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       Visual Basic Version 3.0 Btrieve Information
                       April 16, 1993
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       (C) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1993

This document provides supplementary information on configuring
Btrieve for use with Visual Basic.  Before you import, 
export, or attach Btrieve tables with Visual Basic, please 
read this file.


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Contents
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General Considerations
Using Compressed Data Files
Using Btrieve in a Multiuser Environment
Setting Btrieve Options in WIN.INI
Configuring Novell Network LAN Manager (NLM)



----------------------
General Considerations
----------------------

When using Btrieve data with Visual Basic, keep the following
considerations in mind:

- Btrieve data files must be in version 5.1x format.

- You must have the data definition files FILE.DDF and FIELD.DDF,
  which tell Visual Basic the structure of your tables.  These
  files are created by Xtrieve or another .DDF file-building 
  program.

- You must have the Btrieve for Windows dynamic-link library
  WBTRCALL.DLL, which isn't provided with Visual Basic.
  This file is available with Novell Btrieve for Windows, Novell
  NetWare SQL, and some other products for Windows that use Btrieve.

- You can't use Btrieve files that have Xtrieve security.  To use
  data files with Visual Basic, disable Xtrieve security.


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Using Compressed Data Files
---------------------------

If you're using compressed Btrieve files, you must be sure that
the compression buffer Btrieve is using is adequate for your data.
The buffer size must be at least as large as the largest record
in your data files.

To ensure proper operation, set the compression buffer size 
option (/u) in the [btrieve] section of your WIN.INI file.  The
units for this setting are kilobytes, so if your largest record 
is 2K, you would add /u:2 to the Btrieve options line in WIN.INI.

For more information on setting options, see "Setting Btrieve
Options in WIN.INI" later in this file.


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Using Btrieve in a Multiuser Environment
----------------------------------------

If you're using Btrieve in a multiuser environment, you must
use the same transaction file (BTRIEVE.TRN) as other users on 
the network.  To do this, set the transaction file name option 
(/t) in the Btrieve section of your WIN.INI to point to the 
network location of BTRIEVE.TRN.

For more information on setting options, see the next section
of this file.


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Setting Btrieve Options in WIN.INI
----------------------------------

When you install Visual Basic, Setup adds the following
section to the WIN.INI file in your Windows directory:

[btrieve]
options=/m:64 /p:4096 /b:16 /f:20 /l:40 /n:12 /t:C:\ACCESS\BTRIEVE.TRN

Although these are the recommended option settings, you can
change these options in your WIN.INI file using the following
table as a guide.  If the option you want to set is not on
the line, add the option and desired setting at the end.

Option Description                Required value
------ -----------                --------------
/m     Memory size                At least 38
/p     Page size                  4096
/b     Pre-image buffer size      16
/f     Open files                 At least 4
/l     Multiple locks             At least double the setting for
                                    the Open Files option (/f)
/n     Files in a transaction     At least 4
/t     Transaction file name      Valid path to a .TRN file;
                                    in a multiuser environment,
                                    network path to the .TRN
                                    file shared by all users
/u     Compression buffer size    If your Btrieve data files are
                                    compressed, at least the length
                                    (in kilobytes) of the longest
                                    record in your data files
/i     Pre-image file drive
/c     Index compaction
/a     Activate logging
/s     Discard unneeded segments


--------------------------------------------
Configuring Novell Network LAN Manager (NLM)
--------------------------------------------

If you're using Novell Network LAN Manager (NLM), there are several
considerations you must keep in mind about your configuration.
Before you use Btrieve data with Visual Basic, you should
check for the following:

- You must have the following section in your WIN.INI file:

  [BREQUESTDPMI]
  datalength=4096
  tasks=10
  local=no
  chkparms=no

- You must have transactions enabled on your NLM server.

- You must be using version 6.0 of the NLM requestor files-- 
  BREQUEST.EXE, WBTRCALL.DLL, and WBTRVRES.DLL.  (However, note
  that you must still be using version 5.1x data file format.)

If you don't have the correct versions of these files, you won't
be able to use Btrieve with Visual Basic.  If you have access
to Compuserve, you can download the necessary files for this 
configuration using the instructions below.  If you don't have a
Compuserve account, contact your Novell representative and ask
for the 6.0 versions of the requestor files.


To update your Btrieve NLM files from Compuserve:

1. Connect to Compuserve and GO NOVLIB.
2. Go into the Btrieve/XQL library section.
3. Download the file BT515.ZIP, and then unpack the file using PKUNZIP.EXE.
4. Unpack the file BTRREQ.ZIP (one of the files from BT515.ZIP).  
5. Follow the instructions in the README file for installing the
   resulting files and applying necessary patches to the 
   BTRIEVE.NLM file on your server.