Read from NTX files with Vb.NET

Question

I'm trying to read from some DBF files that use NTX files for indexing within VB.NET. Currently, I'm having to read directly from the DBF files using OLEDB, which is ridiculously slow due to dbase's flat file method of data storage. So, I'm wondering if someone could tell me how to access the DBF files through their NTX index files within VB.NET.

If I need to download a third party library I'm okay with that, But I don't have money to pay for a third party library if it costs money. It would need to be free.

This is what I'm currently using to access the DBF Files.

Private Shared ConnectionString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" & My.Settings.DataPath & ";Extended Properties=dBase IV"
Public Shared dBaseConnection As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(ConnectionString)
Dim dBaseCommand As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM `PAGES.NTX` WHERE `PAGE_NUM` BETWEEN 241 AND 270", dBaseConnection)
Dim dBaseDataReader As System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataReader = dBaseCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SequentialAccess)

This however still reads directly from the DBF file and ignores the NTX indexing. Any help?

Note: I cannot "choose" to use SQL for this project as the DataBases are ones created and maintained by another application (One of considerable age). I need only access them for the data stored within.

Answer 1

Download Advantage .NET Data Provider

This is the only example I could find. Since I do not have the files to test with this is only an example:

    'Set the TypeTable to NTX
    Dim conn As New AdsConnection("data source=c:\data;" + "ServerType=remote|local; TableType=NTX")
    Dim cmd As AdsCommand
    Dim reader As AdsDataReader
    Dim iField As Integer

    Try

        ' make the connection to the server
        conn.Open()

        ' create a command object
        cmd = conn.CreateCommand()

        ' specify a simple SELECT statement
        cmd.CommandText = "select * from departments"

        ' execute the statement and create a reader
        reader = cmd.ExecuteReader()

        ' dump the results of the query to the console
        While reader.Read()
            For iField = 0 To reader.FieldCount - 1
                Console.Write(reader.GetValue(iField) + " ")
            Next
            Console.WriteLine()
        End While

        conn.Close()
    Catch e As AdsException
        ' print the exception message
        Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
    End Try