Retrieve data from Pervasive database used by Magic application

Question

I have a client who has had a developer (who has died since) set him up a Magic eDeveloper application which uses a Pervasive V8 database. Thing is that his licence ran out and the developer is not around.

There are no DDF files in the directory containing the .DAT files. However I have found a file called DDFA which contains text about potential DDF files. I don't know the format of DDF files, of the DDFA file and if one actually creates the other.

Here are contents of the DDFA file:

VRSN=700

Application=Yes
FILE={NAME="file.ddf",DESC="file.ddf",ACCKEY="..SC....",DBNAME="Default Database",ENCR=N,RESIDENT=78,
FLD={DESC="file id",PIC="2",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=2,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="file name",PIC="20",STRG=1,ATTR=A,SIZ=20,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="file loc",PIC="64",STRG=1,ATTR=A,SIZ=64,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="flags",PIC="3",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=1,WHLE=3,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="filler",PIC="10",STRG=1,ATTR=A,SIZ=10,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
KEY={DESC="key 1(id)",MOD=S,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=1,DIR=A}},
KEY={DESC="key 2(name)",MOD=S,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=20,FLD=2,DIR=A}}}
FILE={NAME="field.ddf",DESC="field.ddf",ACCKEY="..SC....",DBNAME="Default Database",ENCR=N,RESIDENT=78,
FLD={DESC="field id",PIC="3",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=3,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="file id",PIC="3",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=3,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="field name",PIC="20",STRG=1,ATTR=A,SIZ=20,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="bt data type",PIC="3",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=1,WHLE=3,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="offset",PIC="5",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=5,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="size",PIC="5",STRG=4,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=5,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="decimals",PIC="3",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=1,WHLE=3,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="flags",PIC="3",STRG=4,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=3,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
KEY={DESC="key 1(field id)",MOD=S,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=1,DIR=A}},
KEY={DESC="key 2(file id)",MOD=N,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=2,DIR=A}},
KEY={DESC="key 3(field name)",MOD=N,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=20,FLD=3,DIR=A}},
KEY={DESC="key 4(file id+field",MOD=S,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=2,DIR=A},
SEG={SIZ=20,FLD=3,DIR=A}},
KEY={DESC="key 5(fi+offset+dec)",MOD=N,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=2,DIR=A},
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=5,DIR=A},
SEG={SIZ=1,FLD=7,DIR=A}}}
FILE={NAME="index.ddf",DESC="index.ddf",ACCKEY="..SC....",DBNAME="Default Database",ENCR=N,RESIDENT=78,
FLD={DESC="file id",PIC="2",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=2,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="field id",PIC="5",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=5,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="key number",PIC="2",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=2,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="key segment",PIC="2",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=2,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="flags",PIC="5",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=5,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         1.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
KEY={DESC="key 1(file id)",MOD=N,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=1,DIR=A}},
KEY={DESC="key 2(field id)",MOD=N,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=2,DIR=A}},
KEY={DESC="key 3(file+key num+s",MOD=S,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=1,DIR=A},
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=3,DIR=A},
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=4,DIR=A}}}
FILE={NAME="fieldext.ddf",DESC="fieldext.ddf",ACCKEY="..SC....",DBNAME="Default Database",ENCR=N,RESIDENT=78,
FLD={DESC="File ID",PIC="3",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=3,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         0.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="Field ID",PIC="3",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=3,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         0.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
FLD={DESC="Extended data type",PIC="3",STRG=5,ATTR=N,SIZ=2,WHLE=3,RSRCE={MDFY=Y,TRNS=S,DEF=N,MOD=B,CTRL=E,CTRL_STP="         0.00000",NUL_ALW=N,STYLE=2,IDX_COLOR=1,IDX_FONT=1}},
KEY={MOD=S,DIR=T,RNG=Q,KEY_TYPE=R,
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=1,DIR=A},
SEG={SIZ=2,FLD=2,DIR=A}}}

Does anyone recognize this format? Can I use this to create DDF files? Or is this usefulfor some other tool?

I have tried using BUTIL -SAVE ORIG.DAT ORIG.TXT and got a more readable file but I'm not quite sure what to do with that either.

Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

That file describes the structure of the DDF files (FILE.DDF, FIELD.DDF, and INDEX.DDF). Unfortunately, the file doesn't describe the data files. DDFs without records describing the files won't help much.

When you say the license expired, are you talking about the Pervasive license or the Magic license? If it's the Pervasive license, you might be able to download a trial version of the Pervasive engine, install it and activate the trial license.

Magic used to offer a way to create DDFs for the data files. I think it's called "DDF Make".