this has been posted by tlc00 (TechnicalUser) Jun 26, 2001
I thought that Access, via the DAO driver, could load .dbf file directly. I found this in the Access .hlp file:
When you install the dBASE database driver, the Setup program writes a set of default values to the Windows Registry in the Engines and ISAM Formats subkeys. You should not modify these settings directly; use the setup program for your application to add, remove, or change these settings. The following sections describe initialization and ISAM format settings for the dBASE database driver.
[I haven't found anything that Clipper couldn't do that Access could; and found a bunch that Access couldn't do.] You could use Access as a front-end to a Clipper file, or VB as a front end -- unless your number of fields exceeds the specs for dBASE III/IV.
Hope this helps.