How do I extract data from a 4D database?

Question

A client of mime has an old program running on 4D. I am not familiar with this format, but I have 4 files; a .4DC , .rsr , .4DD and one .4DR file.

I suspect that the data is in the .4DD file. How can I extract the data?

Answer 1

If the 4D application does not have an export function in it then you need to go to the developer to open up the data. Data in 4D applications is accessible only to the application that created the data file. This allows self contained applications to remain proprietary. ODBC connections are great when you have access to the source code, which then lets you separate the data from it's application.

This might not solve your problem, but I hope it explains how the 4D.com product works.

Answer 2

The format of the data is proprietary to 4D and unlike an SQL dump the schema and the data are kept in separate files.

The .4DC contains the compiled code, the gui, and the structure (schema) of the database. The data itself is in the .4DD.

To open the data "back door" so that you can interact with it you need the .4DB which is the uncompiled structure (and code and gui). There is also likely a password required to open the .4DB in designer mode.

4D supports ODBC connections (at least in some versions). If you are lucky that may be enabled and you can access it by running the compiled application and then running your queries against it.

Answer 3

Well I suspect to read a 4D database, you'll need a 4D database client.

I further guess that this is obtainable in the "4D DEVELOPER STANDARD" package, buyable from the maker of 4D. See http://www.4d.com/ .

There might be other (possibly free) solutions, but as long as you don't specify what you want to achieve exactly (just read the data? update it? Modify the database structure? And on what platform?), it is hard to offer useful ideas except for "google that".