Getting the list of all tables and queries in a database using the BDE

Copyright © 2000 Ernesto De Spirito

DbiOpenTableList

If you need to know the names of all tables and/or queries (views) in a database opened with the BDE, you can use DbiOpenTableList to create a cursor* with the table and query names, and then you can read it calling DbiGetNextRecord as shown in the example below that stores the names in a ListBox, indicating whether they correspond to a table or query.

(*) A cursor is a "logical table". For example when we open a table or query, what we get is a cursor, that is, a set of data organized in rows and columns, independently of whether this data comes from a physical table, part of table, many tables or any other data source.

To try the example, simply place a ListBox and a Button on a form, and generate the button's OnClick event handler:

uses db, dbtables, bde;

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  db1: TDatabase;
  hCursor: hDBICur;        // Cursor for table and query names
  ListDesc: TBLBaseDesc;   // Record of the cursor
begin
  ListBox1.Clear;
  db1 := nil;
  try
    db1 := TDatabase.Create(nil);
    // Set the neccessary properties to open your database
    db1.DatabaseName := 'Access_ODBC_Test';
    db1.LoginPrompt := False;

    db1.Connected := True;

    // Generates a cursor with all table and query names
    Check(DbiOpenTableList(db1.Handle, False, False, '*', hCursor));

    // Move thru the records of the cursor to get the names
    while (DbiGetNextRecord(hCursor, dbiNOLOCK, @ListDesc, nil)
          = dbiErr_None) do
    if ListDesc.bView then     // Is it a query?
      ListBox1.Items.Add(ListDesc.szName + ' (Query)')
      else
        ListBox1.Items.Add(ListDesc.szName + ' (Table)');

    // Close the cursor
    dbiCloseCursor(hCursor);

    db1.Connected := False;
  except
    db1.Free;
    raise;
  end;
  db1.Free;
end;

Instead of a variable of type TDatabase created for the purpose, you can use a TDatabase control placed on a form, or the Database property of a TTable or TQuery control.