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:

Directory File (*_DR) - An index file containing metadata about the extract
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¶

DaRT extracts support multiple encoding modes: - Non-Unicode: Code page specific (e.g., CP1252 for Western Europe) - Unicode (UTF-8): For international character support - Compressed: Delimiter-separated records for reduced file size

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
MySQL
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:

Check the FAQ
Review Common Issues
Check the Error Messages reference
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.