ODBC connections problems with ACT 3.0 phone numbers
Mark Akins
Configuration Information:
Network: --None--
------------------------------------------------------------
I was told by Chris Underwood [Symantec] that I could connect to the
ACT 3.0 database using the Fox Pro 2.5 ODBC drivers. However, the
phone and fax fields are not working right with the ODBC drivers.
First, when I use MS Query and serveral other programs to connect to
the ACT 3.0 using ODBC I receive extra characters to the right of the
number. For example 612-933-8517 actually comes thru as 6129338517
|0|1|. The extra characters really are giving me problems. I
cannot use the substring command on the phone fields, because it
claims there is a data type mismatch. I can use the substring
command on the name and company field without a problem. I really
need to get rid of the extra characters because Rightfax does not
accept the data with the garbage characters. If I could get the
substring command to work with the phone fields, I would be in good
shape.
I was told that Fox Pro 2.5 tables are compatible with dBASE IV, so I
used dBASE IV to examine the data structure of the tables. The phone
and fax fields are 42 character text fields according to the dBASE IV
database. However, I get a warning that it is in the incorrect
language when I open the tables with dBASE IV. I can see all of the
data. The phone fields have the extra characters at the end. Why do
I get an incorrect language warning?
I cannot figure out why ODBC considers the phone number field to be a
data type mismatch with the substring command. It is my
understanding that the phone and fax fields are of the text character
type. The following substring function works with ODBC when it is
used on the name and company fields:
select {fn substring(name,1,10)} from customer.dbf
However, I get a data type mismatch when I use it on the phone and
fax fields.
What version of Fox Pro is ACT3.0 written in? Is it written in
Visual Fox Pro. Is there a ODBC driver that would work with the
phone fields? I was told that some versions of Fox Pro support
formated fields. Is that the problem? How can I get around this
problem?
We have installed ACT 3.0 for a client as a pilot program. If we
cannot solve this problem we will not be able to roll it out to the
rest of the branches. Rightfax is an installed fax server. The
requirement for the contact management system that they buy will be
compatibility with Rightfax, which means I have to solve the ODBC
problems. I want to use ACT.
My phone number is 612-979-8517. My email address is
mak...@network-guidance.com
Mark Akins
The actual data that is passed through ODBC in the phone fields is :
6129338517 |0|1| "(--
I forgot to add the last part in my message.
Chris Underwood [Symantec]
On 19 Mar 1998 17:24:32 GMT, Mark Akins <mak...@network-guidance.com>
wrote:
>The actual data that is passed through ODBC in the phone fields is :
>6129338517 |0|1| "(--
>I forgot to add the last part in my message.
Hello Mark,
There is really no other information that I have on the ODBC linking
the information over improperly. It sounds as if you need the
Software Development Kit (SDK). The SDK should also contain some good
documentation of the field layouts etc.
ACT! for Windows is a programmatically extensible application. Through
a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) second and
third-party developers can write programs that interact with the ACT!
application and database. The ACT! SDK documents the DDE and OLE
interfaces which provide the means for developers to write custom
solutions based around ACT!
To acquire the SDK you must first get the document #121 off of our Fax
on Demand (FOD) line. The FOD number is 1-800-554-4403 and select
option #1.
You must fill the form out completely and fax it back to the number
provided on the form (541-984-8026).
It takes around 7 to 14 days after that to get the SDK.
Support for the SDK range of questions is on a Fee basis and is
explained in the documentation.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Chris Underwood [Symantec]
Product Support Analyst
ACT! Technical Support
Symantec Corporation
For additional help with ACT! try these links:
Frequently Asked Questions at
http://service.symantec.com/faq/act3faq.html
Support Genie at http://service.symantec.com/genie/index.html
Knowledge Base at http://service.symantec.com/knowbase/
Product Enhancement requests at
http://www.symantec.com/feedback/index.html
File Download area at http://service.symantec.com/ftp/actftp.html
If you can not just click on these links, cut and paste the address
line (URL) into your browser or newsreader.
Mike Lazarus
I thought I'd add some comments to Chris's.
1. The extra data is the formatting and country code information - it is
part of the field data.
2. ACT! is NOT written in FoxPro, it is written in C++ and uses a
CodeBase 4 database access layer, which produces a FoxPro 2.5 compatible DBF
file.
3. FoxPro 2.5 and dBase IV are not truly compatible.
4. The best way to connect to the ACT! database is via the OLE2 interface
as per the software development kit.
5. To do what you are trying to do (ie to connect it to another fax
software), I would do it differently, I would have ACT! create a Word
document with some hidden text/fields from the template which included the
Fax Number, etc and use a Word VBA script to pass it to RightFax......this
is less elegant, but possibly easier.
--
Regards,
Michael Lazarus
GL Computing, Australia
http://www.GLComputing.com.au
The first site in the world with "official" ACT! 4.0 Information.
Mark Akins wrote in message
<98021917243...@service.symantec.com>...
Jonathan Walters
Mark Akins wrote in message
<98021915585...@service.symantec.com>...
>I was told by Chris Underwood [Symantec] that I could connect to the
>ACT 3.0 database using the Fox Pro 2.5 ODBC drivers. However, the
>phone and fax fields are not working right with the ODBC drivers.
That is because the phone number fields are formatted with special
characters. This is so that ACT! can figure out how to send the number to
the dialer.
>I was told that Fox Pro 2.5 tables are compatible with dBASE IV,
>database. However, I get a warning that it is in the incorrect
>language when I open the tables with dBASE IV. I can see all of the
>data. The phone fields have the extra characters at the end. Why do
>I get an incorrect language warning?
Partially incorrect information. FoxPro 2.5 for DOS is pretty much the same
as dBase III (The real standard if there is one). Starting with FoxPro 2.5
for Windows, there are some changes. some of the changes relate to the use
of the Windows character set (Which by the way is probably why you are
getting your warning messages) and other changes relate to added
functionality. for the basic functionality (which ACT! pretty much uses) it
is pretty much the same. As I stated previously, I suspect that you are just
getting warning because of the character set used.
>
>I cannot figure out why ODBC considers the phone number field to be a
>data type mismatch with the substring command. It is my
>understanding that the phone and fax fields are of the text character
>type. The following substring function works with ODBC when it is
>used on the name and company fields:
>
>select {fn substring(name,1,10)} from customer.dbf
>
>However, I get a data type mismatch when I use it on the phone and
>fax fields.
What is the field/variable type are you trying to deposit the data into. If
it is the wrong type, then you must perform an explicit conversion. The
phone number should be character anyways though.
>
>What version of Fox Pro is ACT3.0 written in? Is it written in
>Visual Fox Pro. Is there a ODBC driver that would work with the
>phone fields? I was told that some versions of Fox Pro support
>formated fields. Is that the problem? How can I get around this
>problem?
>
None, it is written in C++ using the Codebase database engine. I personally
do not recommend using the ODBC driver because if any writes are done to the
database, the indexes will suddenly be corrupted. The indexing used is not
quite to xBase specs as it ignores deleted records. It is much better if you
use the OLE access documented in the ACT! SDK. It completely bypasses ODBC
and allows almost complete access to the database.