Exportizer Frequently Asked Questions

All the tools, Exportizer Enterprise and Database Tour (Std and Pro), use the same export engine and have almost the same export possibilities. Database Tour has 32-bit version only, and Exportizer Enterprise has both 32-bit and 64-bit versions already. But Database Tour has a lot of other possibilities, while Exportizer Enterprise is designed for export purposes mainly. Here is a brief comparison of main features:

Feature	EE	DT	DTP
Exporting data from GUI
Exporting data from command line
Other command line operations
Database reports
Executing custom SQL queries
Executing multi-statement SQL scripts
Other database related capabilities like searching and replacing text, creating tables, working with BLOB data etc

Choosing which version to download and install is the question of compatibility between Exportizer software and: 1) your operating system (OS); 2) other database components the application works with.

Compatibility with OS

You can use Exportizer 32-bit on Windows 32-bit and Windows 64-bit, but Exportizer 64-bit should be used only on Windows 64-bit.

Anyway, on Windows 64-bit, if you do not want to dive into these details, you can install both Exportizer 32-bit and 64-bit on the machine and switch between them whenever you need. Please note that on Windows 64-bit, Exportizer 32-bit must be installed into Program Files (x86), and Exportizer 64-bit into Program Files. The application installer can decide this by itself, so it is not recommended to change the default path suggested by the installer.

Compatibility with other database components

Let's explain it with some examples...

If you want to work with dBase (.dbf) files, Exportizer can use different ways to open such files. No matter what way you choose, all involved database components (drivers, OLE DB providers, and Exportizer) have to be of the same bitness. For example, when you will work with those files through the Microsoft dBase ODBC driver, the bitness of Exportizer must match the bitness of the ODBC driver.

Similarly, if you need Exportizer to work with .accdb databases (Microsoft Access 2007 and above), the Exportizer bitness must match the bitness of the ACE OLE DB provider or Access ODBC driver depending on what component (OLE DB or ODBC) you choose.

To work with Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Firebird, MySQL, and other server databases, the bitness of Exportizer should be the same as the bitness of the corresponding client; if you plan to work with such databases via ODBC, the bitness of Exportizer should be the same as the bitness of the corresponding ODBC driver.

If you for some reason prefer to work with databases via old BDE, you should install 32-bit version of Exportizer.

Note, that you may use your purchased product on the number of computers for which you purchased a license.

For example, if you purchased one license, you may use the application on one computer only, as it is described here.

In your case, it means you have already activated Exportizer Pro (Exportizer Enterprise) with your activation key on other computer(s) and you are trying to activate it on extra computer. So, you should uninstall Exportizer Pro (Exportizer Enterprise) on some other computer(s) and try again. If the problem still exists, please contact us with specifying your activation key.

The activation of Exportizer Pro (Exportizer Enterprise) is done in two steps: validation of your activation key, and the activation itself.

You usually should not have problems with first step, if you have a valid activation key.

The second step (activation) is used to prevent casual piracy. Note, that you may use your purchased product on the number of computers for which you purchased a license. Activation just ensures that your activation key was used in compliance with Exportizer Pro (Exportizer Enterprise) license; in other words, it ensures, that amount of computers, where your activation key is used, is not larger than amount of copies purchased.

For example, if you purchased one license, you may use the application on one computer only, as it is described here.

The activation is usually done automatically behind the scene, after you enter your activation key and if you have Internet connection.

In your case, it seems, the serial number validation passed successfully, but activation failed due to either your activation key is used on other computer(s), or you have not Internet connection on your computer.

If you have not Internet connection on the computer where you want to use Exportizer Pro (Exportizer Enterprise), you should obtain the activation code using another computer, which has Internet connection, and then enter it in the application; just follow instructions, which appear after unsuccessful activation.

One Exportizer Pro or Exportizer Enterprise license allows you to use the application on one computer only. To move installed and activated application to another computer, you should uninstall it on the old computer (using the Control Panel) and then install and activate it on the new computer.

Optionally, you can backup your registered databases before uninstalling, and then restore them after installing the software on the new computer.

Exportizer Pro and Exportizer Enterprise can export data from command line with optional use of /silent switch. More details can be found in Exportizer documentation.

1. Before exporting, make sure you fetch all records from the source dataset by moving to the last record in the grid. This makes sense for server databases.

2. Whenever possible, use FD interface and Batch mode option for your destination databases. This turns on bulk data loading mode and can speed up the export process up to hundreds times.

In the batch mode context, the Commit interval option sets the size of one data batch. The bigger its value, the higher is the export speed. But very big values may cause memory overflow during the exporting. Play with this value to find the optimal one for you.

Notes: 1. Exporting to databases is possible only in Pro and Enterprise editions. 2. Using FD engine is available in Enterprise edition only.

Yes. This is possible in Exportizer Pro and Exportizer Enterprise. You can do this two ways.

1. If your database allows such formulas in SQL, using SQL query would be the most effective way. In SQL editor, type the code like this:

SELECT
  column1,
  column2,
  column3,
  column1 + column2 as MyFormula1,
  column2 || column3 as MyFormula2
FROM MyTable

2. Another way is to specify your formulas at Field Mappings step of Export dialog. In formulas here, you can use columns of your source table, special functions, and even local files.

