Adding a Connection to xBase

To add a connection to xBase:

1. In the application console, navigate to the Connections page.
2. At the Add Connections panel, select the icon for the connection you want to add.
3. If the xBase icon is not available, click the Add More icon to download and install the xBase connector from the CData site.

For required properties, see the Settings tab.

For connection properties that are not typically required, see the Advanced tab.

The DataSource property must be set to the name of the folder that contains the .dbf files. Specify the IncludeFiles property to work with xBase table files having extensions that differ from .dbf. Specify multiple extensions in a comma-separated list. Specify the CodePage property to set correct encoding for text fields in .dbf tables.

This section details a selection of advanced features of the xBase Sync App.

User Defined Views

The Sync App allows you to define virtual tables, called user defined views, whose contents are decided by a pre-configured query. These views are useful when you cannot directly control queries being issued to the drivers. See User Defined Views for an overview of creating and configuring custom views.

SSL Configuration

Use SSL Configuration to adjust how Sync App handles TLS/SSL certificate negotiations. You can choose from various certificate formats; see the SSLServerCert property under "Connection String Options" for more information.

Firewall and Proxy

Configure the Sync App for compliance with Firewall and Proxy, including Windows proxies and HTTP proxies. You can also set up tunnel connections.

Query Processing

The Sync App offloads as much of the SELECT statement processing as possible to xBase and then processes the rest of the query in memory (client-side).

See Query Processing for more information.

Logging

See Logging for an overview of configuration settings that can be used to refine CData logging. For basic logging, you only need to set two connection properties, but there are numerous features that support more refined logging, where you can select subsets of information to be logged using the LogModules connection property.

Customizing the SSL Configuration

By default, the Sync App attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store.

To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats to do so.

Connecting Through a Firewall or Proxy

HTTP Proxies

To connect through the Windows system proxy, you do not need to set any additional connection properties. To connect to other proxies, set ProxyAutoDetect to false.

In addition, to authenticate to an HTTP proxy, set ProxyAuthScheme, ProxyUser, and ProxyPassword, in addition to ProxyServer and ProxyPort.

Other Proxies

Set the following properties:

• To use a proxy-based firewall, set FirewallType, FirewallServer, and FirewallPort.
• To tunnel the connection, set FirewallType to TUNNEL.
• To authenticate, specify FirewallUser and FirewallPassword.
• To authenticate to a SOCKS proxy, additionally set FirewallType to SOCKS5.

The Sync App enables you to connect with .dbf files including those used in FoxPro 2.6 and Clipper. The Sync App supports the dBase III dialect. The Sync App requires access to a local file folder containing the table files.

The CData Sync App dynamically obtains the schemas; reconnect to pick up any changes in the metadata, such as added or removed columns or changes in data type.

The connection string properties are the various options that can be used to establish a connection. This section provides a complete list of the options you can configure in the connection string for this provider. Click the links for further details.

For more information on establishing a connection, see Establishing a Connection.

Database

---

Property	Description
DataSource	The path to the folder containing the .dbf files.
IncludeFiles	Comma-separated list of file extensions to include into the set of table-content files.
CodePage	The code page to use for decoding character fields.

Logging

---

Property	Description
LogModules	Core modules to be included in the log file.

Schema

---

Property	Description
Location	A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.
BrowsableSchemas	This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.
Tables	This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC.
Views	Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC.

Miscellaneous

---

Property	Description
EmptyStringIsNull	Tells provider to expose empty strings as null values.
ExcludeFileExtensions	Set to true if file extensions should be excluded from table names.
MaxRows	Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.
Other	These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.
PseudoColumns	This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.
SetExactOn	Mimics beahviour of SET EXACT ON mode in Microsoft OLE DB provider.
UserDefinedViews	A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

This section provides a complete list of the Database properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

---

Property	Description
DataSource	The path to the folder containing the .dbf files.
IncludeFiles	Comma-separated list of file extensions to include into the set of table-content files.
CodePage	The code page to use for decoding character fields.

The path to the folder containing the .dbf files.

Remarks

The path to the folder containing the .dbf files or files specified in IncludeFiles. If you leave this property blank the property is assigned with a reference to the current directory, "./". The explicit path depends on the environment of the running application.

