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delphiadobdeparadox

Using ADO to connect Paradox database on Delphi 10.2

Currently I have an old Delphi project using BDE to connect to Paradox.

We want to investigate whether ADO can be used to replace the BDE but still use Paradox for Delphi version 10.2 Tokyo.

So please advise me that Delphi 10.2 supports Paradox Database? If so please give advice on replacing the BDE to ADO?

Thanks & Best regard

Solution

  • A Microsoft ODBC driver for Paradox databases comes with Windows, so you can certainly connect to Paradox tables using ADO and ODBC. See the 32- and 64-bit ODBC administration apps under Control Panel | Administrative Tools, and in particular its Drivers tab.

    To create a simple Paradox + ADO app:

    • Use Windows' ODBC wizard to create a system- or file-DSN that uses the MS ODBC Driver for ODBC to connect to the Paradox table.

    • In your Delphi app, use a TAdoConnection to use e.g. the OLE DB provider for ODBC to use the DSN and a TAdoQuery to do a SELECT * from the P'Dox table.

    See my answer here

    BDE to ADO conversion in DELPHI 5

    for a way of converting from BDE to ADO to access Paradox tables. Btw, once you have access to your Paradox data via ADO, it is straightforward to replace Paradox with a proper, robust RDBMS.

    Recent versions of Dephi, including Tokyo, come with a very capable alternative DB-access library called FireDAC, but:

    • It has a much steeper learning curve than ADO.

    • Its author no longer works for Embarcadero, so with their numerous other lay-offs, FireDAC may become an "evolutionary dead-end."

    • Being from Embarcadero, it does not have the "safety in numbers" that comes with using MS's tried and tested ADO.