Btrieve Error

[ChrisSchlehuser]

We installed the ODBC drivers for Btrieve 6.15 and tried to setup an ODBC connection to the Peachtree data. The connection failed. We then tried to go into Peachtree and got the following error "Btrieve Error Local parameter of 0 should be 1. Please correct and restart". We have a networked 5 user version running under MS Windows 2000. I checked the "BTI.ini", "Win.ini" and "pcw90.ini" files with backup versions and I made them the same and the problem still persists. I also checked the registry but I am not sure what might need to be changed? Has anyone seen this problem???? We have also uninstalled the ODBC driver and it still did not fix the problem.

Thanks

[dringstrom]

My understanding is that Peachtree made some proprietary changes to the Btrieve tables, which probably why you couldn't use the ODBC driver. In your case, I'd try uninstalling, then reinstalling Peachtree Accounting.

Good luck!

[Robert Walraven]

Btrieve ODBC drivers require DDF files to define the record structure of Btrieve files. When Peachtree designed their database many years ago they never envisioned it being accessible through ODBC and structured their records in a way that was definitely not relational and totally incompatible with ODBC. After a restructuring of their journal records with V8 they released a set of limited DDFs (you don't have access to everything) that could conceptually be used with ODBC. However, again the intent was not to make the data accessible from ODBC but to allow Crystal Reports for Peachtree to have access to some of the information for reporting.

I believe the issue with Btrieve ODBC is that they use some Btrieve field definitions that are recognized in DDF files but not supported in ODBC. (At least that was our experience a few years ago when we played around with this.) I think it is safe to say that Peachtree has no interest in supporting ODBC access to the data and you will probably never see it.

One issue with ODBC is that it is no longer the Microsoft-recommended mechanism for developing new applications for accessing data. I suspect you will not see any new ODBC drivers for any software products in the future.

As far as accessing the Peachtree data, you have to be very careful about modifying or adding records with an external mechanism since Peachtree is not given the opportunity to validate what you do. In other words it is easy to shoot
yourself in the foot if you have write access to the Peachtree
data and don't know precisely what you are doing.

If you could tell us a bit more about why you want ODBC access, perhaps we can suggest an alternative approach.

[ermnet]

I am software developer writing an inventory aplication as a add-on to peachtree.
1. I export a Custom Inventory Report to Excel. (ItemID, QtyOnHand)
2. Take inventory using a barcode reader and a data colector
3. The front end aplication (Makes necesary adjustments)
4. Import to Peachtree - Using Adjustment Jurnal Import

My question is. Is there a way to access peachtree data other than import/export or export a report to excel.

[Robert Walraven]

Originally posted by ermnet
Is there a way to access peachtree data other than import/export or export a report to excel.

Yes. You can use PawCom to expose all the data in the Peachtree database to any COM-compatible application such as Excel, Access or VB. For more information on PawCom see the peachtreeusers home page.

Bob Walraven
Architect of PawCom

[dringstrom]

In addition to PawCOM, another alternative is Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE). The online help for Peachtree offers some guidance, other insight is available at www.accountingadvisors.com/dde.