retrieval of records from BTrieve

[BTnewbie]

I have a customer who is using ComNet management system for customer management. He has about 20 years of customer records saved in Btrieve format which he now wants to be retrieved.

I have no idea how to retrieve his customer information from BTrieve database. How to go about it ?

Please help.

 

[mirtheil]

Where to start... How you get to Btrieve data is going to depend on what version of Btrieve you've got running (and whether you're willing to upgrade if needed). Do you know what version of Btrieve is running? There is no access to Btrieve data files without a Btrieve or Pervasive PSQL engine running.
If you've got Btrieve data files, DDFs that accurately describe the data files, and a version of Btrieve / PSQL that has an ODBC driver, you should be able to just create and ODBC DSN pointing to the data/DDFs and access your data through your favorite ODBC application (Excel, Access, ODBC Test, VB, C#, etc).
If you don't have DDFs, you'll need to create them using any number of tools including BtSearch32, DDF Builder, and others.
If you don't have an ODBC driver, you'll probably need to upgrade to a more current version of PSQL. ODBC drivers were included with the main product starting with PSQL 2000.


Mirtheil
Certified Pervasive Developer
Certified Pervasive Technician

http://www.mirtheil.com

 

[BTnewbie]

Thank You Mirtheil.

The customer used BTrieve 6.15 and I have a local Pervasive SQl v8 running on my local machine. I do not have DDF but .BTR files. WHat should I do now to start retrieving the information??

My boss wants me to develop a C coded application that reads live BTrieve data and converts it into customer information.

Please suggest.

 

[mirtheil]

If you don't have DDFs, you'll need to know the exact record structure of the data. This is something you'd have to get from the vendor of the application. You might be able to guess the structure but it won't be easy.

If you are really wanting to use C and want live data, I would probably suggest looking at the Btrieve API instead of the ODBC interface. It'll be faster but take more effort.


Mirtheil
Certified Pervasive Developer
Certified Pervasive Technician

http://www.mirtheil.com

 

[grnelson]

Hi,
If you need to build the DDF files you can take a look at BtSearch at

http://www.nssdd.com.

It can help you analyze the data structure and build the DDF files.

GIl

 

[BTnewbie]

I created DDF file using BTsearch already but it doesn't allow me to save / create without registering it ? It just allows me to print field and index ddf.

Another thing, once the ddf is made what is the next step ? Would DDF recreate the database in SQL format ?

Thank You

MS

 

[grnelson]

Yes you are right that it does require registration to actually create the DDF files.

After you create the DDF then you can connect via ODBC. Btrieve files are not SQL format in themselves but the later versions of Pervasive built a SQL engine so you can retrieve the data using the ODBC connection from Microsoft Access or SQL Server or other programs that use ODBC connections.

Gil