Btrieve Classes for .NET

New Functionality in Version 4.0

• Support for Pervasive's latest PSQL v11 database.
• Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Windows 7.

New Functionality in Version 3.0

• LINQ support.
• Support for Pervasive PSQL Summit v10.
• Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.
• 64-bit OS and application support.

Product overview

Btrieve Classes for .NET is a set of .NET database access support classes that enable fast, easy to program access from .NET programs to Pervasive PSQL databases via the Btrieve API.
They include a Native Class that allows direct Btrieve API access and a DDF Class that automatically reads Pervasive DDF files dynamically during run time, removing the need for table, field and other metadata definitions to be done statically within your program, and allowing database metadata changes after program build.

Performance Comparison Test Results

With a simple C# test application that displays all the First_Name column values of the Person table in Pervasive.SQL V8.6's DEMODATA in a list box, the test results showed that Btrieve Classes for .NET was 3-20 times faster compared with ADO.NET and Pervasive's OLEDB driver.

Why is the performance better?

The main cause for this is believed to be the sheer size of the ADO.NET and Pervasive OLE DB provider layers. It may also be because of the overhead associated with RPC based marshalling in a COM software module is also considerable.

Btrieve Classes for .NET class library calls the Btrieve API directly from

C++ unmanaged code, so the software layer is very thin. The data C++

transfer code between managed and unmanaged data has been optimized to minimize data transfer volume. Because the C++ language was chosen to produce Btrieve Classes for .NET it is possible to perform more finely tuned data marshalling compared to the generic data marshalling code available in C# and elsewhere.

Also, ADO.NET and the OLE DB provider have many features and functionality to support a large variety of multi-vendor databases. In contrast, the fact that Btrieve Classes for .NET class libraries, by specializing on Pervasive/Btrieve, avoids this kind of generic code is another reason behind the product's better performance.

The Structure Builder

The .NET language makes it possible to specify the memory alignment of structures by using the System.Runtime.Interop classes, something that was not possible in VB6 days. However the definition of this alignment is very complicated. The workload involved in coding the necessary complex structures can become very large especially as the number of columns and tables increases. Also mistakes involving the definition of the true null indicator byte can consume large amounts of a developer's time.

To make the job of defining such structures much easier, a Structure Builder Tool is included. This is a brand new add-in tool for Microsoft Visual Studio for .NET that automatically generates the stucture definition code you need directly into your source code by referring to the table definitions in your DDF files. The target languages supported for this structure code building are Visual C# and Visual Basic.NET.

Two types of class library

This product includes two types of class library. Please select according to the needs of your application.

• DDF Classes - A new group of classes specifically designed for the .NET Framework. It is composed of classes such as Record/Extended/Transaction/Exception. These enable smart and efficient access to column data and definition of data type conversion code. This class provides excellent development efficiency when working on new code.
• Native Class - This is a class that provides Btrieve API level access from .NET managed code, something that is as yet unavailable in the Pervasive.SQL SDK. This class is ideally suited for cases where you wish to migrate existing Btrieve API applications to .NET or if your existing application does not have DDFs. However, due to the fact that the Btrieve API contains many parameters and to the necessity of code for fetching and storing application data from the record buffer, application code can become complicated.

Features:

• The product is a .NET Framework class library.
• Enables easy access to Pervasive/Btrieve data from .NET languages such as C#,VB.NET
• Supports both Windows and Web applications
• Automatic conversion of data encoded in the code page of the locale <-> Unicode
• Extended class enables maximum performance when searching Pervasive data
• In only 1 line of code, it is possible to generate a DataSet Object and call a method, making filling a grid very simple
• Library itself is developed using C++, in order to minimize the overhead associated with a Btrieve API call
• By making full use of such .NET class library features as overloading, the classes are very easy to use Supports True Nullable column data
• Supports the BigInt data type by mapping to .NET's Int64.(8byte integer)
• VB.NET and C# sample code is provided for both Web and Windows applications
• Full support for Pervasive PSQL's security functionality.
• This includes Login and Logout methods and support for database URIs.
• Support for both 32-bit and 64-bit .NET applications Support for access to Pervasive/Btrieve data via .NET Framework 3.5's LINQ
• Runtime license free English and Japanese versions available
• Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010 are supported as the development environment of this product.

Supported .NET languages

• Microsoft Visual Basic.NET
• Microsoft Visual C#
• Microsoft Visual J#