The Borland Database Engine (BDE) has been deprecated, so BDE will not be enhanced. For instance, BDE will never have Unicode support. You should not undertake new development with BDE. Consider migrating your existing database applications from BDE to dbExpress.

You can use the Borland Database Engine (BDE) to provide database access for standard Delphi data components. See the DEPLOY document for specific rights and limitations on redistributing the BDE.

You should use InstallAware Express (or other certified installation program) for installing the BDE. InstallAware Express creates the necessary registry entries and defines any aliases the application may require. Using a certified installation program to deploy the BDE files and subsets is important because:

Improper installation of the BDE or BDE subsets can cause other applications using the BDE to fail. Such applications include not only Embarcadero products, but many third-party programs that use the BDE.
Under 32-bit Windows 95/NT and later, BDE configuration information is stored in the Windows registry instead of .ini files, as was the case under 16-bit Windows. Making the correct entries and deletions for install and uninstall is a complex task.
It is possible to install only as much of the BDE as an application actually needs. For instance, if an application only uses Paradox tables, it is only necessary to install that portion of the BDE required to access Paradox tables. This reduces the disk space needed for an application. Certified installation programs, like InstallAware Express, are capable of performing partial BDE installations. Be sure to leave BDE system files that are not used by the deployed application, but that are needed by other programs.

Only for V.I.P