GitHub - DDecoene/WebBaseIII: dBASE III is back. In your browser. USE customers like it's 1984.
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WebBase-III dBASE III is back. In your browser. USE customers like it's 1984.
Remember the dot prompt? Before SQL won, before ORMs, before anyone said "full-stack" — there was dBASE III. You typed USE customers, then LIST, and your data was just there. WebBase-III brings that whole world back: the terminal, the language, BROWSE, @ SAY GET forms, .prg programs, indexes, reports — rebuilt from scratch as a modern web app with its own interpreter in TypeScript, backed by Node.js, WebSockets, and SQLite. Try it in one click — no install:
The Codespace installs dependencies and starts the dev server automatically. Open the forwarded port 5173 and you're at the dot prompt.
Screenshots Terminal REPL The command interface — type W3Script and see results instantly.
LIST — tabular record display LIST prints all records in active index order. The status bar shows the active database and table.
Indexing & SEEK INDEX ON name TO BYNAME creates a SQLite index and activates it — subsequent LIST output is sorted alphabetically. SEEK "Delta NV" jumps the record pointer to the first match in O(log n).
BROWSE — editable grid BROWSE opens a spreadsheet-style grid. Records are shown in active index order. Tab/Enter to edit a cell, Ctrl+N for a new row, Delete to remove a row, Esc to return to the terminal.
Program editor EDIT <name> opens the built-in .prg source editor. Programs support the full W3Script language: DO CASE/ENDCASE, DO WHILE/ENDDO, IF/ENDIF, form layouts, and all data commands. Ctrl+S saves, Esc cancels.
Form engine — @ SAY GET / READ @ row,col SAY "label" GET variable lays out character-cell form fields. READ renders them as a live form and waits for the user to fill in values and submit.
The Assistant — sidebar The permanent left sidebar with category pickers and action buttons.
The Assistant — New table wizard Wizards open in the main area with a live W3Script preview.
Features
Feature Details
W3Script interpreter dBASE III command dialect: navigation, filters, variables, loops, conditionals, forms, programs
BROWSE grid Inline cell editing, keyboard nav, index-ordered display
Form engine @ ROW,COL SAY … GET character-cell layout with READ
Indexing INDEX ON, SEEK, FIND — active index controls all record order
DO CASE Multi-branch conditional, OTHERWISE fallback
Built-in functions EOF(), BOF(), FOUND(), RECNO(), SUBSTR(), STR(), AT(), CTOD(), DTOC() and more
Program files Save, edit, and run .prg scripts with DO / EDIT
The Assistant Permanent left sidebar — open databases/tables, browse, filter, index, search, design reports, run programs without typing
Multi-user Each WebSocket connection gets its own isolated interpreter session
Persistent storage better-sqlite3 with WAL mode — databases survive server restart
The Assistant The sidebar on the left drives everything without typing: open or create databases and tables, browse and filter data, build indexes, search, design and run reports, run programs, and modify table structure. Every click generates a real W3Script command that echoes into the terminal — watch it to learn the language. Wizards (New table, Filter, Modify structure, report designer, …) open in the main area and show a live preview of the command they will run.
Quick start npm install npm run dev # http://localhost:5173 Production: npm run serve # builds, then serves everything on http://localhost:3000 LAN / Tailscale: the server binds to 0.0.0.0, so http://<tailscale-ip>:3000 works out of the box.
Example session USE DATABASE mydb CREATE TABLE customers (name CHAR(40), phone CHAR(20), country CHAR(30)) USE customers
APPEND RECORD REPLACE name WITH "Acme Corp", phone WITH "555-1234", country WITH "BE" APPEND RECORD REPLACE name WITH "Zeta Ltd", phone WITH "555-5678", country WITH "NL"
INDEX ON name TO BYNAME LIST * sorted A→Z
SEEK "Zeta Ltd" * jump to record instantly BROWSE * open editable grid SET FILTER TO country == "BE" LIST * filtered view SET FILTER TO * clear filter
W3Script command reference Work areas WebBase-III supports unlimited work areas — each independently holding a table, record pointer, filter, and index. Link areas by key field using SET RELATION TO for relational data access. Cross-area field access uses alias.field dot notation.
Note: dBASE III supported a maximum of 10 work areas (DOS file handle limit). WebBase-III has no such limit. dBASE III used alias->field arrow syntax; WebBase-III uses modern alias.field dot notation.
Command What it does
SELECT <alias> Activate (or create) a work area by name
USE <table> [ALIAS <name>] Open table in active area; optional alias override
SET RELATION TO <expr> INTO <alias> Link active area to another; auto-seeks on every navigation
SET RELATION TO Clear relation on active area
LIST [col, alias.col, ...] List records; optional column list with cross-area fields
LIST AREAS Show all open work areas, pointers, indexes, and relations
CLOSE Close active area's table
CLOSE ALL Close all work areas, reset to single empty area 1
Cross-area field access: use alias.field dot notation anywhere an expression is accepted — SET FILTER TO, IF, REPLACE, LIST, INDEX ON.
