Btrieve Interactive Maintenance Utility

The Interactive Maintenance utility runs on Win16 (client/server only), and Win32 (Pervasive PSQL client/server and Workgroup products). Use this utility if you prefer a graphical interface or if you want to create a description file. This section contains the following major topics:

File Information Editor

Each major topic contains tasks specific to that topic.

Extended File Support

The size of a MicroKernel data file can be larger than the operating system file size limit. When you export data from an extended MicroKernel file to an unformatted file, the size of the unformatted file can exceed the MicroKernel file size limit because of the differences in the physical format.

When you are exporting large files, the Interactive Maintenance utility detects when the unformatted file exceeds a 2 GB file size limit and starts creating extension files. This process is transparent. Extension files and the original unformatted file must reside on the same volume. (The size limit for a file varies depending on the operating system and file system. The 2 GB size is simply the limit enforced by the database engine.)

The extension file uses a naming scheme in which the file names are similar to the base file name. In contrast to native MKDE extension files which use a caret "^" to indicate extension file status, the unformatted extension files use a tilde "~" to avoid overwriting any existing extended MKDE files with the same base file name. The first export extension file is the same base file name with ".~01" extension. The second extension file is ".~02," and so on. These extensions are appended in hexadecimal format.

The naming convention supports up to 255 extension files, thus supporting files as large as 256 GB.

Additionally, when you import data from an unformatted file, the utility detects whether the file has extensions and loads the data from the extension file.

Long File Names and Embedded Spaces Support

Long file name support, including support for embedded spaces is available in all supported operating system environments. All references to files can contain embedded spaces and be longer than 8 bytes.

Older versions of Btrieve allowed spaces to be added at the end of a file name in path-based operations such as Open and Create. This is still the default behavior. Existing applications will not break. However, if you want to take advantage of file and directory names with embedded spaces, set the Embedded Spaces configuration setting for the Btrieve Requester to "Yes." In the registry, you can locate this setting under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Pervasive Software\BtrieveRequester\Version 8.0\Settings\Embedded Spaces.

Note
In most Windows operating systems, the `Pervasive Software' key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PERVASIVE SOFTWARE. However, its location under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE can vary depending on the operating system.

Even when you turn the option "Off," an application that accesses a file having a name with embedded spaces can enclose that name in double quotes while making the BTRV/BTRVID/BTRCALL/BTRCALLID call to open or create the file.

Note
On NetWare, long file name support is available only in the MicroKernel and not in any of the other NLM utilities such as BUTIL.NLM. This means that Btrieve data files may be accessed using long names but long names cannot be used for any other kind of files. For example, in the NLM command:

BUTIL -CREATE <outputFile> <descriptionFile>

The <outputFile> being a Btrieve data file manipulated by the MKDE can have a long name but the <descriptionFile> must have only a short name as BUTIL.NLM does not understand long names.

The Btrieve Maintenance Utility Interface

You start the Btrieve Maintenance Utility by assessing the Pervasive commands on the Start menu and click Maintenance. The utility's main window displays as illustrated in Figure 13-1.

Figure 13-1 Btrieve Maintenance Utility Main Window

Menu Options

The interactive Maintenance utility provides the following menus:


Options	Allows you to display the File Information Editor, set and clear owner names, generate statistics reports, and exit the utility.
Index	Allows you to create and drop indexes.
Data	Allows you to load data from ASCII files, save data to ASCII files, copy records between data files, and perform a roll forward operation to recover changes made to a data file between the time of the last backup and a system failure.
Help	Provides access to the Maintenance utility help system.

Getting Help

To access the Maintenance utility help system, choose a command from the Help menu, as follows:


Getting Help	Explains how to use the Maintenance utility help system.
Index	Provides a list of Maintenance utility help topics.
Help on Help	Explains how to use the help system.
About	Displays copyright information and the version number. It also provides the version number of the MicroKernel Database Engine and Btrieve client Requester, if they are loaded.

In addition, you can display help for a particular dialog box by clicking the Help button contained in that dialog box.