DaRT Reader Documentation

Welcome to the DaRT Reader documentation. DaRT Reader is a professional tool for reading, validating, and processing DaRT extracts.

What is DaRT Reader?

DaRT Reader allows you to:

• Read DaRT extracts - Load and inspect directory files and payload data
• Validate data integrity - Verify checksums and file sizes
• Export to databases - Write extract data to various database systems
• Export to CSV - Export segments to CSV files for further analysis
• View logs - Built-in log viewer for troubleshooting

What is a DaRT extract?

A DaRT extract is a data archive created by SAP's Data Retention Tool (DaRT), designed for long-term storage of business data for audit, compliance, and legal retention purposes. When organizations need to archive historical SAP data while maintaining data integrity and auditability, DaRT creates extracts in a specialized flat-file format.

Extract Structure

A DaRT extract consists of two types of files:

1. Directory File (*_DR) - An index file containing metadata about the extract
2. Payload Files - One or more data files containing the actual business data

File Format

DaRT uses a fixed-width, byte-offset format (not XML or CSV). Each record type has predefined field positions, making it efficient for large-scale data retention.

Directory File Example

The directory file is a small file (kilobytes), typically having the _DR suffix, for example, 2025-extract_DR. The directory file uses UTF-8 encoding with fixed-position fields. Here's a simplified excerpt:

   0050569492781EEA85F4AE4072CDC82A002.7 T90CLNT4000000                              201449101671    20191205222319740 Z_EXTRACT_2019                                                  000007952451000000000000080531790008054115/usr/sap/PRD                                                                                                                         00XPRD_System                    PRODDB    00000000000000000000000468982116;2000013de-sapprd000                                  00000000000000            00000000000000                00000000000000      310641031000

Payload File Example

Payload files are much larger than the directory file. They have an incrementing number suffix (except for the first payload file):

2025-extract
2025-extract_01
2025-extract_02
2025-extract_03

Payload files contain multiple segment types. Here's an example of a TXW_DIRSG2 segment record (segment structure metadata). The payload files typically contain many of these records:

05000000011000200000050569492781EEA85F4AE4072CDC82A00001BSEG      BSEG                                      11X000000000010000000008000000000000000680000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000          00000000000000000000000000                                                                  000000000      000000000000000000000000

Data Encoding

How a character becomes bytes. The directory record states it in two fields, and the extract overview shows both as Unicode mode and Codepage:

• Unicode mode Yes — the payload is read as UTF-8.
• Unicode mode No — the code page decides. DaRT Reader knows 53 of them: 1160 is windows-1252 for Western Europe, 1401 is ISO-8859-2 for Central Europe.
• Unicode mode Selection — the mode does not say, and the code page settles it: a Unicode code page is read as UTF-8, anything else through the code page itself.

An extract that states a mode or a code page this version does not read is refused rather than read with the wrong one. See Error Messages.

Record Layout

Whether a record is written out in full width or compressed. This is a separate property from the encoding, held in its own header fields, and the two combine freely: an extract can be Unicode and compressed, non-Unicode and compressed, or neither.

• Fixed width — every field is padded out to the width TXW_META gives it, and a field is found by counting bytes.
• Compressed — trailing blanks are removed from each field and a delimiter is written between fields. The file is smaller; the values in it are the same.

DaRT's own structures — the segment directory, the metadata, the selections, the checksums — are fixed width whatever the flag says. Only the data segments follow it.

The overview shows this as Compressed and Separator used.

Available Interfaces

DaRT Reader provides two interfaces:

• GUI Application - User-friendly graphical interface with drag-and-drop support
• CLI Tool - Command-line interface for automation and scripting

Supported Databases

DaRT Reader supports exporting to:

• SQLite
• H2
• PostgreSQL
• Microsoft SQL Server
• DuckDB
• Microsoft Access

and to any relational database with a JDBC driver using the CLI Tool.

Quick Links

• Installation Guide - Get started with DaRT Reader
• Quick Start - Your first DaRT extract in 5 minutes
• GUI Guide - Using the graphical interface
• CLI Guide - Command-line usage
• Troubleshooting - Solutions to common problems

Getting Help

If you encounter issues:

1. Check the FAQ
2. Review Common Issues
3. Check the Error Messages reference
4. Check the logs in the logging directory to diagnose problems

Security

DaRT Reader handles sensitive database credentials. Please review the Security section before deploying in production.