Data & navigation
Command What it does
USE <table> Select a table; restores any saved active index
USE DATABASE <name> Open a named SQLite database
LIST Print records in active index order (up to 500)
LIST STRUCTURE Show column schema
LIST TABLES Show all tables with record counts
LIST DATABASES Show all databases on disk (alias: LIST DBS)
BROWSE Open the editable grid
CLEAR Clear terminal output
CREATE TABLE <n> (col TYPE, ...) Create a table
DROP TABLE <name> Delete a table
APPEND RECORD Insert a blank row
DELETE / DELETE ALL Delete current or all records
PACK VACUUM the SQLite file
GO TOP / GO BOTTOM / GO <n> Move record pointer
SKIP <n> Move pointer forward/back
REPLACE <field> WITH <val>, ... Update field(s) on current row
REPLACE ALL <field> WITH <val>, ... Update all (filtered) rows
SET FILTER TO <expr> Set a WHERE clause; empty clears it
MODIFY STRUCTURE Open the Modify-structure wizard for the active table
ALTER TABLE <t> ADD <col> <type> Add a column to a table
ALTER TABLE <t> DROP <col> Remove a column from a table
ALTER TABLE <t> RENAME <col> TO <new> Rename a column
ALTER TABLE <t> ALTER <col> <type> Change a column's type (copy-table dance; data preserved)
Column ops that can invalidate an index (DROP, RENAME, ALTER type) drop all of the table's indexes and warn you to rebuild with INDEX ON.
Indexing & search
Command What it does
INDEX ON <expr> TO <tag> Create index on expression; sets it active immediately
SET INDEX TO <tag> Activate a previously created index
SET INDEX TO Clear active index — restores natural insert order
REINDEX Rebuild SQLite indexes for current table
LIST INDEXES Print
all indexes for current table with * active marker
SEEK <expr> Position record pointer at first index match
FIND <string> Alias for SEEK (unquoted string — dBASE III legacy form)
SORT ON <field>[/D] TO <newtable> Write a sorted copy of the table to a new table; /D = descending; honours the active filter
Reports
Command What it does
CREATE REPORT <name> Create a new report definition (opens JSON editor)
MODIFY REPORT <name> Edit an existing report definition
REPORT FORM <name> Run report — ASCII to terminal + HTML preview panel
LIST REPORTS List all saved report definitions
DELETE REPORT <name> Delete a report definition
Programs
Command What it does
DO <name> Run a saved .prg program
EDIT <name> Open .prg source editor
LIST PROGRAMS Show all saved programs
Demo programs live in demos/*.prg and are the single source of truth: they are seeded into the program store on every server start, overwriting any store copy. Try DO inventory for a full interactive showcase (work areas, relations, indexes, forms).
Variables & I/O
Command What it does
STORE <val> TO <var> Assign a variable
INPUT "prompt" TO <var> Collect keyboard input
@ r,c SAY "text" GET <var> Define a form field
READ Display the form and wait for submit
Control flow
Command What it does
IF <cond> … ENDIF Conditional block
DO WHILE <cond> … ENDDO Loop
DO CASE … ENDCASE Multi-branch conditional (CASE, OTHERWISE)
HELP Print command reference
QUIT Exit
Built-in functions Functions work anywhere an expression is accepted — IF, DO WHILE, STORE, REPLACE, INDEX ON, SET FILTER TO, etc.
Function Returns
EOF() True if record pointer is past last record
BOF() True if record pointer is before first record
FOUND() True if last SEEK / FIND matched
RECNO() Current record number
RECCOUNT() Total records in current table
UPPER(str) Uppercase
LOWER(str) Lowercase
TRIM(str) Strip leading and trailing spaces
LTRIM(str) Strip leading spaces only
SUBSTR(str, start, len) Substring — 1-based; len optional (to end)
LEN(str) String length
AT(needle, haystack) 1-based position; 0 if not found (case-sensitive)
STR(num, len, dec) Number to right-justified string; default len=10, dec=0
VAL(str) String to number; non-numeric → 0
INT(n) Truncate toward zero
ABS(n) Absolute value
SPACE(n) String of n spaces
REPLICATE(str, n) Repeat string n times
DATE() Today as MM/DD/YY
DTOC(date) Date to display string MM/DD/YY
CTOD(str) Display string MM/DD/YY to ISO date
Boolean literals W3Script supports both styles:
Syntax Value
TRUE / FALSE Boolean true/false
.T. / .TRUE. Boolean true (dBASE III style)
.F. / .FALSE. Boolean false (dBASE III style)
Boolean values display as .T. / .F. in output to match dBASE conventions. Logical operators are accepted in both styles too: NOT / .NOT., AND / .AND., OR / .OR. (e.g. DO WHILE .NOT. EOF()).
BROWSE grid keyboard shortcuts
Key Action
Arrow keys Navigate cells
Enter / F2 Edit selected cell
Tab / Shift+Tab Move right / left
Ctrl+N New row
Delete Delete current row
F5 Refresh from DB
Esc Exit grid, return to terminal
Architecture server/ index.ts Node.js HTTP + WebSocket server (port 3000) Session.ts Per-connection session: parses commands, drives Executor