Table Element¶

Each <Table> element represents one Btrieve table to migrate. A table element with an empty Name (Name="") serves as a global default whose settings are inherited by all other tables.

<Table Name="Person" Filename="person.dat" Schema="dbo"
       OwnerName="" PageSize="4096" RecordSize="128"
       PrimaryIndex="0" VariableLength="n" TrueNullable="n"
       RequireBtrieveFile="y" PreserveRecordPosition="n"
       IgnoreNullValues="y" OemTranslation="n"
       OverwriteExistingTable="y" EraseTableBeforeCopy="n"
       MakeIndexesUnique="y" SqlLobMode="n">
  ...
</Table>

Table Definition Attributes¶

These attributes describe the structure of the Btrieve table. In the DDF variant (Btrieve2SqlMigration), most of these come from the DDFs and are not needed. In the Full Migration variant, they are required or strongly recommended.

Attribute	Required	Default	Description
`Name`	Yes	(none)	Name of the table. For the DDF variant, this must match the table name as defined in the Pervasive/Btrieve DDFs. For the Full variant, this becomes the SQL table name and should be a valid SQL identifier. An empty string (`Name=""`) marks this entry as the global default.
`Filename`	Full only	(none)	Relative or absolute path to the Btrieve data file. This determines the `.INT` filename and is used during data copy. In the Full variant, this attribute is required.
`Schema`	Yes	(none)	The SQL schema in which to create the table (e.g., `dbo`).
`OwnerName`	No	(empty)	The Btrieve file owner name (password). Required if the Btrieve file is password-protected so it can be opened for reading during data copy. Not used during application runtime.
`PageSize`	No	(from file)	Page size of the Btrieve file. Not used by SQL; informational only. Full variant only.
`RecordSize`	No	(calculated)	Size in bytes of the fixed portion of the record. If omitted, the value is computed by summing the field sizes. Full variant only.
`PrimaryIndex`	No	(auto)	Which index number (0-based) to treat as the primary key. If omitted, an index on an auto-increment field is used, or `MDSRECNUM` if no auto-increment field exists. Full variant only.
`VariableLength`	No	`n`	Whether the Btrieve record is variable length (can store data beyond the fixed-length portion). Full variant only.
`TrueNullable`	No	`n`	Whether the table supports Btrieve “true nulls” (as opposed to legacy null handling). Full variant only.

Migration Option Attributes¶

These attributes control how the migration is performed for this table. They are available in both the DDF and Full variants.

Attribute	Required	Default	Description
`RequireBtrieveFile`	No	`y`	If `y`, the migration fails when the Btrieve data file cannot be found. If `n`, the migration proceeds without the file, but some metadata (e.g., `B_STAT` information) may be incomplete. Set to `n` when you only need to generate INT files or SQL scripts without the original data.
`MarkIntAsPermanent`	No	`n`	If `y`, the generated INT file is marked as permanent (read-only). A permanent INT cannot be overwritten by subsequent Create or BuildIndex operations.
`PreserveRecordPosition`	No	`n`	If `y`, the exact Btrieve auto-increment values are preserved when copying data to SQL. If `n`, the SQL server assigns new unique values.
`IgnoreNullValues`	No	`y`	If `y`, values considered “null” in Btrieve are excluded from Get fetch sequences. This matches standard Btrieve behavior. Setting to `n` reduces SQL overhead but may change application behavior.
`RememberServerName`	No	`n`	If `y`, the SQL server name is written into the INT file and will override settings from the registry, INI file, or login dialog at runtime.
`RememberDatabaseName`	No	`n`	If `y`, the database name is written into the INT file and will override settings from the registry, INI file, or login dialog at runtime.
`RememberSchema`	No	`n`	If `y`, the schema name is written into the INT file and will override settings from the registry, INI file, or login dialog at runtime.
`EraseTableBeforeCopy`	No	`n`	If `y`, the SQL table is truncated before copying new records. Only applies when performing a data-copy-only operation.
`OverwriteExistingTable`	No	`n`	If `y`, an existing SQL table is dropped and recreated. If `n` and the table already exists, the migration returns an error.
`OemTranslation`	No	`n`	If `y`, OEM-encoded character data in the Btrieve file is translated to ANSI before writing to SQL. The data is converted back to OEM codepage when read by the application at runtime.
`SqlLobMode`	No	`n`	If `y`, the variable portion of Btrieve records is split into individual SQL LOB (Large Object) columns based on offset/length values in the fixed record portion, rather than storing the entire variable portion as a single blob.
`AllowFieldsBeyondRecLen`	No	`n`	If `y`, fields defined beyond the fixed record length cause the record size to expand to accommodate them. Useful for certain applications (e.g., Peachtree) where DDF definitions extend past the declared record length.
`MakeFixedLen`	No	`n`	If `y`, forces the record to be treated as fixed-length. Implies `AllowFieldsBeyondRecLen="y"` and overrides `VariableLength`. The fixed record size is expanded to accommodate all defined fields.
`MakeIndexesUnique`	No	`y`	If `y`, primary key segments are appended to non-unique Btrieve indexes to make them unique in SQL. This is required for correct Btrieve record positioning behavior and should almost always be left at the default.
`DisableReplValues`	No	(from INI)	If `y`, disables the automatic replacement/substitution of empty and null values. The driver will return errors instead of substituting default values. Overrides the global INI setting for this table.
`SqlCollation`	No	(driver default)	Default SQL collation for string fields in this table. Individual fields can override this with their own `SqlCollation` attribute. Common values for MSSQL: `Latin1_General_BIN2` — Binary sort order (matches Btrieve) `SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS` — Case-insensitive ANSI

MSSQL-Specific Attributes¶

Attribute	Required	Default	Description
`FilegroupTable`	No	(default)	MSSQL filegroup for table data storage.
`FilegroupIndex`	No	(default)	MSSQL filegroup for index storage.
`FilegroupText`	No	(default)	MSSQL filegroup for large fields (`text`, `ntext`, `image`, `xml`, `varchar(max)`, `nvarchar(max)`, `varbinary(max)`).

Child Elements¶

A <Table> element may contain the following child elements. The order matters when using DTD validation:

MSSQLBulkCopy — MSSQL bulk copy options (see Backend-Specific Elements)
OracleTableSpaces — Oracle tablespace assignments (see Backend-Specific Elements)
OracleTableStorage — Oracle storage parameters (see Backend-Specific Elements)
Fields — Field definitions (see Field Elements)
Indices — Index definitions (see Index Elements)