Role-specific Btrieve Interview Questions & Answers:
The process is as follows:
- Run the BUTIL NLM version 6.x from the file server, which displays the version of file format after executing a STAT call.
- No client BUTIL program is available to display this status
- Another way is to check the version format of a Btrieve file by using DOS DEBUG utility
- Type debug-d at DOS prompt.
- The initial two bytes of the FCR will be set to FC when the file is stored in 6.x format.
- Otherwise the bytes will be set to 0x00.
The .DDF file can be obtained in two ways;
- The vendor of the product should be able to provide .DDF along with the software.
- Or, use Xtrieve PLUS,XQL or NetWare SQL for creating the .DDF file.
To ensure the data retrieval correctly by Btrieve:
- Use the latest version of NetWare Shell - IPX v3.10, NETX v3.22 or NETX v3.26
- Make sure that latest BREQUEST.EXE is running
- Verify the Btrieve data file's page size
- If the pages are not evenly divisible into 4k, NetWare mishandles the pages
- Use only the pages of sizes 512k, 1024k, 2048k, or 4096k.
- The situation would be resolved by using NetWare Patch ASNCROFX.NLM
4. Explain will Brequest works in an OS/2 v2.0 DOS Box?
- Brequest will not properly function in multiple private DOS boxes. The system will halt.
- Trap D occurs when Btrieve calls are made.
- Rebuilding Btrieve files is possible using BREBUILD, if they have not extended across a volume.
- CONVERT4 should be used after the files have been extended, for the purpose of translating Btrieve v3.x files to v4.x format
- Later we can run BREBUILD.
- Btireve v4.x and v5.x files can also be rebuild using BREBUILD.
- Yes. the right creation is necessary.
- Btrieve may create a file called pre-image file, in accelerated mode.
- During an insert(2), an index does not allow the duplicates and the insertion of records causes a duplicate error that is to be returned.
- Any pages that have been updated already for the insertion, would need to roll back.
- No. Because Btrieve always bypasses the bit 7 of the key flags at the time of creation.
- The bit 7 is designated as an index supplemental
- The indexes are created as permanent.
- Prior to starting the application, if the environment variable SET BTRPARMSCHK=Y is specified, the status 1015 is returned.
- Isolation of errors that are caused by passing invalid pointers to Btrieve is done by using this environment variable.
- Once this variable is set, Btrieve performs the validation on pointer parameters that are passed in to READ/WRITE access on certain ranges.
- Btrieve validates position block pointer on the range of 128 bytes, length pointer validates on two bytes and data buffer is validated on 255 bytes for key buffer
9. Tell me if an application runs twenty-four hours a day, how to perform a backup?
-Once a file is opened by Btrieve, no other user / application can open it until Btrieve closes that file.
-The operating system's 'copy' command will not work
-One can back up the Btrieve file using BUTIL operations.
-BUTIL operations uses CLONE for creation of a backup file.
-Followed by CLONE, COPY command is used to backup the records from one file to backup file.
10. Tell me how to convert a bunch of .btr and .lck files to a readable SQL?
-Every Btrieve file and DDf has a owner of their creation.
-Owner name can be used to read only access.
-SET OWNER = command is used before utilizing SELECT statement.
-.lck files are lock files and can not read them directly.
-.btr files are DDF files.
-The conversion can be made by using ODBC DSN that points to data and utilizes SSIS or DTS to export the data from.
https://InterviewQuestionsAnswers.ORG.