Bypassing Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 versions higher than Home Premium
Don Bradbury looks for alternatives to the not altogether satisfactory Windows XP Mode in order to preserve an important database
If you face the problem of legacy applications that are no longer directly supported by Windows 7, there are sometimes adequately effective alternatives available without resorting to Windows XP Mode.
We have, for many years, maintained a contacts database in the venerable Sidekick 98, foe example. This, we discovered on moving to Windows 7, was no longer directly supported. In this situation the mind turns immediately to using Windows XP Mode, provided you have any version of Windows 7 higher than Home Premium (ie Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate). If you don't, and most OEM PC users won't without indulging in an expensive upgrade, what are your options?
Many databases with data that's already compartmentalised, such as our Sidekick 98 .SKCard file, are amenable to being transferred to other applications such as Microsoft Excel with minimal effort and adjustment of the information by simply using the host program's Export function which is a universally recognised way of transporting data between compatible applications.
The file structure for us to select in this particular case was the Spreadsheet Data Interchange .DIF format. We exported the file to the easily located Windows Desktop, opened Microsoft Excel, and imported the .DIF file.
When you've done that, or the equivalent for your situation, you'll probably find that you have to take a minute to modify the cell width requirements of the database by manually expanding each Excel column to accommodate the contents of the largest cells. When all is satisfactory, save the data as an XLS file of appropriate name in your usual location, generally the Documents folder, and just forget the idea of either adapting your legacy application and thereafter using the universally accepted format of Microsoft Excel.
This same process can be used to transfer data from applications such as the well-known database app, dBASE, which as Wikipedia points out, was responsible for 'propelling Ashton-Tate to become one of the big three software publishers in the early business software market'. Now dBASE is all but defunct as far as most PC users are concerned, but that's no reason to dump your carefully assembled data; it can be transferred to Excel by a very similar process to the one described for Sidekick.
Of course it goes without saying that using this data transfer process loses you the programming language of the original host application (good riddance, some will say of the arcane dBASE) but for many users most of the programming they find essential can be adequately covered in a spreadsheet, especially if it's mainly reference data you're handling, not complex, dedicated number-crunching facilities.
In conclusion
This data transfer process is the job of a few minutes and it can avoid the frustration of ditching the existing database altogether and starting over with setup and data entry, or trying to accommodate the original application within the confines of Windows XP Mode under Windows 7. Just investigate a little; you might be surprised at what you can achieve.
One final point; because of the 'advances' in the Spreadsheet application itself, Microsoft Excel 2010, that's likely to receive the data of new upgraders - though it might equally be Microsoft Access - locating certain functions of Excel can now be somewhat tricky, and we would advocate retaining familiarity by installing UBitMenu, as we previously described. It works just as advantageously with Excel 2010 as it does Word 2010.
