HOWTO: Troubleshooting Btrieve Connections in Visual FoxPro

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Steps to Troubleshoot Error Message

1. Check the current Btrieve driver version being used in the ODBC Icon. In the Main group in Program Manager, double-click the Control Panel icon:
   
   
   1. In the Control Panel window, double-click the ODBC icon. The Data Sources dialog box appears.
   2. In the Data Sources dialog box, choose the Drivers button. The Drivers dialog box appears.
   3. In the Drivers dialog box, highlight the Btrieve driver and choose the About button. The following driver information is displayed:
      
      driver, file name, description, company, version, language, creation date, and size.
2. Make sure the Wbtrcall.dll file is in the Windows\System directory. If the .dll file is missing, you can obtain it from Btrieve. This file is part of the Btrieve for Windows product. The Wbtrcall.dll must be installed and accessible on the system.
3. Check the size of the Wbtrcall.dll file. There are two versions; one is 13K and the other is 51K. The 13K Wbtrcall.dll lacks full functionality and will cause an error. Be sure the 51K version is being used.
4. Check the version of the Btrieve data file being used. When you use a Btrieve 5.1 data file, the 51K Wbtrcall.dll file is needed. However, use the Btrieve client software when connecting to a Btrieve 6x file.
5. Check the Operating System. Presently, Microsoft ships the 16-Bit Btrieve driver. If the operating system is Windows NT or Windows 95, you must get the 32-bit ODBC driver. To do this, contact Btrieve directly at 1-800-287-4383 and choosing option 3.
6. Be sure the File.ddf and Field.ddf files are located in the same directory as the .dat files. The paths to the Btrieve data files are hard-coded in the .ddf files. The Btrieve driver uses the .ddf files when connecting to a Btrieve datasource. If the .ddf files are missing, then the Btrieve driver will not be able to connect. The .ddf files can be created using a third party .ddf builder such as Xtrieve, DDF Builder, or Btrieve Scalable SQL. Xtrieve and Btreive Scalable SQL are sold by Btrieve technologies, a vendor independent of Microsoft.
7. Make sure that you have the Btrieve 2.0 ODBC driver (this comes with Visual FoxPro Professional). You need this driver to connect to a Btrieve 6x file. The Microsoft ODBC Desktop Driver Kit 1.0 comes with a Btrieve ODBC driver that can connect to Btrieve 5.1 (16-bit driver). The Microsoft ODBC desktop Driver Kit 2.0 comes with Btrieve ODBC driver, which can be used to connect to Btrieve 5.1 or Btrieve 6x.
8. Make sure there are no non-alphanumeric characters in the table name. This will usually cause "Syntax Errors" when retrieving data. File naming conventions call for standard alphanumeric characters in table names.
9. Make sure Btrieve data sources are added correctly, by following the instructions outlined here. In the Main group in the Program Manager window, double-click the Control Panel icon. In the Control Panel window, double-click the ODBC icon.
   
   
   1. In the Data Sources dialog box, choose the Add button. The Add Data Source dialog box appears.
   2. In the Installed ODBC Drivers list, select the Btrieve driver and choose the OK button. The ODBC Driver dialog box appears.
   3. In the Btrieve ODBC Driver dialog box, enter the Data Source Name and the Connect String information, which should be made available by the Network Administrator. The Description can be set to whatever you want. For more information about these options, press the Help button in the dialog box.
10. Make sure the correct data source name is used in the ODBC Btrieve Setup dialog box. It should be a directory name or the current directory as indicated in the Setup dialog box.
11. Make sure the Btrieve table names don't begin with SQL keywords such as Update, In, Select, Create, Drop, Alter, or any other keyword.
12. Make sure the Btrieve.trn file exists and has not been renamed.
13. Check the Win.ini file for a [Btrieve] initialization option section. The Btrieve 5.x format should contain an Options statement similar to the one in the following example:

        [BTRIEVE]
        Options=/M:64/P:4096 /b:16 /f:20/l:40/n:12/t:Btrieve.Trn
    						

14. If the Btrieve version is Btrieve.nlm (server-based version), check the Win.ini file (for Btrieve version 5.1x) or the Novdb.ini file (for Btrieve version 6.x), and include the following command example:

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