OfficeIMO.Reader.Dbf 3.5.1

OfficeIMO.Reader.Dbf

OfficeIMO.Reader.Dbf reads bounded DBF/xBase tables into OfficeIMO Reader chunks. The DbaClientX DBF codec owns the file format, code pages, typed values and DBT/FPT memo handling. This adapter projects those values into Reader tables without adding a database driver.

Read a table

using OfficeIMO.Reader;
using OfficeIMO.Reader.Dbf;

OfficeDocumentReader reader = new OfficeDocumentReaderBuilder()
    .AddDbfHandler(new ReaderDbfOptions {
        ChunkRows = 100,
        AllowMemoSidecarReads = true
    })
    .Build();

foreach (ReaderChunk chunk in reader.Read("contacts.dbf")) {
    Console.WriteLine(chunk.Markdown ?? chunk.Text);
}

OfficeIMO.Reader.All includes this handler. Configure it through ReaderAllOptions.Dbf. Registration takes a copy of the options; subsequent changes to the supplied object do not affect an existing reader.

Input and output contracts

• Supported profiles are dBASE III-compatible 03/83, FoxPro 2 F5, and the bounded Visual FoxPro 30/31/32 field profiles described by the codec. Unsupported dialects, field types, encryption and malformed records fail explicitly. This is structured reading, not text salvage.
• Path reads use the table alone by default. AllowMemoSidecarReads enables the codec's same-stem .dbt or .fpt sidecar lookup. A nonempty memo reference without its sidecar fails when the value is read.
• Stream reads never resolve a filename against the filesystem, including when sidecar reads are enabled. The caller's stream remains open. For explicit table and memo streams, use DbfDataReader directly.
• ReadOptions controls byte, record, field and memo budgets, deleted-record inclusion and an optional encoding override. Reader's MaxInputBytes can tighten the table byte budget. MaxTableRows limits rows per chunk.
• Columns retain their source names. Numbers use invariant text, dates use ISO dates, timestamps retain milliseconds, and binary data becomes Base64. Reader cells represent nulls as empty strings and emit a warning; the typed reader retains DBNull. Markdown escapes source text as literal cell content.
• SourceBlockIndex identifies the first physical record in a chunk, counting deleted records. DBF indexes, database backlinks and embedded objects remain inert. No DBF writing or database traversal is provided.
• A table-only byte hash cannot identify memo-dependent content, so the adapter leaves SourceHash unset and reports that limitation. Reader chunk hashes identify the emitted projection.

Convert typed rows to CSV or XLSX

Use the codec's standard DbDataReader with the existing exporters. CSV and Excel remain optional packages; this Reader adapter does not reference either exporter.

using DBAClientX.Dbf;
using OfficeIMO.CSV;
using OfficeIMO.Excel;

using (var rows = DbfDataReader.Open("contacts.dbf"))
using (var output = File.CreateText("contacts.csv")) {
    CsvDocument.WriteDataReader(output, rows, new CsvSaveOptions {
        DateTimeFormat = "O",
        NullValue = "<null>"
    });
}

using (var rows = DbfDataReader.Open("contacts.dbf"))
using (var output = File.Create("contacts.xlsx")) {
    ExcelDocument.WriteDataReader(output, rows,
        new ExcelTabularWriteOptions { RequireStreaming = true });
}

The codec's path overload owns its input streams and resolves supported memo sidecars. Each exporter consumes the reader without closing it. Binary values become Base64 text in both destinations. CSV does not retain native column types or a distinct null value unless a null marker is selected. XLSX follows Excel's numeric precision and cell text length limits; large memo values can exceed the 32,767-character cell limit. These conversions do not preserve DBF indexes, deletion flags, code-page metadata or save-back semantics.

Qualification and dependencies

The focused tests use independently generated Python dbf tables and dbfread decoding: plain dBASE III, dBASE III with DBT, FoxPro 2 with FPT, and Visual FoxPro with FPT, nulls, typed numbers, timestamps and binary values. Tests reopen CSV and XLSX output, validate the Open XML package, and exercise stream ownership, cancellation, registration snapshots, chunking and memo access policy. See the fixture provenance.

This evidence does not establish native dBASE/FoxPro application acceptance, Visual FoxPro 31/32 generation coverage, Windows .NET Framework runtime acceptance or NativeAOT qualification.

Runtime dependencies are OfficeIMO.Reader.Core and DBAClientX.Dbf. Older target frameworks use the codec's Microsoft code-page compatibility package. Python tools are fixture-generation tools only and are absent from shipped packages and normal tests. Targets are netstandard2.0, net8.0, net10.0, and net472 on Windows. License: MIT.