THE INDEPENDENT SOURCE OF NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR PERVASIVE SOFTWARE PRODUCTS Autumn 1997 • Vol. V No. 3 Pervasive Goes Public 4 Lori Hawkins, a business reporter for the Austin-American Statesman who IPOIPO focuses on software and the Internet, looks at Pervasive Software’s initial public offering. — Lori Hawkins Pervasive Software makes it’s bid to become a publicaly traded company ODBC What It Is? What It Isn’t 6 Understanding ODBC and its history. Jim Kyle offers his insight on what ODBC is, and what it is not. He aslo explains how ODBC works with NewNew Tools!Tools! SQL, addresses some performance issues, and most importantly, discusses whether or not to use ODBC at all. — Jim Kyle Regatta, Smithware, and Yosemite announce new products on page 8 Point Of View 11 Peter Blair, president of Reggatta Systems Inc., conveys his Point of View, in a new column designed to solicit opinions from the Btrieve development commu- EmbeddableEmbeddable nity in a thought-provoking manner. — Peter Blair Why is Btrieve is being marketed Clarion For Windows as an “embeddable” database? 18 BDJ reader, Ayodele Dahunsi, details his search for a simpler and more efficient development platform, and how he converted to Clarion. ODBCODBC — Ayodel Dahunsi Understanding the ODBC Inside Btrieve interface 22 After stumbling across a white paper called “Migrating Btrieve Applications to Microsoft SQL Server,” on Microsoft’s web page, Doug Reilly examines Microsoft’s intentions toward Btrieve. — Doug Reilly Developer’sDeveloper’s ConferenceConference Embedded Database? 25 What is an embeddable database? Is Btrieve embeddable? Jim Kyle Dates announced, answers these and other “embeddable” questions. — Jim Kyle see page 3! WWhho’o’ss bbeehindhind tthhoosese grgreeaatt eemmbbeeddddeded ddaattaabbaases?ses? TheThe BestBest inin NAVIGATIONAL: BothBoth WWorldsorlds Btrieve • Highest possible performance for processing speed. • Maximum programming control. • Component management utilities: SmartScout and SupportAbility. It’It’ss us.us. • Call now for promotional pricing! Pervasive Software. Our embedded database engines RELATIONAL: provide the foundation for thousands of client/server applications all over the world. With maintenance-free Scalable SQL ® ® operation, 32-bit Windows NT and NetWare support, • Inscribe: Visual Basic®-compatible ODBC Interface, and the lowest cost of ownership available, they’re great at driving markets, too. scripting tool. Markets like yours. That’s why it will serve you (and • Database-level enforcement of busi- your customers) well to get to know us better. To do ness rules. that, check out our Web site today. • Ease of development. • Call now for promotional pricing! www.pervasive-sw.com To buy now: 800.287.4383 Btrieve Developer’s Journal From the Publisher... As I write this, Pervasive Autumn 1997: Volume V, Issue 3 Software, Inc. the company that Staff owns Btrieve database technolo- gy, is preparing for their initial Publisher: Scott Smith public offering of stock on the Editor: Steve Mook y NASDQ. Needless to say, we are quite excited Managing Editor: Kathy Jones about this next step in the evolution of Pervasive Contributors: Kelly Bliss, Craig Bobchin, Lori Hawkins, Jim Kyle, Col. Software as a company, and the implications it Micro, Doug Reilly, Richard Trocino Steve Lowr has for Btrieve-based technology. I know that Technical Corner: Tim Abels, Ramon Acosta, Linda Anderson, Michael Beris, Publisher, Scott Smith many of you will look to Btrieve Developer’s Bryn Coope, Doris Eldridge, Mike Falcona, Dewitt Gimblet, Mary Halbleib, Don Journal for news about this event, and we intend to bring you the timely Hedding, Scott Henderson, Jeff Johnson, Chad Miller, Chris Ojeda, Lisa information and objective, insightful analysis you have come to expect. In Quintanilla, Joseph Szalay, Dave Valentino, Shiva Waldecker, John Wilkinson, this issue we welcome a new writer who will be covering business issues Stacy Worsham for BDJ. Lori Hawkins is a business reporter for the Austin American- Art Director: Trudy Mook Statesman who focuses on the software and Internet industries. She brings Photographer: Steve Lowry her unique background and perspective to our feature article on the Illustrators: Chris Ferrara, Will Owen, Wes Ware Pervasive IPO in this issue, and we look forward to her contributions in the Administrative Assistant: Jane Carter future. And on the “nuts and bolts” end of the business question, Peter Blair, president of Regatta Systems, a developer tools vendor specializing Subscriptions in Delphi components, offers a few suggestions for the “new” Pervasive Annual subscriptions are for four issues per year at $49/year for delivery inside Software from a developer’s perspective in the Point of View guest column the United States and Canada; $79 elsewhere. on page 11. Back Issues: Back issues are available for $20 per issue. Contact Btrieve A successful IPO will mean inevitable changes for the company. Developer’s Journal at 615-386-3100 for additional information. Pervasive