a genius i wish i could upvote your comment can i answer my own question with in depth tutorial – Snymax Jan 16 '14 at 04:14

1 Answers1

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Faced with a similar situation last year I reverse engineered the Clarion TPS file format and wrote a utility to do the conversion to proper CSV.

Its called tps-to-csv. It's (open) source code is on github

I hope you find it useful, but please do check the results and report any inconsistencies.

ctrl-alt-dev
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