What is BVIEW? BVIEW is simple, yet powerful tool for programmers using Btrieve database managment system from Pervasive (formerly Btrieve Technologies). It allows viewing, editing, inserting, deleting records and more. Why is BVIEW different from other programs of this type? Btrieve files do not include any record description, record is treated as byte stream. Therefore it is hard to make a tool like DBU is for DBase files. All other Btrieve tools that I found only allowed editing records in hex or character format which is, of course, very unconvenient. BVIEW uses external files, called descriptors, for storing information about record and index structure, allowing you to view records in a friendly way. Descriptor file always have the same name as corresponding Btrieve file, and extension .DSP. What BVIEW can? 1. Open multiple files simultaneously. 2. Supports Btrieve v. 5.x and 6.x files. 3. View data according to record structure. 4. Insert, edit and delete single records. 5. Search for records using any defined key. 6. Delete range of records. 7. Copy to and insert from clipboard single and multiple records. 8. Edit records in clipboard. 9. Clone file. 10. Create and edit descriptors. What are BVIEW limitations so far? (most of this limitations will be removed in future versions) 1. Variable length records are not supported. 2. Files with no descriptors can't be opened. 3. Files with same name and different extensions are not allowed (similar as in Btrieve 5.x pre-imaging). 4. Real type keys are not supported; real type fields are limited to 6-byte reals. 5. Overlapped fields in records are not supported. 6. Key-only and data-only files are not supported. 7. Files cannot be created using descriptors. Notes. 1. You must load Btrieve (either network or local version) before running this program. If Btrieve is not loaded, you will not be able to open Btrieve files (still you can open and create descriptor files). 2. If you create a descriptor, you MUST define at least one key. If you try to open file which descriptor has no key defined, the program will fail (this will be corrected in future version). 3. Record content can be scrolled horizontally using left & right arrow keys. Installation. BVIEW does not require any special installing; if desired, it can be run directly from floppy. Only file necessary is BVIEW.EXE. About this demo. This version of BVIEW is a demo. The limitation of this demo is that it only allows to open files which have a maximum of 100 records. I have attached a sample Btrieve file with its descriptor. You can try to open both data file and descriptor file to see their structure. Disclaimer You use this software at your own risk. The author will not be responsible for any damage or data loss wchich may occur while using the program. It is always a good idea to make a backup copy of your files before applying any changes to them with BVIEW. Ordering and contacting author. BVIEW is priced $49 per copy. For ordering information and payment methods, send an e-mail to m_skoczek@css-ds.legnica.pl or post a letter to Mirek Skoczek ul. Kosm. Polskich 56/63 67-200 Glogow POLAND (e-mail is the preferred method of contact).