Comma-separated list of file extensions to include into the set of table-content files.

Remarks

Comma-separated list of file extensions to include into the set of table-content files. Do not list memo-file extensions here. The default is DBF.

The code page to use for decoding character fields.

Remarks

The code page to use for decoding character fields. Default value is UTF8.

This section provides a complete list of the Logging properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

---

Property	Description
LogModules	Core modules to be included in the log file.

Core modules to be included in the log file.

Remarks

Only the modules specified (separated by ';') will be included in the log file. By default all modules are included.

See the Logging page for an overview.

This section provides a complete list of the Schema properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

---

Property	Description
Location	A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.
BrowsableSchemas	This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.
Tables	This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC.
Views	Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC.

A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.

Remarks

The path to a directory which contains the schema files for the Sync App (.rsd files for tables and views, .rsb files for stored procedures). The folder location can be a relative path from the location of the executable. The Location property is only needed if you want to customize definitions (for example, change a column name, ignore a column, and so on) or extend the data model with new tables, views, or stored procedures.

If left unspecified, the default location is "%APPDATA%\\CData\\xBase Data Provider\\Schema" with %APPDATA% being set to the user's configuration directory:

Platform	%APPDATA%
Windows	The value of the APPDATA environment variable
Linux	~/.config

This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.

Remarks

Listing the schemas from databases can be expensive. Providing a list of schemas in the connection string improves the performance.

This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC.

Remarks

Listing the tables from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of tables in the connection string improves the performance of the Sync App.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the tables you want in a comma-separated list. Each table should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Tables=TableA,[TableB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`TableC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC.

Remarks

Listing the views from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of views in the connection string improves the performance of the Sync App.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the views you want in a comma-separated list. Each view should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Views=ViewA,[ViewB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`ViewC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

This section provides a complete list of the Miscellaneous properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

---

Property	Description
EmptyStringIsNull	Tells provider to expose empty strings as null values.
ExcludeFileExtensions	Set to true if file extensions should be excluded from table names.
MaxRows	Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.
Other	These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.
PseudoColumns	This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.
SetExactOn	Mimics beahviour of SET EXACT ON mode in Microsoft OLE DB provider.
UserDefinedViews	A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

Tells provider to expose empty strings as null values.

Remarks

Tells provider to expose empty strings as null values. Default value is False.

Set to true if file extensions should be excluded from table names.

Remarks

Set to true if file extensions should be excluded from table names. For example, if set to True, this will make table `users.dbf` appear as `users`.

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

Remarks

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.

Remarks

The properties listed below are available for specific use cases. Normal driver use cases and functionality should not require these properties.

Specify multiple properties in a semicolon-separated list.

Integration and Formatting

DefaultColumnSize	Sets the default length of string fields when the data source does not provide column length in the metadata. The default value is 2000.
ConvertDateTimeToGMT	Determines whether to convert date-time values to GMT, instead of the local time of the machine.
RecordToFile=filename	Records the underlying socket data transfer to the specified file.

This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.

Remarks

This setting is particularly helpful in Entity Framework, which does not allow you to set a value for a pseudo column unless it is a table column. The value of this connection setting is of the format "Table1=Column1, Table1=Column2, Table2=Column3". You can use the "*" character to include all tables and all columns; for example, "*=*".

Mimics beahviour of SET EXACT ON mode in Microsoft OLE DB provider.

Remarks

A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

Remarks

User Defined Views are defined in a JSON-formatted configuration file called UserDefinedViews.json. The Sync App automatically detects the views specified in this file.

You can also have multiple view definitions and control them using the UserDefinedViews connection property. When you use this property, only the specified views are seen by the Sync App.

This User Defined View configuration file is formatted as follows:

• Each root element defines the name of a view.
• Each root element contains a child element, called query, which contains the custom SQL query for the view.

For example:

{
	"MyView": {
		"query": "SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE MyColumn = 'value'"
	},
	"MyView2": {
		"query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE Id IN (1,2,3)"
	}
}

Use the UserDefinedViews connection property to specify the location of your JSON configuration file. For example:

"UserDefinedViews", C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\tmp\UserDefinedViews.json

Note that the specified path is not embedded in quotation marks.