C++20 · DBF family · active beta
A 64-bit DBF database engine you can watch work.
x64base opens classic, Visual FoxPro, and 64-bit DBF tables; indexes them, relates them, and queries them — while showing you every layer it touches. The shell is the engine's front door, and nothing important happens where you cannot see it.
What it does well
each with a transcript behind it
Three DBF flavors, one binary
Classic, Visual FoxPro, and 64-bit tables open in the same runtime. Flavor belongs to the table, not the build.
A SELECT with an external referee
Every shipped operator of the house SELECT is checked against an in-process SQLite implementation. The competition is the test harness.
Tables and indexes entirely in RAM
A virtual disk builds, indexes, traverses, and tears down complete tables with zero files touched.
A database posture in one file
One command restores 43 work areas, their indexes, orders, aliases, and 58 declared relations from a plain-text snapshot.
Every claim on this site carries a tier. Runtime-proven means a regression or transcript shows it. Source-evidenced means the mechanism is in the code but the end-to-end run has not happened. Chartered means designed, not built. Nothing here outranks its proof, and the status board lists the unfinished parts beside the finished ones.
The command surface
one shell, grouped by job
Tables and work areas
USE SELECT AREA DBAREA DBAREAS STRUCT FIELDS
Open a table into a numbered area, inspect its structure, and move between areas.
Navigation
TOP BOTTOM SKIP GOTO RECNO SEEK FIND LOCATE
Move the cursor by position, by key, or by condition.
Order and scope
SET INDEX / ORDER / FILTER / RELATION / TABLE BUFFER
Choose which index drives the order, restrict what is visible, and declare how tables relate.
Mutation
REPLACE CALC CALCWRITE MULTIREP COMMIT ROLLBACK
Change field values under buffering, then commit or discard.
Relations and rows
REL RELATIONS ERSATZ TUPLE TUPEXPORT
Walk a declared relation graph, project rows, and export them.
Listing and browsing
LIST SMARTLIST SMARTBROWSE SB SIMPLEBROWSE
Read records at the terminal, from a one-line dump to a full browser.
Who it is for
Two audiences, and no others. Developers who work with DBF-family data and want an engine whose internals are legible rather than sealed. Educators who want to teach database fundamentals on a system where indexes, memos, work areas, and relations are visible moving parts instead of diagrams.
It is not for sale, not a hosted service, and not a student portal. It is not a finished commercial DBMS, a Visual FoxPro clone, or a drop-in replacement for Harbour or Xbase++. What it is, precisely, is on the About page.
Looking for design notes, historical source inventories, or the day-to-day development record? Those live in the working archive, which is kept for the project's own use and is considerably less tidy than this.