I have been given some Microsoft Visual FoxPro application files and I'm responsible for extracting the data contained in these .app files. I haven't heard of VFP before but a quick search shows me it's going to be challenging to get the data out.
I asked the person who gave me the files how to open them. He told me to use the VFP program. I don't have the VFP program on my Mac and don't even know where I would buy it from.
Ideally, I'd like to open the VFP .app files in Excel or a database that can read the files and dump them into TXT / CSV files. I've read documentation on Microsoft that walks me through opening the files in Excel by creating a data source but I can't seem to get the OLE DB drivers working. I found some ODBC drivers that are unsupported by Microsoft that in theory could allow me to open the files in an ETL Data Integration tool. (Links of blog sources on this topic: http://saltydogllc.com/in-visual-foxpro-using-32-bit-odbc-drivers-on-a-64-bit-machine/ https://www.berezniker.com/content/pages/visual-foxpro/visual-foxpro-odbc-driver ). But I'm getting an error about architecture with 32-bit drivers running on a 64-bit Windows EC2 machine. The error says "Data Source name not found and no default driver specified". And the follow up error: "[Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] The specified DSN contains an architecture mismatch between Driver and Application".
I also have application files, not .exe and no access to the VFP database. Not sure if this last point matters.
Does anyone have experience with VFP? Anyone have advice for how I can open up these VFP .app files?
As Tamar has indicated above, you are most likely looking in the wrong place.
The App is the compiled executable code and it typically it contains NO Data.
VFP can use 'native' FREE data tables that would be contained in files with the extension: .DBF, .FTP (the Memo field contents), .CDX (the index files)
Or it can use 'native' data tables contained within its own VFP Database which would be contained within the files with extensions: .DBC, .DCT, and .DCX
You will most likely need access to VFP (or a contractor with VFP) to get ALL of this data into another format.
Remember that if this project is BUSINESS-CRITICAL, then it is worth spending the $$ necessary to get the job done - both expeditiously and right.
Lastly VFP can use data from an 'exterior' source such as from a SQL Server database, etc. via ODBC connections.
If this were the situation, you can use that Database's own interface to access that data.
Good Luck