Introduction

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4D v16.3

Introduction

4D’s data importing and exporting capabilities provide a fast and reliable way to transfer information to and from your database. If you are upgrading to 4D from another database or a spreadsheet, you can avoid the work of re-entering the data from the keyboard by importing your data. You can import data from Windows data management applications, or any non-Windows application whose data has been transferred to Windows.

You can also export data from 4D so that it can be used in other types of programs that process information. For example, you can export data to a specialized graphics or statistics program. You can also transfer the exported data to another type of computer.

You can import or export data using the settings in the appropriate dialog boxes or using a form. Importing or exporting using the dialog boxes is faster than using a form. However, if you use a form you can use object and form methods to process data. When you import or export data using a form, the form and object methods are executed for every record that is processed.

Once you have defined your import or export settings, you can save or load them into or from Import/Export Settings files.

When importing or exporting data via a file, you specify the file format, the field and record delimiters, and the fields to be imported or exported.

Finally, 4D lets you import and export data from and to an ODBC data source, without passing by an intermediary file. This point is covered in Importing and exporting data via an ODBC data source.

Notes:

You can also use the Quick Report editor to export records. For more information, refer to the Disk file option in Executing a quick report.
You can export and import data using the 4D language commands. Refer to the Import and Export section of the 4D Language Reference manual.