Current PACKCTRL

Pack or Deletion Control (PACKCTRL) arose from the necessity of having a shared BDM version. Pre BDM v2.2 versions were exclusive access copies. That is, only one person could use the program at a time. With v2.2 multi-user can use BDM. With multi-user access the method of removing deleted records from the various data files was required since removing the records requires a packing operation. A packing procedures physically removes empty space in the table.

When you delete a record from a table (either implicit or explicit) a filename/count is recorded in this file (PACKCTRL.DBF). When the count exceeds 5 on any individual file the pack control manager steps in prior to structure analysis during startup. If your copy (running BDM.EXE) is the only one running then pack control will open the affected table in exclusive mode (not shared) and delete the affected records. If there is more than one copy of BDM running then a stay of execution is processed. Only when one copy of BDM running is the process executed and the impacted tables packed.

If you wish to override the 5 count, add/modify the below listed setting in BDM.INI file.

[pack]

aqty=10

The above sets the deletion control to process data files after 10 deletions. The number after AQTY should be between 1 and 10.

On BDM v2.23 r1w and after the PACKCTRL table is hidden from the users. All functions still behave the same.

In the screen shot above I deleted 10 records from aircraft UD0004TB.DBF, packed this file, and then packed the control table PACKCTRL.DBF.