So, click Add button in Field Mappings. A new table row will appear for a new field mapping. Click ... button in the first column and specify your expression (formula). Examples:

a. Get sum of two numeric columns

vle_expr(dataset_field_val(1, 'column1') + dataset_field_val(1, 'column2'))

b. Replace specific characters in the column's data

vle_expr(string_replace(dataset_field_val(1, 'column3'), char(0), ' '))

c. Get the size of a file, referred in the column's data

vle_expr(file_size(dataset_field_val(1, 'column3')))

In the column to the right, specify the target field name as you usually do for exporting physical fields.

It can be a challenge to export large tables or queries from one database to another. Sometimes, you may get an Out of memory error during the export process or even when opening such a table.

In Exportizer Pro and Exportizer Enterprise, it is possible to solve the problem. You can try different approaches. See more in Exportizer documentation.

If you export data to another BYTES database field, then everything is quite simple. All you have to do is to match the source and target fields in Field Mappings step of Export dialog.

If you export data to some of file formats, e.g. Excel or HTML, the result will be in a hexadecimal format string, which will start with 0x.

If you export data to database fields of CHAR or CLOB (i.e. text compatible) types, a bit more work is needed. In Field Mappings step of Export dialog, match the source and target fields, then specify the following expression instead of the source field name:
vle_expr(dataset_field_hex_val(1, 'YOUR_SOURCE_FIELD_NAME'))
As a result, the data will be exported to the destination as a hexadecimal format string, which starts with 0x.
Note: Using expressions is possible only in Pro and Enterprise editions.

And you can export data from the hexadecimal format string to BYTES field too. Just make sure your source string starts with 0x: this will indicate that the source data is the sequence of bytes in a hexadecimal form.

Here is an instruction:

1. Open your source table with the BLOB field and click Export.
2. Choose the export format. If you want only export images from the BLOB field, the target format does not matter. Let's choose Text.
3. Specify a file name for the target text file. This file will not contain any useful information, so you may delete it after all.
4. Go to the Field Mappings step. Delete all field mappings except the mapping for the BLOB field. Empty the target field name in the mapping table.
5. Write the formula for the target image file name(s). This is the most interesting and most important step. Go to Target File column and click '...' button to the right to invoke the Expression Builder. As you can see, Exportizer already created a default formula:
   vle_expr(extract_file_path(target_file_name(1)) + 'Name_' + to_string(dataset_row_count(1, 0)) + '.???')
   Here, extract_file_path(target_file_name(1)) extracts the directory path from the target text file name; if you want, replace it with the constant path from your computer (don't forget to add the backslash at the end!).
   The to_string(dataset_row_count(1, 0)) part of the formula adds the current record number to the end of file name to ensure that the name is unique within the record set.
   Replace the ??? with desired file extension.
   If the source dataset already contains unique file names in some field, just remove the default formula and write something like this:
   dataset_field_val(1, 'file_name')
   (replace file_name with the actual name of the field containing the file names).
   Click OK to apply the formula.
6. Click Save button to save the field mappings to file for future use.
7. Click Export and check the results.

Note: Existing files are overwritten without asking.

See also: Example of exporting PDF from BLOBs to individual files.

You can export the content of any column to an individual file. The process is very similar to the exporting BLOBs to image files, described above:

1. Open your source table or query and click Export.
2. Choose the export format. Let's choose Text.
3. Specify a file name for the target text file.
4. Go to the Field Mappings step.
5. Write the target file name formulas for each column, which content you need to save to separate files. In Target File column, click '...' button to the right to invoke the Expression Builder. You will see the default formula:
   vle_expr(extract_file_path(target_file_name(1)) + 'Name_' + to_string(dataset_row_count(1, 0)) + '.???')
   Here, extract_file_path(target_file_name(1)) extracts the directory path from the target text file name; if you want, replace it with the constant path from your computer (don't forget to add the backslash at the end!).
   The to_string(dataset_row_count(1, 0)) part of the formula adds the current record number to the end of file name to ensure that the name is unique within the record set.
   Replace the ??? with desired file extension.
   If the source dataset already contains unique file names in some column(s), just remove the default formula and write something like this:
   dataset_field_val(1, 'file_name')
   (replace file_name with the actual name of the field containing the file names).
   Click OK to apply the formula.
6. Click Save button to save the field mappings to file for future use.
7. Click Export and check the results.

Note: Existing files are overwritten without asking.

See also: Example of exporting PDF from BLOBs to individual files.

Yes, you can do that in a few clicks:

1. Open your source database, select the needed tables and click Export.
2. Choose the Database export format and select the destination database from the list.
3. Proceed to the Table Mappings step.
4. Click Utilities button and choose Operations for Target Attributes....
5. In the list of target attributes, select Target Table and Field Mappings.
6. Click Replace text checkbox and specify the text replacing parameters.
7. Click Execute. Check the results and click Save button to save the table mappings to file for future use.