OS/2 Requester

The following files must be loaded in a directory listed in an OS/2 workstation's LIBPATH before a Btrieve application can access the Btrieve NLMTM from that workstation:

You can access local as well as remote files by running both client-based (local) Btrieve and the OS/2 Requester at your workstation. To do so, you must use the OS/2 Conversion utility (NDBCNVT.EXE) to convert the client-based BTRCALLS.DLL to BTRLOCL.DLL. (By default, the OS/2 Requester and client-based Btrieve have the same name.)

NOTE: Client-based Btrieve is available only as part of the Btrieve Developer's Kit, which is available through Btrieve Technologies, Inc. at 1-800-BTRIEVE and must be purchased separately.


OS/2 Requester Configuration Options

You do not need to specify any configuration options for the OS/2 Requester. Since the internal tables that control the options are not fixed, the tables will grow as needed.

There are, however, three configuration options for the OS/2 Requester that you can specify manually if you need to change these values for your installation: NetWare Runtime Server Support (/C), Data Message Length (/D), and Number of Servers (/S).

IMPORTANT: Although you can set the initial size of the tables using the Data Message Length (/D) and the Number of Servers (/S) options, setting table sizes is not recommended.


NetWare Runtime Server Support (/C)

Range: None

Default: /C:1

Memory Required: Not applicable

This option allows you to enable or disable NetWare Runtime server support.

/C:0 | /C:1 | /C:1,username,password

/C:0 

Disables NetWare Runtime server support. 

/C:1 

Enables NetWare Runtime server support. Btrieve looks at the username for the drive (current server) on which you are presently running. 

If the username is SUPERVISOR, Btrieve searches for another username in the table of usernames for the servers onto which you are logged. 

If the username is not SUPERVISOR, Btrieve searches for that username on the NetWare Runtime server. 

If it is not a valid username, Btrieve returns an error at the time of the open or create request./1,usernamepassword 

 

Enables NetWare Runtime server support. 

Btrieve verifies the specified username and password for the NetWare Runtime server. Btrieve returns an error if the specified username is not found or the password is invalid. 

 

username 

Preferred login name on the NetWare Runtime server. 

If you specify SUPERVISOR for the username, Btrieve returns an error and the OS/2 Requester will not load. 

 

password 

Login password for the specified user. 

For information on using Btrieve with NetWare Runtime, see "Using NetWare Btrieve with NetWare Runtime" in Chapter 3, "Installing and Configuring NetWare Btrieve."


Data Message Length (/D)

Range: 532 through 65,000 bytes

Default: 4,096 bytes

Memory Required: 538 bytes + data message length

The /D option specifies the length of the largest record (or the largest portion or chunk of a record) you want to access through Btrieve.

The OS/2 Requester uses this value to calculate the length of the data message buffer reserved for passing records between Btrieve and your applications. (The requester maintains one copy of the data message buffer.)

The value you enter here should not exceed the value you specified for the Largest Record Size configuration option in the Setup utility. (For more information, refer to the section "Largest Record Size" in Chapter 3.) The value for this option represents the maximum message length that BSPXCOM can receive.

Specify the record length in bytes. For example, if the largest record your application uses is 3,000 bytes, specify the /D option as follows:

/d:3000

NOTE: Specifying a higher value than you need for the /D option does not improve performance.


Number of Servers (/S)

Range: 1 through 255

Default: 8

Memory Required: 27 bytes per server

The /S option specifies the number of servers on the network on which the NetWare Btrieve NLM is active.


Configuring the OS/2 Requester

Set the OS/2 Requester configuration options using the following command:

SET BRQPARMS=option

option 

Any of the three configuration options (/C, /D, or /S). 

Do not include a space between BRQPARMS and the equal sign. You can, however, insert a space between each configuration option you specify.

For example, to specify a 10,240-byte data message length and four servers, issue the following command:

set brqparms=/d:10240 /s:4

NOTE: The forward slash (/) before the configuration option is the only valid character you can use. If you specify a dash (-) or a backslash (\), the OS/2 Requester may load improperly.


Loading the OS/2 Requester

An application may load the Btrieve for OS/2 Requester in one of the following two ways:


Unloading the OS/2 Requester

At an OS/2 workstation, the operating system removes the dynamic link routines from memory when the application terminates, or when the application explicitly unloads the OS/2 Requester using the operating system API functions.

NOTE: If files have been left open, as happens, for example, when an application does not issue a Close (1) operation for each open file, simply logging out of one or more servers from a workstation does not close Btrieve files or terminate the Btrieve SPX connection to the server. To close files and terminate the connection, you must either unload the OS/2 Requester or reboot the workstation.