Thanks for your input, Malcolm. I hope to adopt a similar approach but
by parsing the INI file(s) at startup and storing the key/value pairs
to an object rather than to a cursor. Other than that you have given me
some further ideas to incorporate (such as inline comments).
Thanks again
Malcolm Greene wrote:
Paul,
We use a hybrid approach for managing program configuration info:
1. Config info stored in an INI like text file(s) that users can edit if
they need to.
2. We parse these INI style file(s) at application startup and store
their key/value pairs to a cursor. Note: We allow a user to specify
multiple INI files via the command line. This allows us to 'append' a
test INI file to our application's default INI file for testing -
without having to edit our default INI file.
The advantages of using a text file format as the source for our
configuration information:
1. Users/support can quickly view and edit settings in the field
2. Copy and paste of bulk settings easily accomplished
3. Easy to search and replace on specific text strings
4. Easy to diff two versions of an ini file for differences
5. Integrates well with source code control systems
6. Allows for inline commenting (we support // as an inline comment as
well). Example:
Debug = 1 // legal values: 0 or 1
7. Allows for quick testing by allowing multiple key/value pairs (the
last key/value pair is what gets saved to the configuration cursor).
This allows inline changes for testing and/or documentation. Example:
; use testing folder
BackupFolder = c:\backups
BackupFolder = c:\backups for testing
Malcolm
[excessive quoting removed by server]
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