Just Me wrote:

> I had a VB6 address book app that I converted to .net
> It reads and writes records in a random file.
> That is, each record is the same size, (composed of items that are fixed
> size strings.)
> If no middle name item, for example, is entered blanks are written for that
> item.
> Using a random file lets me read, for example, the 10th record if I want to,
> without reading records 1 thru 9.
>
> I converted to .NET and the conversion created things that enable the code
> to appear as if it had fixed size strings, but it's kind of kluggy.
>
> I wonder if XML wouldn't work well.

"Oleg Tkachenko [MVP]" <oleg@NO!SPAM!PLEASEtkachenko.com> wrote in message
news:%23g0kxPx0EHA.824@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Just Me wrote:
>
>> I had a VB6 address book app that I converted to .net
>> It reads and writes records in a random file.
>> That is, each record is the same size, (composed of items that are fixed
>> size strings.)
>> If no middle name item, for example, is entered blanks are written for
>> that item.
>> Using a random file lets me read, for example, the 10th record if I want
>> to, without reading records 1 thru 9.
>>
>> I converted to .NET and the conversion created things that enable the
>> code to appear as if it had fixed size strings, but it's kind of kluggy.
>>
>> I wonder if XML wouldn't work well.
>
> Yeah, XML is basically bad on effective random read/write access unless
> you load the whole document into memory. Basically you can have each
> record on separate line and fixed length of data, but that sounds as
> really weird XML file.
>
>
> --
> Oleg Tkachenko [XML MVP]
> http://blog.tkachenko.com

" Just Me" <groups@a-znet.com> wrote in message
news:%23JCkf7m0EHA.2568@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> I know nothing about XML and am asking this so I know if I should spend
some
> time learning.
>
> I had a VB6 address book app that I converted to .net
> It reads and writes records in a random file.
> That is, each record is the same size, (composed of items that are fixed
> size strings.)
> If no middle name item, for example, is entered blanks are written for
that
> item.
> Using a random file lets me read, for example, the 10th record if I want
to,
> without reading records 1 thru 9.
>
> I converted to .NET and the conversion created things that enable the code
> to appear as if it had fixed size strings, but it's kind of kluggy.
>
> I wonder if XML wouldn't work well.
>
> To restate the question:
> An address book application.
> Many of the possible items for a given contact might not be filled in.
> Most items are not as long as the max allowable length.
> They are padded with blanks.
> If the entries(contacts) were written including only the nonblank unpadded
> items.
> Could I read and rewrite the entries in a random order.
>
> I'd guess the answer is no.
> In that case, If the written entries were all the same size because blanks
> would be used to pad items so they become fixed size.
>
> Would it make sense to use XNL?
>
>
> Thanks for any helpful suggestions
>
> P.S. Is there XML address book example code available on the Internet?
>
>