[Shapelib] dbflib and long integers

[Ken Boss]

I have run into difficulty using dbflib (via the pyshapelib wrappers) to retrieve large (11+ digit) values from dbf files.  Judging by the thread at http://lists.maptools.org/pipermail/shapelib/2004-November/000111.html, this is a known problem.  

I can work around this by converting the relevant fields to strings, but am wondering if there's a better option that will work on all datasets even after I've forgotten about this particular problem ;).  Since I'm working in python, I have no opportunity to call DBFReadDoubleAttribute() or do any sort of casting.  Any advice would be appreciated.

--Ken Boss
  MN DNR Forestry