[comp.lang.pascal] Dbase access from Turbo 5.5

ph62303@tut.fi (Hartoma Petri Juhani) (07/30/90)

I bought TurboPower's B-Tree Filer (single user version) just couple
of days ago. I expected to find routines for handling dBASE files
and/or indexes but none were present. I was surprised to find very
large collection of routines for Novell NetWare, but in this single
user version they were not included. :-(

So, the next item in the shopping list is Topaz - anyone know the
latest price when bought straight from the company? How do they treat
foreign customers? BTW, the second on the list was Object
Professional, which is QUITE a big composition of base and
sophisticated units.

(* Petri *)
--
Petri Hartoma, Tre University of Technology, ph62303@tut.fi, ph62303@tut.UUCP,
mcsun!tut!ph62303, msdos1@funic.funet.fi (PD Group: public@tut.fi)
Moderating MSDOS material in funic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100)

ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch) (07/30/90)

In <PH62303.90Jul29204928@kaarne.tut.fi> ph62303@tut.fi (Hartoma Petri Juhani) writes:



>So, the next item in the shopping list is Topaz - anyone know the
>latest price when bought straight from the company? How do they treat
>foreign customers? 

Topaz lists for $75.  I dunno if they're even setup for international
business.  You might be better off buying through a discount retailer.
The Programmer's Connection catalog lists Topaz at $69, and if I've
read the schedule right they charge $35 to mail it to Finland,
slightly more for express service delivery.

Note that you can't count on saving money, or even breaking even, by
buying direct from the publisher.  Except for special sales or
"upgrade" they usually have to charge list *plus* shipping -- at least
if they want any distributors to carry their products!

I'd be curious to see how Topaz works out for you.  I've often thought
of getting it, especially when I'm into some complicated data-handling
chore.  It's not just that it's cheaper than dBase, though that's a
factor.  But I really dread learning a klunky, old-fashioned
mainframeish language like dBase.  I nearly bought Vulcan at the
earlybird price for the reason.  Given the way it's been received,
it's just as well I missed that chance.
-- 

ergo@netcom.uucp			Isaac Rabinovitch
atina!pyramid!apple!netcom!ergo		Silicon Valley, CA
uunet!mimsy!ames!claris!netcom!ergo

	"I hate quotations.  Tell me what you know!"
			-- Ralph Waldo Emerson