StarThrower.XBase 2.0.0

StarThrower.XBase

Read and write dBASE (.dbf) file format including field type support for character, numeric, date, logical, and memo types.

StarThrower.XBase provides XBaseFile, a high-level wrapper for opening, querying, and modifying dBASE III (.dbf) database files — including field schema management, record CRUD operations, and an XML representation of the file's contents.

Installation

dotnet add package StarThrower.XBase

Core Types

Field Types

Setting XBaseField.FieldType to a DateField, BooleanField, MemoField, or FloatField automatically sets that field's Length (and DecimalCount where applicable) to the type's fixed values.

Exceptions

Usage

using StarThrower.XBase;

// Create a new dBASE III file and define its schema
using XBaseFile dbf = new XBaseFile(XBaseFileType.dBaseIII, "people.dbf", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.ReadWrite);

dbf.AddField(new XBaseField { Name = "NAME", FieldType = new StringField(), Length = 30 });
dbf.AddField(new XBaseField { Name = "BIRTHDATE", FieldType = new DateField() });
dbf.AddField(new XBaseField { Name = "ACTIVE", FieldType = new BooleanField() });

// Add a record
XBaseRecord record = dbf.CreateRecord();
record.SetData("NAME", "Jane Doe");
record.SetData("BIRTHDATE", new DateTime(1990, 5, 17));
record.SetData("ACTIVE", true);
dbf.AddRecord(record);

dbf.Save();

// Read records back
for (int i = 0; i < dbf.RecordCount; i++)
{
    XBaseRecord r = dbf.GetRecord(i);
    string name = (string)r.GetData("NAME");
    DateTime birthDate = (DateTime)r.GetData("BIRTHDATE");
    bool active = (bool)r.GetData("ACTIVE");
}

Exporting to XML

string xml = dbf.ToXml();

Usage Notes

• Only dBASE III is supported. XBaseFile's constructors throw NotSupportedException for any XBaseFileType other than dBaseIII, even though XBaseFileType enumerates many other historical formats (FoxBase, Visual FoxPro, Clipper, etc.) for reference.
• DeleteRecord vs. DestroyRecord. DeleteRecord marks a record's deleted flag (a "soft" delete, recoverable until the file is compacted); DestroyRecord removes the record entirely.
• Field name matching is fixed-width. XBaseFieldCollection.Find compares field names by padding the shorter name with \0 characters to match the on-disk fixed-width field name, replicating dBASE's field name storage format.
• XBaseFile.LastUpdate reads/writes the file header's last-modified date.

Dependencies

• StarThrower.ByteUtilities — endian-aware byte/Int16 conversions used internally for header and date fields.
• StarThrower.StringUtilities — string/byte array conversion and padding helpers.

License

Copyright © 2026 Stephen Elmer. Licensed under the MIT License.