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The Joel on Software Discussion Group (CLOSED)

I need to read data that is saved by a business application into a database which, according to files it installs in SYSTEM32, appears to be Pervasive Software's Btrieve:

W32mkde.exe MKDE Workstation Edition - Pervasive Software Inc. - Btrieve for Windows NT/Windows 95 v6.15
W32mkrc.dll - Workstation MKDE Resource DLL
Wbtrv32.dll - Microkernel Interface  DLL - Pervasive Software Communications Module

Does someone know whether this kind of database is login/password-protected, and if not, if there's an easy way to connect to it from eg. VB Classic?

Thank you.

Yeah, ODBC will do it for you.  Select the Pervasive Engine Interface (not the client)

...and yes, the databases can be passworded.  As a matter of interest the data is generally stored in a .DAT file, but the field definitions, etc are stored in multiple .DDF files.

Anyone else use this software and have problems with .mkd files on network shares?

MS Access 2 can read BTrieve. I think by Access 95 MS had the market for desktop db cornered so it did not need the compatibility anymore.

ah yes, good ole btrieve.

May you rot in hell you horrible horrible piece of software :)

I've had a few clients who used BTrieve and it's one of those things I'd wish on my worst enemy, but no one else.

I'm with you fake programmer.  This one tops my hatred list.

I'm using it as well...haven't got to the stage of hating it...frustrated yea.

And our company are running a 40blnEuro loan book using it.  It's grand...but I've used better.

ZeFred,

What the others haven't said yet is that the BTrieve engine allows every "record" in a data file to have a completely different structure from the one before or after it.  In other words, it's not a row/column oriented database.

This means that you have to have a data definition file (the .DDF another poster referred to) before you can access a data file's structure.  If you don't have that, you're pretty much screwed.

It is also possible for the developer of an app that used BTrieve to encode the .DDF into the app so for that app the .DDF is not required.

So ... if you want to be able to read your DB, make sure you have the .DDF files or get them from the vendor.

HTH.