XPost: comp.lang.basic.visual, comp.lang.basic.visual.misc   
   From: erewhon@nowhere.com   
      
   Inline :-   
      
   On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 19:57:14 +1000, "Steve"  wrote:   
      
   >>    
   >>   
   >> It sounds to me as if you have :-   
   >>   
   >> 1) Codes of the form: ABCD1234567   
   >> 2) The 4 digit prefix refers to the owner/shipping line   
   >> 3) There are about 500 owner/shipping lines   
   >> 4) You want a simple lookup on the 4 digit prefix   
   >>    - that gives you 3 to 4 items of data   
   >>   
   >> Interestingly you are right about text files, as the chances are that   
   >> you already have (or can get) a text file containing this information.   
   >- There are websites with this info on the net. Some of the feed back i have   
   >gotton has been to see if i can put the key parts together and create   
   >something that does not require internet access.   
      
   Gottit   
      
   >> 500 lines is pretty trivial in terms of data   
   >> - easily (and best) kept in memory   
   >- I did give this some thought but my reason for having the data in a   
   >seperate file was for ease of update and it saves me re-compiling the   
   >program when ever i make changes   
      
   Sorry, what I meant was keep the data in a Text file and wolf it into   
   RAM just once when the App starts   
      
   >> Could you post about 4 lines of the text file that you have (or   
   >> envisage getting from ... who knows where)   
   >An example of the data would be   
   >OWNER =   
   >WEBSITE ADDRESS =   
   >UNIT ENQUIRY ADDRESS = (this will point to the page on the shipping   
   >lines/lease company's web site which is used to track and trace containers)   
   >CONTACT NUMBER = (at the moment this will be australian numbers until i can   
   >find someone who is willing to help with overseas ones. Then I will add a   
   >location option that will only display data which is relevant to your   
   >geographical location)   
      
   Very interesting, I like it   
   Rather than going the whole hog with XML may I suggest the following:-   
      
   [ABCD]   
   OWNER=   
   WEBSITE=   
   UEA=   
   CN=   
      
   [CDEF]   
   OWNER=   
   WEBSITE=   
   UEA=   
   CN=   
      
   As you will see this is standard INI file format, which is pretty   
   handy as it means that one can use all the utilities that currently   
   exist for handling them   
      
   Cutting down on the Mnemonics (Tags or field 'names') saves typing and   
   will reduce errors   
      
   >I have all this information in hard copy and saved data. Basically i have a   
   >little black book with most of the data and the rest is in my head. The   
   >above is pretty much all i am looking at putting in.   
      
   Yes - well I can see the way this one will grow !   
      
   >With regards to the web sites i am not worried at this stage of having them   
   >setup so all you have to do is click it and it goes there.   
      
   That is very easy - but is stage 2 of the project   
      
   >>   
   >> Alternatively (something I doubt) if you wish to generate the data   
   >> file yourself, then tell us   
   >I will be entering in the data myself. My main reason being that sometimes   
   >particular web sites dont make it easy to find the data needed. The options   
   >i listed above (from my experience anyway) are the main things you want when   
   >trying to track down containers.   
      
   You'll think of more - but it will be a cinch adding them   
      
   >> You actually have an interesting little project, and it is especially   
   >> neat that it has come from a checksum utility   
   >> - it will, of course grow and grow   
      
   >Its the first project i have done that i have found practical use for. I   
   >have it posted on the net (i dont charge for it and dont plan on doing so)   
   >and so far a few people have downloaded it and used it so its kind of kept   
   >me going knowing that someone else has found use for it.   
      
   Yes, appreciation is a great motivator   
      
   >> A good project to hone up your programming   
   >> - you will be on a roll   
   >   
   >thankyou very much for your help   
      
   Normally it is not good form to move NG discussions off the forum,   
   however in this case I reckon an exception should be made.   
      
   I can write (as could many others here) the guts of your Application   
   in about thirty lines of 'original code' - although those lines would   
   be 'driving' quite a lot of my standard VB library routines   
   - a bit too much to post here   
   - also it is messy posting a Form, several Class modules and two .BAS   
   modules   
      
   I think the best thing is that I produce something that gives you a   
   flying start, and from then on you take over and enhance the App   
      
   For example, although you currently just want to read the data, it   
   would be nice to be able to edit and update the records from within   
   the App.   
      
   If you would like to take this approach, then you can track down my   
   Email address from www.jerryfrench.co.uk   
      
   For the benefit of others following this thread, I propose using a   
   'pure VB' (not API) INI file handler that has a 'virtual' option   
   eg: once loaded it just keeps the data in RAM   
   - the INI manager would be thinly wrapped in another Class, to   
   abstract the App from knowing that it is dealing with an INI file   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)