I know many of you are now using xml in place of the common ini-file
for storing and retrieving application options and the like but I've never
heard from any of those doing this how they feel it compares as far as
speed, resource usage, etc.
Recently I had to finish up some work on a project I didn't
originally write but which had well over 200 hundred entries to the
registry! I'm not kidding! A large percentage of these were basic optional
settings used throughout the lifetime of the app, and the original
programmer wriote a global unit which set it up and kept the reg open while
during the entire lifetime of the application. Just because it was the
registry I didn't like this much, even though I myself have done somewhat
the same using ini-files. So I was curious having never seen anything done
this way before, is this acceptable practice? Isn't doing so somewhat
dangerous?
As I said I've often used ini-file much the same way, opening the
file at the application's start and keeping it alive so that I could read
settings directly from within it without having to re-open and close it all
the time or use variables to hold the data needed, with the tiniFile var
being my one last use of a global variable I still allow. I've only done
this when there are a large number of forms and/or tabsheets being moved
back and forth to and from by the user requiring constant re-setting of
these options, but even this is probably frowned upon by most of you, right?
Now in another application I'm about to start, a database is used to
control most of the mechanics. It's not a db app per say, but it does
depend upon a database and a number of local tables in order to function.
Most of this is hidden from the user, with all inserts, edits, deletions,
and posts being handled internally without their input or knowledge. And in
this situation I'm considering making use of a separate db table to hold all
configuration and optional data because the database will be running during
the life of the application anyway. It seems almost ludicrous to need to
create and use yet another structure type just for this one need when a
perfectly sound device is already available! So I was wondering if anyone
else had ever done this and what others thought about the concept one way or
another?
from Robert Meek dba Tangentals Design CCopyright 2006
"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion
that the gift of Fantasy has meant more to me then my talent for absorbing
positive knowledge!"
Albert Einstein
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