Suppose you finish writing an application and your database contains not only the definitions users require to start running the application, but also the data you used to test the procedures. Before you put the application to use, you want to create a version of the database that contains only data definitions and no data. This database becomes a template you can copy for testing purposes, for your own use, and for distribution.
The following figure illustrates how the OpenEdge Database Utility (PRODB) copies the starting version of a database.
Figure 54. Copying the starting version of a database
To create a new database that contains table definitions from another database, use the Dump facility to dump the table definitions, the PRODB utility to create the new database, and the Load facility to load the table definitions into the new database.
Use the following steps to create a starting version of a database:
1. Start an OpenEdge session with the database (the source) you want to copy.
2. Dump the database table definitions into a data definitions file.
3. Dump the database table data into a contents file.
4. Create a new copy of the empty database.
5. Start an OpenEdge session with the new database (the target) you created in Step 4.
6. With the data definitions file you created in Step 2, load the database definitions into the new database.
