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BTRIEVE record Manager Version 4.11b (Need to convert BTR files)

I work for a company that has given me a big under taking and I need some help in getting started. I have about 50 Manufacturing locations. The program that run the plants was written in QuickBasic (I do not have the source code). The program uses BTRIEVE record Manager version 4.11b or a sub function of it the read/write data to the BTR files. The program runs on either a OLD 286 ISA card rack system or a TOWER PC that could have either windows XP or straight DOS.

I am needing to pull information out of the BTR files and dump the data into a SQL Server Database. Later down the road I may need to write back to the BTR files. I do not have any of the DES files. About the best I can do is use BUTIL -STAT to get the information on the file and of course when I try the -Recover option I get a unreadable txt file. Can someone please help get me pointed in the right direction?

ralmada

Could this link be of any help? They are recommending a program to export the BTR format to ASCII or dbase. After that you can use SSIS or DTS (depending on SQL Version 2005 or 2000) or BULK insert to upload to SQL Server
http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1094287&page=1
I believe though, that the only way to access Btrieve files through ODBC or Access or any third party tool is to have DDFs.

B0o_1999

ASKER

I have tried BTsearch and Pervassive v10 I think. With BTsearch I am able to make out the String fields with no problem (Creating a DDF). The problem I have comes in when I try to define the SINGLE and INTEGER fields. I say this because I have been able to get my hands on some source code. Now I don't know Quick Basic, but I was able to figure out where the programmer set field types in the program, I am banking on the types being the same in the BTR files. This being said I copied the program and BTR files, Deleted all the data out of one of the BTR's and entered one row of data. Being that I know what the values should be I can't find a match in BTsearch except for the String fields. For example if I was looking for a Integer value of 45 (not 45.00). In BTsearch all I can find that was close was 54. Am I missing something here?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Bill Bach

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B0o_1999

ASKER

Thanks alot peps. This doesn't completly fix the problem, but it gets me on the right track. Thanks for the addy BillBach. BTW, I did find a old BTRIEVE v4.11b manual. Seems as though my life would be a hole lot easier if I could find the old BTRIEVE v4.11b Suite or however the labeled it back then.

If anyone comes across where I could get my hands on it, let me know. I am going to consider this question Closed.

B0o_1999

ASKER

Thanks for the ADDY!!

Bill Bach

You cannot find it anywhere. Btrieve 4.x was a product of SoftCraft, which then became Novell, which was then spun out to Btrieve Technologies, which changed their name to Pervasive Software. So, in essence, when you are testing PSQLv10, you have the same Btrieve engine in there (with lots of new features and better performance and support).

PSQLv10 has the needed tools to help create the DDF's (see the DDF Builder for one option, or write your own CREATE statements as we always recommend), and since it provides the SQL engine and ODBC drivers directly, you can use DTS/SSIS to extract the data directly into SQL Server. I have personally done several if these projects for various companies, and the process is pretty straightforward once you have the DDF's correct.