andipaetzold
MDB Reader
JavaScript library to read data from Access databases.
Installation
npm install mdb-readeror
yarn add mdb-readerCompatibility
Node / JavaScript
Access Database versions
- Access 97 (Jet 3)
- Access 2000, XP and 2003 (Jet 4)
- Access 2010 (ACE14)
- Access 2013 (ACE15)
- Access 2016 (ACE16)
- Access 2019 (ACE17)
Encryption
- Jet
- Office Agile
- Office RC4 Crypto API
Dependencies
To decrypt databases, this library requires a few dependencies:
browserify-aes: Only imported when running in browsercreate-hash: Only imported when running in browserfast-xml-parser
Usage
import { readFileSync } from "fs";
import MDBReader from "mdb-reader";
const buffer = readFileSync("database.mdb");
const reader = new MDBReader(buffer);
reader.getTableNames(); // ['Cats', 'Dogs', 'Cars']
const table = reader.getTable("Cats");
table.getColumnNames(); // ['id', 'name', 'color']
table.getData(); // [{id: 5, name: 'Ashley', color: 'black'}, ...]Examples
browser- Running in the browser with parcelto-json- CLI script that accepts a database file name and outputs the data as JSONsveltekit- Running with SvelteKit
API
MDBReader
class MDBReader {
/**
* @param buffer Buffer of the database.
*/
constructor(
buffer: Buffer,
options?: {
password?: string;
}
);
/**
* Date when the database was created
*/
getCreationDate(): Date | null;
/**
* Database password
*/
getPassword(): string | null;
/**
* Default sort order
*/
getDefaultSortOrder(): Readonly<SortOrder>;
/**
* Returns an array of table names.
*
* @param normalTables Includes user tables.
* @param systemTables Includes system tables.
* @param linkedTables Includes linked tables.
*/
getTableNames({
normalTables,
systemTables,
linkedTables,
}?: {
normalTables: boolean;
systemTables: boolean;
linkedTables: boolean;
}): string[];
/**
* Returns a table by its name.
*
* @param name Name of the table. Case sensitive.
*/
getTable(name: string): Table;
}Table
class Table {
/**
* Name of the table
*/
readonly name: string,
/**
* Number of rows.
*/
readonly rowCount: number;
/**
* Number of columns.
*/
readonly columnCount: number;
/**
* Returns an ordered array of all column definitions.
*/
getColumns(): Column[];
/**
* Returns a column definition by its name.
*
* @param name Name of the column. Case sensitive.
*/
getColumn(name: string): Column;
/**
* Returns an ordered array of all column names.
*/
getColumnNames(): string[];
/**
* Returns data from the table.
*
* @param columns Columns to be returned. Defaults to all columns.
* @param rowOffset Index of the first row to be returned. 0-based. Defaults to 0.
* @param rowLimit Maximum number of rows to be returned. Defaults to Infinity.
*/
getData<TRow extends {
[column in TColumn]: Value;
TColumn extends string = string;
}>(options?: {
columns?: ReadonlyArray<TColumn>;
rowOffset?: number;
rowLimit?: number;
}): TRow[];
}Column
interface Column {
/**
* Name of the table
*/
name: string;
/**
* Type of the table
*/
type: ColumnType;
size: number;
fixedLength: boolean;
nullable: boolean;
autoLong: boolean;
autoUUID: boolean;
/**
* Only exists if type = 'numeric'
*/
precision?: number;
/**
* Only exists if type = 'numeric'
*/
scale?: number;
}Data Types
The data types returned by Table.getData() depends on the column type. Null values are always returned as null.
| Column Type | JavaScript Type |
|---|---|
| bigint | bigint |
| binary | Buffer |
| boolean | boolean |
| byte | number |
| complex | number |
| currency | string |
| datetime | Date |
| datetimeextended | string |
| double | number |
| float | number |
| integer | number |
| long | number |
| memo | string |
| numeric | string |
| ole | Buffer |
| repid | string |
| text | string |
Development
Build
To build the library, first install the dependencies, then run npm run build for a single build or npm run watch for automatic rebuilds.
npm install
npm run buildTests
To run the tests, first install the dependencies, then run npm test. Watch mode can be started with npm test -- --watch.
npm install
npm testResources
MDB Tool
Set of applications to read and write Access files, written in C. Main source of knowledge about the file structure and algorithms to extract data from it.
Jackcess
Java library to read and write Access files. It inspired the interface of this library. The databases used for testing are copied from the repository.
The unofficial MDB Guide
Tech Specs for the JET format used by Access 1997-2010