One of the benefits of nCode is that it is highly configurable. One of the options you have for configuring your nCode deployment is that you have several ways to set the location of your nCode address reference data.

The nCode address reference database consists of a single file (NCODEREF.DAT) built using the Canada Post Postal Code Address Data (PCAD) data set. If you use nCode Batch Processor to generate Statement of Accuracy reports, then you will also need the NCODEPOC.DAT file, which is built using Point Of Call reference data. These nCode reference database files can be located in various places, including one of three default locations.

The nCode Toolkit DLLs will look for these files in the following places in the indicated order. Note however, that these default locations can be overridden at runtime. The nCode Configuration Utility uses the nCode.cfg file to specify an override path for these files. Without a specific override, nCode will search these locations for the address database and settings files:

1. The current directory, where the nCode DLLs (or Shared Libraries or Service Programs, as applicable) are located.

2. The directory indicated by the system environment variable: “NCODEDATA”.

3. The root directory “/ncodefiles”.

Using the second option – the NCODEDATA environment variable – gives you complete control over where your nCode reference data is located. You can deploy your nCode data files to any desired location and simply record this location using the NCODEDATA environment variable.