Hi Chris, > ...if a file with a header record would be a problem > using a database control on a text file.
Don't use a database control. Stop using all those frilly VB management controls. Write code. Use the ADO /reference/ not the ADO Data Control. The difference, primarily, is that you have all the control in the world and can read the text file yourself and build the structure from it without having to worry about whether it fits the mod of the other 80% of applications that something like the ADO Data Control are 'okay' for. > I can always strip the header if I have to, but if it is > truly flexible enough to support multiple record types > in a text file that would be great. The text ADO processor provides the ability to control processing starting from line "x": http://www.connectionstrings.com/ Look under Text > OLE DB. You can also play with the many other extended properties available (but not publcized well), check google ("text ado extended properties"). And read this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnclinic/html/scripting03092 004.asp > BTW Shawn I am limited to using formats that the customer > and my boss request. I could convert everything to > databases then back again, I would just like to avoid that. This is when you put your foot down and say "This is the worst possible way to do this. If you want the application written quickly, with minimal bugs and the best portability, you'll let me use the methods recommended by the experts. Anything less is going to come back and bite us later on." If you *must* use a text file (for some silly reason) then consider XML. This is **exactly** what it was creaed for. It's going to be a little more code, and more wordy, but infinitely more adaptable. AND it can provide internal versioning structures and declare itself capable of handling and containing only certain structures. Lets say you write two versions of a program that have different fields and field lengths, or even maybe the second one uses two tables to store the same data that was only stored in one in the original application. Your XML for the first program says it was created with: <housedad> <version application="whatever" major="1" minor="0" build="14" /> </housedad While the new one uses: <housedad> <version application="whatever" major="2" minor="0" build="3" /> </housedad The code **you** are writing takes versioning into account when updating the data on your engine to provide a model capable of interacting with all your clients, regardless of whether they've upgraded. > ...the problem is I can't be stuck in the loop while I > am monitoring all those click events and dealing with the > error changing process. Which is *exactly* why you should be using ADO. Regards, Shawn K. Hall http://12PointDesign.com/ http://ReliableAnswers.com/ '// ======================================================== If we were directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should all want bread. -- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) '// ======================================================= Rules : http://ReliableAnswers.com/List/Rules.asp Home : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vbHelp/ ======================================================= Post : [email protected] Join : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Leave : [EMAIL PROTECTED] '// ======================================================= Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vbhelp/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
