VTOOL.TXT updated 96-06-26

The VTOOL program has two major parts,
VTOOL.EXE written in Visual Basic, and
VTOOL.DLL written in C. VTOOL is a
utility that uses very high speed
scanning to validate, repair, rebuild,
or perform text searches of VB/ISAM
datasets.

VTOOL.EXE performs these tasks as a
utility with a Windows graphical user
interface. The developer can use this
tool on datasets damaged during testing
and development, and also to change and
rebuild indexes during the design and
development stage. The full text search
function scans a dataset very quickly.

VTOOL includes the VTOOL Visual Basic
source code as a sample application
using VTOOL.DLL. With the .BAS file,
developers also have the option of
calling the individual VTOOL.DLL
functions from within their own
applications. By including these
powerful search and maintenance
capabilities from within an application
suite, the developer can validate,
copy, repair, and perform text searches
very quickly.

VTOOL.DLL DOES NOT YET WORK WITH VB4
====================================


VTOOL.EXE

1. MODIFY KEYS - If you click the
   modify format checkbox, you can
   change the maximum key lengths and
   remove or add index designators (X).
   However, you cannot change the
   number, type, or order of fields in
   the standard format.

   EXAMPLE:

   'X25$,R22$,R3%,$' ->
   '$,X10$,X5$,R20$,%%%,X5$'
   Would be legal!

   'X25$,R22$,R3%,$' ->
   'X25$,X10$,X5$,R21$,R3%,$'
   Would be ILLEGAL!

   'X25$,R22$,R3%,$' ->
   'X25$,X10$,X5$,R20$,$,R3%'
   Would be ILLEGAL!"

2. REBUILD - Rebuild a dataset from any
   master file records found in the
   dataset. You have the option of
   saving the existing dataset after
   creating a new one.  If the check
   box "Save Original" is checked, the
   old data set is renamed to xxx.OSM,
   xxx.OSD, xxx.OSF etc. The operation
   may be canceled by selecting the
   CANCEL button just under the REBUILD
   button.

3. REPAIR - Repair any error groups
   found by validate.  Just select the
   error line in the list box and then
   hit the REPAIR button. The Group
   will be repaired in place and a file
   called C:\SALVAGE.DMP will be
   created. This file may be viewed by
   any appropriate Binary viewer.

   The REPAIR function is so fast that
   it completes in about a millisecond.

4. SEARCH - High Speed search of all
   fields, including un-indexed ones.
   Clicking on the Search button will
   take arguments from the search text
   box and rapidly locate a list of
   Primary keys (Hits), whose key and
   string data contain the criteria
   specified. Terms separated by
   ampersands ('&') will be combined
   using 'AND'. Terms separated by
   commas (',') will be combined using
   'OR'. Parsing is from left to right
   and the first 'OR' group which
   satisfies the test will Make that
   record a 'Hit'.

   EXAMPLE:

   'Jones, Smith & Wesson'

   A record containing either the term
   'Jones', or both terms 'Smith' and
   'Wesson' in the key and data part
   of the record would be a Hit.

   The operation may be canceled by
   selecting the small CANCEL button
   just under the SEARCH button.

   If the Hit table is too large, the
   search will be interrupted, as if
   the 'CANCEL' button had been hit,
   and an overflow message will be
   returned at the end of the Hit
   table.

   NOTE:

   Double click on a key in the list
   box to display the Text data in that
   Record.

5. VALIDATE - Validate any selected
   VB/ISAM dataset and return a list of
   errors in the list box.  The
   operation may be canceled by
   selecting the CANCEL button just
   under the VALIDATE button.


Notes:

The default file extensions for the
dataset are ISD, ISF, ISM, ISL. You can
now also select the first two
characters of the file name extensions,
such as XXD, XXF, XXM, and XXL.


Both VALIDATE and REPAIR are "nice to
windows" and allow other applications
to execute while they run.  It may take
a while for these operations to
complete but they print regular
progress messages to let you know they
are still alive!
