How to migrate btrieve 5.10a Database with magic 5.6 frontend

Question

I have an old MSDOS software realized in magic 5.6 with an btrieve 5.10a database, that should be modernized(completely redone using a modern DB). For this I would love to just get the table structures and some understanding in the structure of the magic program.

But unfortunately I was not able to find any documentation on magic nor was I able to get the structure with column names from the tables(.btr but no ddf files).

Any idea on how to get a step further?

Answer 1

Not enough rep to comment, so I'm forced to post this as an answer. If you can't get hold of any info regarding the data structure you might try:

A. Download and install a try-out version of a more recent Pervasive version and see if that enables you to read the data. In (still more or less current) server versions like V11 there is a DDF Builder utility, which does what the name implies. However, this is no automatic process, but relies on your ability to link the data shown in the application to the hex values on disk.

B. Try to find a BUTIL.EXE version that works with 5.x Btrieve files, run BUTIL -RECOVER and see what that gets you. You might get to parse the data with scripting tools this way - I've done it in the past on 6.x files, but nothing as old as you are dealing with.

The main issue here is whether you'll be able to find compatible tools for a version that old. But then again, maybe 6.x tools might just work.