32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve, Netware Btrieve and Pervasive SQL

Full 32 bit access to Netware Btrieve and 16 bit Btrieve from any 32 Bit Windows platform

Need to build an application that reads and/or writes to some legacy application's Btrieve data?

Want some quick access to some legacy Btrieve database from VB, VC++, Delphi or some other tool supporting ActiveX?

1) Download and install our 32 Bit power pack.

2) Download and install our Data Control for Btrieve ActiveX control.

3) Plug the ActiveX control into your favorite development environmment. Visual Basic, Delphi, Access, Visual C++, Visual Foxpro, etc. Now you can read and/or write to the Btrieve files.

Are you feeling frozen out?

Normally (see * below) in 32 bit Windows a 32 bit application cannot call a 16 bit proccess. So if you have Older Netware Btrieve or Btrieve for Windows 16 bit then you are frozen out from making use of the incredible capabilities of the new 32 bit tools that are available. You cannot even write a simple 32 bit hello world utility that opens and reads some data from a file.

If you are an end user then you are unable to leverage your 32 bit investments towards some of your most valuable data. You can't create reports, or write your own software using the new 32 bit tools and drivers. Get access to your valuable data! With the 32 bit power pack you can do this live and not interfere with the operation of your legacy applications.

The Solution

The 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve is a set of libraries that allow you to use older Netware and 16 bit Btrieve with full 32 bit development tools, applications, middleware connectivity products (ODBC, etc.), ActiveX Controls, report writers and much more. With it you can now use 32 bit versions of Visual Basic, Access, Visual C++, Visual J++, ODBC Drivers, report writers and many more.

Highlights

• Use existing 32 bit applications, development tools, utilities and drivers against your 16 bit Btrieve data.
• Write full 32 bit software that accesses 16 bit Btrieve. Or an older Netware Server.
• Develop software that transparently uses 32 bit or 16 bit Btrieve whichever is available.
• Supports ALL versions of Btrieve 16 and 32 bit. Versions 5.x 16 bit through 32 bit Pervasive SQL 2000. All from a full 32 bit application!

How it works

The 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve works in two ways. First it provides a plug in replacement for the Btrieve and Pervasive SQL glue DLL Wbtrv32.dll. This is the interface DLL used by ODBC drivers and report writers, third party applications etc. By default this DLL will try to use the 32 bit Pervasive SQL libraries if they are available. If they are not available it will use the 32 Bit Power Pack libraries for 16 bit Access. It can also be configured for 32 or 16 bit access only. This allows you to easily plug any application using the glue DLL from 32 Bit Btrieve or Pervasive SQL into 16 bit Btrieve. And for version compatibility it has the ability to provide version impersonation. Below shows this configuration using the libraries from the 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve.

The second way you can use the 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve is shown below. Classic Software's 32 bit ActiveX controls are plugging into the 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve (and Pervasive SQL) using classic Software's glue DLL wbtrvc32.dll. With our ActiveX controls you can easily write Btrieve Applications and utilities that will run anywhere. And on any version of Btrieve 32 or 16 bit.

Also shown is an application targeting our Glue DLL. This DLL has the same interfaces as the standard Btrieve and Pervasive SQL glue DLL (wbtrv32.dll). So you can easily port your applications to use it with a simple recompile and link. Plug it into your Visual Basic, Visual C++ or any application that calls Btrieve. Your 32 bit applications will continue to work against 32 bit Btrieve. Now you can also target 16 bit Btrieve sites. And of course you can easily port 16 bit applications to 32 bit. Yet you can still call your 16 bit Btrieve libraries.

The 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve Thunking configurations

The process of calling a 16 bit process from a 32 bit process is called thunking. The 32 Bit power Pack for Btrieve has 3 thunking configurations; Universal, Remote Server and Windows 98, 95 Special configuration.

The Universal configuration works on all windows platforms. It this configuration the calling process is on the same machine as 16 bit Btrieve. This is analogous to the same configuration used under 32 bit where the 32 bit caller is on the same machine as the 32 bit Btrieve libraries. Just like 32 bit the actual client may be on a remote computer connecting via some midlleware or other software running on the same machine as 32 bit Btrieve. This is the default configuration.

The Remote Server configuration provides for connections to another windows machine that will act as a server. In this configuration any windows machine can be converted into a Gateway for Btrieve access.

This configuration will let you configure a Windows 98 machine as a Gateway server for Btrieve with brequest and Netware 3.11. Numerous other configurations are also supported. The btr32ex.exe file may also be configured as an NT service. This will transform any Btrieve for Windows 16 bit into an NT service. Btrieve for Windows runs on the server while the clients access it remotely on the workstations. You can connect to a server via configuration settings or explicitly through an API function.

The Windows 98, 95 Special configuration is optimized for these two operating systems. Special DLLs, written in assembler code, sit on either side of the 32/16 bit process space and marshall the data between the two processes. These specially built DLLs only work on these two operating systems.

The 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve consists of a set of very lightweight DLLs and servers. They are very fast with a very small footprint. Check out our Demo for yourself. While your at it check out the demo for our ActiveX control the Classic Data Control for Btrieve.

Licensing

Two versions of the 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve are available. The Standard and Enterprise editions.

The Standard Edition provides a 5 user license for the Power pack libraries. This edition provides base connectivity to older Netware and 16 Bit Btrieve libraries. If all you need is connectivity to an older Netware Server or 16 Bit Btrieve data then this is the product you need.

Note: the 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve Developer Edition has been replaced by the Developers Toolkit for Pervasive SQL and Btrieve. This product is the same as the enterprise edition except you cannot redistribute the wbtrv32.dll replacement dll.

All versions of the 32 Bit Power Pack for Btrieve (and Pervasive SQL) includes DDF Maker 16 Bit Edition at no extra cost. DDF Maker 16 Bit Edition includes Btrieve for Windows 5.15 and 6.15 Workstation version.

* The specific details are that normally in 32 bit Windows a 32 bit application cannot call a 16 bit windows dynnamic link library. It can only call a full 32 bit dynammic link library. The Btrieve 16 Bit windows libraries are 16 bit dynamic link libraries. So if you have Btrieve for windows 16 bit then you are frozen out from making use of the incredible capabilities of the new 32 bit tools that are available. The process of calling a 16 bit process from a 32 bit one is called Thunking. The 32 Bit power pack libraries provide a Thunking layer so that 32 bit applications can call 16 bit Btrieve.

Our products support all Btrieve and Pervasive SQL based applications and tools