Packing a Quanvert Text database

Do not compress the database. If you are packing a database for a client who does not have a version of qvtrans that can uncompress files, use this option to pack the database without compression or provide the client with the latest qvtrans.

The maximum size in bytes for each file if the database needs to be split. A byte is the same as a character. The default is 1,048,576 bytes.

A qvpk script or batch file has two stages: first, run the program qvpack to pack and compress the database; then, if necessary, run qsj to split the packed file. The default size for packed files is 1,048,576 characters, but you can change this by defining a different size with the –b parameter. Once the database is packed, qvpk checks its size and, if it is larger than the set number of characters, passes it to qsj for splitting.

Note If you omit –b and the packed database file is smaller than the 1,048,576 bytes, qvpk reports that the file is too small to need splitting.

For example, to pack an uncompressed database into the file mydb by placing 1,400,000 characters in each file, type:

When the database is split into a number of files, the names of those files consist of a common root and a three-character file name extension. The extension usually starts with the letter q. In the example shown above, the split files are called mydb.q01, mydb.q02, and so on.

If the name given for the database contains a dot, or more than one dot, qsj takes the file name up to the first dot and checks to see what the next character is after the dot. If there is something after the dot, qsj uses that character as the start of the extension; if not, it uses the default q.

mydb.	gives	mydb.q01, mydb,q02, ...
mydb.jan	gives	mydb.j01, mydb,j02, ...
mydb.jan.all	gives	mydb.j01, mydb.j02, ...

If the root of the file name is longer than eight characters, it is truncated to this length so that it is valid on any computer. Hence, mydatabase.jan produces files such as mydataba.j01.

If the database name is a complete path name, qsj makes a note of the path name so that the files can be created in the right location, and then follows its usual rules for file naming.

Once all the necessary files have been created, qsj creates an index file suffixed xzz (for example, mydb.qzz) containing a list of the files which make up the complete database and the order in which they must be joined.

If splitting is unnecessary, the database is packed into the file named with the –p option as usual.

qvpack, which packs and compresses the database, expects to find the files qvinfo, axes.inf, descrips.inf and seg1.qv.

As each file is packed, its name is echoed on your screen. If qvpack is unable to find an expected file, it issues a message to that effect and terminates immediately.