Field Elements¶

The <Fields> element is a container for one or more <Field> elements. Each <Field> defines a column within the Btrieve record’s fixed-length portion.

In the DDF variant (Btrieve2SqlMigration), you do not need to list every field — only the ones whose settings you want to override. Fields not listed use the definitions from the DDFs.

In the Full variant (Btrieve2SqlFullMigration), every field must be defined with at least Name, BtrDataType, and Size.

Fields Element¶

The <Fields> element has no attributes of its own. It serves as a container for <Field> child elements.

<Fields>
  <Field Name="ID"   BtrDataType="15" Offset="0" Size="4" />
  <Field Name="Name" BtrDataType="0"  Offset="4" Size="50" />
</Fields>

Field Attributes¶

Core Attributes¶

These attributes define the fundamental properties of the field.

Attribute	Required	Default	Description
`Name`	Yes	(none)	Name of the field. In the DDF variant, this must match the field name as defined in Pervasive/Btrieve. In the Full variant, this becomes the SQL column name and should be a valid SQL identifier.
`BtrDataType`	Full only	(from DDF)	Btrieve data type number. Determines how the raw bytes in the record buffer are interpreted. See Btrieve Data Types below for common values.
`Offset`	No	(calculated)	Byte offset of the field within the record buffer (0-based). If omitted in the Full variant, the offset is calculated by summing the sizes of all preceding fields.
`Size`	Full only	(from DDF)	Size of the field in bytes.
`Decimals`	No	`0`	Number of decimal places for floating-point or numeric data types.

Display and Behavior Attributes¶

Attribute	Required	Default	Description
`Nullable`	No	`n`	Whether the SQL column allows NULL values (legacy null handling). When `y`, the field participates in Btrieve’s legacy null mechanism.
`Binary`	No	`n`	For string-type fields, indicates the data is binary rather than text. When `y`, the SQL column is created as a binary type (e.g., `varbinary` instead of `varchar`).
`CaseSensitive`	No	`y`	For string fields, whether comparisons and sorting are case-sensitive. Full variant only.
`Modifiable`	No	`y`	Whether the field can be modified in an UPDATE operation. Full variant only.
`NeverEmpty`	No	`n`	If `y`, the field may not contain empty (blank/zero) values. The driver enforces this constraint. MSSQL driver only. Note This attribute is supported by the code but is not yet listed in the DTD files.

SQL Mapping Attributes¶

Attribute	Required	Default	Description
`SqlDataType`	No	(auto-mapped)	Overrides the automatic Btrieve-to-SQL data type mapping. In the DDF variant, this is the SQL type number. In the Full variant, this is also a numeric SQL type code. The driver validates that the specified SQL type is compatible with the Btrieve data type and field size.
`Default`	No	(none)	Default value for the SQL column. When a Btrieve record contains a “null” value (as defined by legacy null handling), this default is used instead. Set to an empty string to remove a default. Ignored if the field is nullable.
`SqlCollation`	No	(from Table or driver)	SQL collation name for this specific field. Overrides the table-level `SqlCollation` setting. Common values for MSSQL: `Latin1_General_BIN2` `SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS`

Attribute

Required

Default

Description

SqlDataType

(auto-mapped)

Overrides the automatic Btrieve-to-SQL data type mapping. In the DDF variant, this is the SQL type number. In the Full variant, this is also a numeric SQL type code. The driver validates that the specified SQL type is compatible with the Btrieve data type and field size.

Default

(none)

Default value for the SQL column. When a Btrieve record contains a “null” value (as defined by legacy null handling), this default is used instead. Set to an empty string to remove a default. Ignored if the field is nullable.

SqlCollation

(from Table or driver)

SQL collation name for this specific field. Overrides the table-level SqlCollation setting. Common values for MSSQL:

Latin1_General_BIN2
SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS

Specialized Attributes (Full Variant)¶

These attributes are primarily used in the Full Migration variant.

Attribute	Required	Default	Description
`Repeat`	No	`0`	Number of times to repeat this field definition. Creates an array of identically-typed fields named `FieldName1`, `FieldName2`, etc. Each element has the same size and data type. Maximum value is constrained by the driver.
`DatePic`	No	(none)	Date picture mask applied to the field value, defining how date values are formatted in the Btrieve data. Examples: `YYYYMMDD`, `DDMMYYYY`, `MMDDYYYY`.
`CobolPicture`	No	(none)	COBOL Picture clause and COMP usage assigned to the field. Used for fields originating from COBOL applications.

Btrieve Data Types¶

The BtrDataType attribute uses numeric codes from the Btrieve specification. The following table lists the most common values:

Code	Type Name	Description
0	String	Fixed-length character string, padded with spaces.
1	Integer	Signed integer (1, 2, 4, or 8 bytes).
2	Float	IEEE floating-point number (4 or 8 bytes).
3	Date	Btrieve date (4 bytes).
4	Time	Btrieve time (4 bytes).
5	Decimal	Packed decimal number.
6	Money	Currency value.
7	Logical	Boolean value (1 or 2 bytes).
8	Numeric	Numeric string (ASCII digits).
9	BFloat	Btrieve floating-point.
10	LString	Length-prefixed string (first byte is length).
11	ZString	Null-terminated string.
12	Note / Blob	Variable-length binary or text data.
14	Unsigned Binary	Unsigned integer (1, 2, 4, or 8 bytes).
15	Auto-Increment	Auto-incrementing unsigned integer (typically 4 bytes).
17	Timestamp	Btrieve timestamp (8 bytes).
20	WString	Fixed-length wide (Unicode) character string.
21	WZString	Null-terminated wide (Unicode) string.
25	DateTime	Combined date and time value.
26	GUID	16-byte globally unique identifier.

Note

The driver maps each Btrieve data type to an appropriate SQL column type automatically. Use SqlDataType only when you need to override the default mapping.