I need a more efficient way of accomplishing a rather burdensome task.
Currently I'm attempting to populate our Paradox db with product information (I"m with a retail store) . This is a very manual, labor intensive process as we've got over 13,000 items to enter. My question is this: Is there a way to get the product information from an Excel spreadsheet ( which I have access to ) into Paradox in one fell swoop? I'd also be able to go the other way, take data out of Paradox and put it into the Excel format. I'm a non- technical guy, so if some one could explain this in layman's terms that would be great! Not sure what version of Paradox we're running. We're inputting the data through a GUI front end depeloped by a SW vendor speciallizing in Retail/Inventory Management Systems. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Paradox has some internal functions devoted to file import, even for the dreaded MS Excel format.

But I don't think you're going to accomplish that by means of them: you're not working with Paradox, you're working with an application WHICH USES PARADOX TABLES, and that's a totally different story...

I think the only viable solution is asking the firm which has created the software for a import routine: not only is it necessary to have THEM make the routine, since only they do fully know the structure of the Pdox DB that lies under the program, but also you need to have full knowledge of the structure of the Excel files you're going to import/export, and not having too many different types of excel files to import, since each file with a different structure means you need a different import routine...

Thanks for the great advice. I've approached our sw vendor on this and am not getting a comforting response. I'll lean on them a bit more. I've located an idependent paradox developer who says it can be done quite easily, but, not sure if he's just talking or what. Either way I assume he'd have to work closely with our sw provider to get the job done.
Thanks again!

If he/she hasn't put his/hers hand on the paradox tables and/or excel files, he/she's just telling you marketing stuff...

Be sure to have him/her evaluate thoroughly the situation and give you a precise estimate of the time/price involved BEFORE committing.

Bye!

You will need to go into paradox and get the structure of all of the tables (*.db) contained in your database. The information in Paradox should be set up as a relational database the information in Excel is likely a flat file database. By comparing the two you should get an idea of what information needs to go where. But it should be done by someone with some experience in database developement. It could be very straightforward and simple enough for you to do. But it could get very complicated if there are multiple look up tables and referential integrity rules. Also some SW vendors attempt to hide the nuts and bolts to prevent just what you are trying to do, gaining some independence from them.

Good luck.