A few years ago, I investigated Topspeed “SuperFiles.” I wrote about their internal design, how to make them in a dictionary, how to use NAME() with them and how to create a new SuperFile out of existing single table files.
One thing I forgot to investigate; one thing I never thought I'd need to know. Now I do. How do I make a dictionary from an existing TPS SuperFile (or make the appropriate dictionary entries in an existing dictionary)? I am not talking about a situation in which I've lost the dictionary and need to re-create it – shame on me if I don't have a backup nearby! I am talking about a situation in which I inherit a SuperFile but there is not and never has been a dictionary (let's just say my predecessor was a hand coder, and leave it at that).
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The first step is to locate the SuperFile. For this exercise, I selected a four table SuperFile, the SuperFile that drives my WebBuilder FAQ app:
Figure 1: shpFAQ.TPS
Step 2
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