Hi everyone, I`m new here and I hope you can help me with this!

Basically, I'm developing a Windows application, which works this way:

- The user introduces a number of parameters, in a form. These parameters are stored.

- Based on those parameters, the app generates a number of reports (defined by the user), and those must be stored too.

I want to know what you think about how should I store it... First I though about a database, with one table with those main parameters, another one with the generated reports parameters, and some secondary tables... Then I though that it would be better to have a .txt file with the main parameters (which the user can open anytime to use them again) and then another .txt file with the generated parameters for the reports... but I don't know how to separate them inside the txt file...

The data of every report would be something like, for example:

Name: A5
Height: 120
Width: 40
Time: 4.24
Color: Blue

Maybe stored in a comma delimited way...
I just need some guidance to put some order on mi toughts!!!

Well as you can imagine there are pros and cons to each one. So I should list a few so you can see where you might to go with this...

Databases

Pros

1) They tend to be more structured
2) They have referential integrity to help protect against corruption of data
3) If done correctly they can help format the type of data you are getting (won't allow you to enter a string in an integer field).

Cons

1) You have to connect and use a database. Which in itself can bring problems if you don't have one or not versed in SQL.
2) Little more time to setup and make available.
3) If the database goes down, you could have a lot of people's copy of the software not working.

Files

Pros

1) They are easy to setup and populate.
2) They allow the user to look at them and edit if need be.
3) Typically they are easy to load because they are local.

Cons

1) If the user can look at them and edit, they can also screw up the file.
2) When they get big in size they can be bulky, especially if you need to search.
3) There is no integrity checking to make sure that what is written to the file is in the format it should be in.


Personally if you are going to have a lot of parameters or a variable number of parameters that could end up being a lot, a database would be the way to go. They are structured, can be easily indexed and searched, and often times server-side languages can query and drop the content straight into an object (mysql_fetch_object() for instance in PHP). I would think you would make your reports using a custom report object so that you can easily manipulate reports and juggle them around, sort them etc. But that is just a design idea.

It is up to you to find which fits better with your scheme and how you, and your users, might use the software.

Hope that helps

This post has been edited by Martyr2: 14 Dec, 2007 - 09:54 AM