Click above to get retro games delivered to your door ever month!

 COPY STRUCTURE EXTENDED
 Copy field definitions to a (.dbf) file
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Syntax

     COPY STRUCTURE EXTENDED
        TO <xcExtendedDatabase>

 Arguments

     TO <xcExtendedDatabase> is the name of the target structure extended
     database file.  This argument can be specified either as a literal
     database filename or as a character expression enclosed in parentheses.

 Description

     COPY STRUCTURE EXTENDED creates a database file whose contents is the
     structure of the current database file with a record for the definition
     of each field.  The structure extended database file has the following
     structure:

     Structure of an Extended File
     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Field   Name           Type        Length  Decimals
     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     1       Field_name     Character   10
     2       Field_type     Character   1
     3       Field_len      Numeric     3       0
     4       Field_dec      Numeric     4       0
     ------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Used in application programs, COPY STRUCTURE EXTENDED permits you to
     create or modify the structure of a database file programmatically.  To
     create a new database file from the structure extended file, use CREATE
     FROM.  If you need an empty structure extended file, use CREATE.

 Notes

     .  Character field lengths greater than 255: In CA-Clipper, the
        maximum character field length is 64K.  For compatibility reasons,
        field lengths greater than 255 are represented as a combination of
        the Field_dec and Field_len fields.  After COPYing STRUCTURE
        EXTENDED, you can use the following formula to determine the length
        of any character field:

        nFieldLen := IF(Field_type = "C" .AND. ;
              Field_dec != 0, Field_dec * 256) + ;
              Field_len, Field_len)

 Examples

     .  This example creates Struc.dbf from Sales.dbf as a structure
        extended file then lists the contents of Struc.dbf to illustrate the
        typical layout of field definitions:

        USE Sales NEW
        COPY STRUCTURE EXTENDED TO Struc
        USE Struc NEW
        LIST Field_name, Field_type, Field_len, Field_dec

        Result:

        1 BRANCH        C      3      0
        2 SALESMAN      C      4      0
        3 CUSTOMER      C      4      0
        4 PRODUCT       C     25      0
        5 AMOUNT        N      8      2
        6 NOTES         C      0    125
        // Field length is 32,000 characters

 Files:  Library is CLIPPER.LIB.