Extract data from .db file

tranzicija

New Member
Hi guys!
I've never used Progress before, and I have a question - is there any way to extract data from a .db file without installing the progress server and all that.
I have Progress db files (.bi, .db, .ds, etc.) and I need to extract the data into SQL Server 2000 or 2005 to be able to process it.
I installed the OpenLink ODBC drivers, but it seems to need a Progress server running, and I don't have that. This is a one-time only thing, migrating some data from Progress to SQL Server.

Thanks in advance!
 

Len Kramer

New Member
Data in a Progress DB is physically not nicely aranged as rows and columns. Data from 1 record can be scattered all over the DB.

An option, if you don't have progress installed, is to let someone else who does have a progress installation, make a data-dump of the DB with the Progress Data Administration tool. This results in a text-file with a record per row. Recordfields are space-delimited and text fields are enclosed in quotes.
However, you need to know the version of your DB, and this should match the versionnr of the installed progress set.
 

tranzicija

New Member
Thanks for the input...Unfortunately the whole purpose of my post was to see if there was a way to extract the data without ever consulting a Progress RDBMS. Now I understand that it is sort of like MS SQL Server - you can't do anything without the RDBMS being run.
 

mythos

New Member
Hey Tranzicija,

I have now exactly the same problem as you had. I need to transfer data from progress data files to our sql database. Did you solve it or did you resign and buy a progress application server?

Thanks.
 

tranzicija

New Member
Alas, all the documentation that I read led me to believe that it cannot be done without a running Progress server. So, what can I say - best of luck to you.
 

TomBascom

Curmudgeon
You need some sort of Progress product to access a Progress database. There are no free products available that will do the job.

Or you need to work with someone who can do it for you.

Usually the hard part is making sure that you actually have a viable database. It is necessary to know what version of Progress the database is and what platform it comes from.

A Progress database is made up of many parts -- at the very least the .db file, one or more data extents and one or more bi extents. You must have all of these and they must have been copied when the database was shutdown.

You might also have backup files created with probkup. Backup files can be named anything and there can be more than one for a given database.

There is also a possibility that certain security provisions and various oddball configuration options may make it impossible to extract data from some databases (this is rare but it might happen).

If it is a relatively small database from a relatively recent version of Progress on a common operating system (Windows or Linux) then it shouldn't be too hard to find someone able and willing to dump it for you. I, for instance, would be happy to take on such a task as a consulting engagement. Although, if past experience is any indicator, it is unlikely that you're willing to pay my rates ;)
 
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