has spent the past three years as a private company working towards a public offering, so company management has been naturally Advertising reluctant to discuss business details either with BDJ or with anybody else. In this respect going public is much akin to pulling one’s pants down for For information about advertising your product or service in Btrieve all the world to see. A stock offering means that the company’s revenues Developer’s Journal, call Kathy Jones, managing editor, at 800-828-7438 or and profits, major customers and perceived competitors, not to mention a 615-386-3100, ext. 17, e-mail: [email protected] great deal of other seemingly trivial information, become part of the public How to Contact BDJ record. For a good example, you can look at Pervasive’s initial filing at http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1042821/0000930661-97- Btrieve Developer’s Journal 001786.txt. 2416 Hillsboro Road, Suite 201, Nashville, Tennessee 37212 As part of the IPO process, Pervasive must make an honest assess- Telephone: 615-386-3100 Facsimile: 615-386-3135 ment both of their market advantages and of their competition. Doug CompuServe: 73173,2731 e-mail: [email protected] Reilly points out in Inside Btrieve (page 28) that if Pervasive is successful Internet: http://www.smithware.com/bdj with its focus on embedded databases and the middle market, very large Btrieve Developer’s Journal (ISSN 1071-7463) is published quarterly by Smithware, Inc. 2416 Hillsboro companies like Microsoft and Oracle may stand up and take notice. As Rd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN, 37212-5318. Subscriptions are $49 per year for delivery in the US and Canada. Doug evaluates Microsoft’s new interest in “embedded databases,” perhaps they have already begun to do so. This will be the nature of business with Postmaster a “public” Pervasive. Being a high-profile company will have a new set of Send address changes to: Btrieve Developer’s Journal, 2416 Hillsboro Rd., Suite 201, advantages and disadvantages, and one of the dangers the company will Nashville, TN, 37212-5318. Copyright© 1997 by Smithware, Inc. All rights reserved. With face may well be its own success. the exception of the “Technical Corner” section, this publication is produced independently And most importantly to us as customers and developers, some wel- of Pervasive Software. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, by any come changes are already taking place at Pervasive. As Pervasive’s Chief means without permission in writing from the publisher. Smithware is a trademark of Smithware, Inc. Btrieve and XQL are registered trademarks and Scalable SQL, Xtrieve Technology officer Tim Abels points out in his first Technology Watch con- Plus and Microkernel Database Engine are trademarks of Pervasive Software. All other tribution (page 13), a substantial amount of energy and effort has already names are the trademark of their respective manufacturers. gone into R&D recruitment and activities. It is my hope that this effort and investment in R&D, along with additional capital raised in the IPO, will help Pervasive improve their technology, effectively leverage their existing customer base, and attract new customers, by making their products much Mark Your Calendars! easier to use. Pervasive can accomplish this only by listening carefully to our needs as developers and customers, and acting quickly on our recom- mendations. With the appointment of a new Advisory Council (page 17), and scheduling developer’s conferences in Europe and the U.S. (page 3 and 12), Pervasive has made a good beginning in this direction. So why should developers care what happens on Wall Street? To put it in terms of a Perry Mason rerun, I believe that a successful IPO will give Pervasive the means (additional capital and increased exposure), the motive (price per share and the potential for serious competition), and the uropean Developer’s Conference opportunity to realize their incredible potential as the world-class database company they aspire to be. Ultimately, you will be the judge and jury. April 2-5, 1998 at EuroDisney in Paris, France Look for continuing coverage of the case here in the pages of BDJ. Pervasive Software Partners Conference Scott A. Smith, publisher Austin, TX [email protected] March 14-18, 1998 Btrieve Developer’s Journal Autumn 1997 3 Pervasive Goes Public By Lori Hawkins [email protected] In an effort to raise money and visibility, Pervasive Software has filed to sell stock to the public and hopes to be trading in October. Consolidated Statement of Operations Pervasive plans to sell four million (In Thousands) shares of stock at $8 to $10 a share. Of those, two million would be sold by existing share- Year ended June 30 holders and two million would be sold by the 1995 1996 1997 company. Based on a price of $9 a share, the com- Revenues: pany would raise $18 million. Domestic US 5,050 17,747 16,135 The IPO is driven more by a desire to Europe 1,591 12,716 44,693 boost Pervasive’s profile than a need for cash.