bool BDEStart ( ) {

// ask the operating system to allow up to 68 file handles (this is a 
// requirement of BDE)
   int HandlesAvailable = 0;
   int HandlesWanted = 68;
   HandlesAvailable = SetHandleCount ( HandlesWanted );
   if ( HandlesAvailable < HandlesWanted )
      {
        MessageBox ( NULL, "No 68 handles", "Error n. 001", MB_ICONHAND );
        ErrorFlag = true;
      }
   else
      {
        // initializing the driver
           DBIEXEC ( DbiInit ( NULL ) );

        // enable trace info
           DBIEXEC ( DbiDebugLayerOptions ( DEBUGON | OUTPUTTOFILE | FLUSHEVERYOP, "TRACE.INF" ) );

        // standard database driver (i.e. DBF tables and NDX/MDX indexes)
           DBIEXEC ( DbiOpenDatabase ( NULL, NULL, dbiREADWRITE, dbiOPENSHARED,
                                       NULL, 0, NULL, NULL, hDB ) );

        // set a working directory
           DBIEXEC ( DbiSetDirectory ( hDB, pszMyPath ) );
      }

// end of function (ErrorFlag is generally set by DBIEXEC)
   return ( ErrorFlag );
}