Reading Basic PDS ISAM Files

rmiller10 · modified on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 9:44 PM

I haven't been able to find any documentation of the file structure, and I'd rather not go that route if possible. An ODBC driver is exactly what I'm looking for. I have had no luck reading them with any of the Jet drivers. I have searched online, and information on this seems to be fairly rare. There has to be a simple solution, I'm just not seeing it!

PIEBALDconsult

I did some searching as well. Out of curiosity... Is this a one-time copy of the data to a "better" database system? Or something you'll need to continue to do? The best I can think of is to use that version of BASIC (I found a place from where it can be downloaded) to write a DLL with the required interface and call it from whatever language you want to use. Or maybe in the package there's a DLL you could call. I also just took a quick look at an old (1999) ODBC book I have and nothing jumped out at me. I'll give it some more thought after I have a nap... my brain hurts.

rmiller10

Thanks for the replies It will probably be an ongoing thing until I can convert the program that creates it to a more modern language. I thought about doing that, too, and tried to download it yesterday, but I got an error!! What site did you find it on?

Luc Pattyn

In a one-day special Topeka pointed me here[^], maybe that helps. :)

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PIEBALDconsult

Is it C-ISAM? I saw a mention of that in my search, I think in some Jet Engine documentation.

PIEBALDconsult

rmiller10 wrote:

What site

http://vetusware.com/download/Microsoft%20BASIC%20Professional%20Development%20System%207.1/?id=225[^] I didn't try it. Edit: I just downloaded it from there... Edit: There is a file named ISAMIO.LI$, which I'm sure becomes ISAMIO.LIB when the product is installed -- maybe it can be accessed by P/Invoke? After reading the README.DOC I see that there is (or might be) a TSR that has to be loaded -- I wouldn't be surprised.

modified on Thursday, April 1, 2010 9:05 PM

Luc Pattyn

I don't know, the subject line said Basic PDS ISAM (not sure what it all means), however the one link looked interesting, however it might be all but relevant. :)

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PIEBALDconsult

Maybe try:http://www.easysoft.com/products/data_access/odbc_isam_driver/[^]

PIEBALDconsult

Hee heeee!! I just installed MS Basic PDS 7.1 on my Win XP system! During the install, there is the option for using a TSR for ISAM or building the routines into the program -- I chose the latter. Now to see whether or not I can wrap the ISAM routines in a DLL that I can access from .net... :cool: Edit: Maybe I shouldn't have selected that option. Or maybe it just won't work on XP. I built the ISAMDEMO app, but it keeps reporting not enough ISAM buffers. I tried linking in the ISAM routines (see here[^]), but to no avail. :sigh:

modified on Monday, April 5, 2010 12:04 AM

rmiller10 · modified on Monday, April 5, 2010 12:04 AM

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on vacation. That was the same site I had tried and got an error, so I went back and tried again, clicked the button, and nothing happened, but no error. I am at work, so it's possible it's a firewall issue. Yes, the ISAM library links in to your source when you make the executable. I never tried the TSR. I'm not exactly sure how to convert the lib to a .net dll, but that might work for me. I'm sure I can get it working by somehow getting the pds and developing software to read it, but that doesn't really solve my problem with porting it to Access. I would have to run the program each time I needed to grab some data and then import it. Many Thanks

rmiller10

Maybe try:http://www.easysoft.com/products/data\_access/odbc\_isam\_driver Is this free?

rmiller10 · modified on Monday, April 5, 2010 12:04 AM

PIEBALDconsult wrote:

Edit: Maybe I shouldn't have selected that option. Or maybe it just won't work on XP. I built the ISAMDEMO app, but it keeps reporting not enough ISAM buffers. I tried linking in the ISAM routines (see here[^]), but to no avail.

IIRC, there may be an environment variable that needs to be set.