InterBase ToGo and IBLite Default Folders

Go Up to Using the ToGo Edition

The location of the InterBase configuration file and other files such as interbase.msg are limited to the "interbase" sub-directory relative to the application. The interbase.log file also defaults to the interbase sub-directory on Mac OS X. You can control the location of the interbase.log file by setting the following environment variable, in order of precedence.

1. INTERBASE_TMP environment variable
2. TMP environment variable

InterBase ToGo Temp Directory

In order to allow read-only media to access and create temporary files, InterBase relies on a configuration parameter called "INTERBASE_TMP". The "INTERBASE_TMP" controls location of write files such as "interbase.log". If the "INTERBASE_TMP" configuration parameter is not set, then the following order is used to check for the existence of environment variables and use the first one found:

• The path specified by the TMP environment variable.
• The path specified by the TEMP environment variable.
• The path specified by the USERPROFILE environment variable.
• The Windows directory.

For more information on specifying a Temp Directory see: Configuring Sort Files in the Operations Guide.

Developing Applications for InterBase ToGo

The simplest way to develop an application for InterBase ToGo is to do development using InterBase Developer edition. The InterBase Developer Edition is included with Embarcadero IDE's and can be downloaded for free from Embarcadero's web site.

When you are ready to use your application with InterBase ToGo, all you need to do is copy your executable to the same directory as ibtogo.dll. If you use this strategy for development you do not need to worry about paths. Also, if you use this strategy you will not need to worry whether any other installations of InterBase are on the same computer.

InterBase ToGo gets loaded using the Windows standard search order. This is important information if you elect to not place your executable in the same directory as ibtogo.dll. If you are unfamiliar with the Windows standard search order, it is strongly recommended that you read about it here.

NOTE: The interface to InterBase ToGo is via ibtogo.dll. This is different than InterBase Server/Desktop editions which uses gds32.dll. However, ibtogo.dll and gds32.dll have the same interface. This means applications written for InterBase Desktop edition and 98% of all applications written for InterBase Server edition work unmodified by simply renaming ibtogo.dll to gds32.dll.

Using IBConsole with InterBase ToGo

While IBConsole is not included with InterBase ToGo, it works fine with InterBase ToGo if you require a graphical user interface tool to manage your database. IBConsole may be obtained from the InterBase Developer Edition. Depending on the version of IBConsole you are using, you may need to rename/copy ibtogo.dll to gds32.dll as noted above. Keep in mind that InterBase ToGo does not allow multiple applications to use the same database at the same time, so you cannot use IBConsole with your database while your application is using it at the same time.

This completes the ToGo Quick Start Tutorial.