PRB: Export data from .idx and .dat to Excel

[BarTndr]

Hello,<br>
<br>
I have a database I've built up and would like to export into Excel (and eventually Access). But, it is in a .dat file (with a .idx of the same name) and a co-worker said it was Btrieve....<br>
<br>
Anyone have any tips how to get at it??<br>
<br>
Rob<br>
<br>
a.k.a..<br>
BarTndr

 

[vanpat]

Hi BarTndr, If you have any Btrieve tools handy, butil or btools, you can always use the Recover option from the menu, this will extract the data from the .dat file and prompt and convert it to a .sav (default extension) hwich is a simple text file. It seems though that certain fields in date format still look encrypted. I am no expert in Btrieve but I had to familiarize myself with it at work since March of this year and had to use the tools to recover data from corrupted database files. Hope this helps!<br>
<br>
Vanpat

 

[gbe]

where can i get a generic isam reader<br>

 

[IronDon]

hey vanpat, where can i get those btrieve tools you recommended.... butil & btools....<br><br>i'm trying to export a couple hundrred megs of btrieve files into a data warehouse... no luck yet... maybe these tools will do the trick ?????

 

[capnemo]

Listen Bartndr , the fact of having .dat & .idx files doesn't mean for sure that those are Btrieve files (Actually Btrieve files have their header and index descriptions on separate files, most probably File.DDF ,Field.DDF and Index.DDF)also try to see if your original application loads a requester (namely Btrieve.exe ,Brequest,wbtrcall.dll).
You can also try to open the file with the DOS edit program or diskedit and try to find out if in the beggining of the file you find something that looks like fieldnames. If so ,is not a Btrieve file you have.
Now I've seen this kind of file extensions in other kind of software that has the field definition hard coded in the program and most probably you might have to investigate your way out on this one unless you have available the source code.
Hope it helps.

 

[grnelson]

You can check out BtSearch at

http://www.nssdd.com.

It allows you to build your DDF files if you don't already have them. It also will export your data to dbase or ascii format. Since it uses the Btrieve extended calls it will export your data very quickly.

Gil

 

[AndeA]

I have a couple of the older Btrieve tools hanging around. But, I don't remember Btrieve ever having a separate *.idx file. The index and header information were all integrated into one file with the data. That was why index corruptions were always a mess with Btrieve.

You say you have a database that you built up. What program was being used to build it?

The *.dat file extension is used by many-many different programs. Even ICQ uses the *.dat & *.idx extensions.

Ande