I am reviewing the need to update an old program I wrote back in VB6 days. I am working with VB 2010 and am trying to determine my best approach. It's basically a reporting program that will display reports based on MySQL database information where there might be different databases used, even on the same computer.
In my old program there was a combo box that when selected, populated the listbox with data that I stored in an Access 2000 *.mdb. The data is variable and under control of the user. The categories in the drop-down are also under control of the user. In my own running version I have 8 categories with about 5 options per category but the default that comes with the program is roughly 5 categories with about 5 options per category. So it can be larger or they can remove items if they wish.
I am looking at either replicating the listbox/combobox idea or using a treeview in the new program and still wanting to give the user the ability to expand on the options as they see fit.
I was looking at the application settings to see if I should try and store them there. While I have used these for some things in the past, I think because of the more variable nature and volume of possibilities, I would not be able to set this up properly.
So should I continue to use an mdb file or would it better to learn something about using ini/xml files? Or is there another option I am not thinking of?
I have eliminated adding to the MySQL database with my data for various reasons but the main one is that I want the categories and options available regardless of the database used.
If you have some time, I wouldn't mind a few people weighing in on some options for me. Just looking for ideas and reasoning (yes I have thought of obselescence of the Access 2000 mdb), not code here, I'm still working with ideas, not coding.
TIA, rasinc
In my old program there was a combo box that when selected, populated the listbox with data that I stored in an Access 2000 *.mdb. The data is variable and under control of the user. The categories in the drop-down are also under control of the user. In my own running version I have 8 categories with about 5 options per category but the default that comes with the program is roughly 5 categories with about 5 options per category. So it can be larger or they can remove items if they wish.
I am looking at either replicating the listbox/combobox idea or using a treeview in the new program and still wanting to give the user the ability to expand on the options as they see fit.
I was looking at the application settings to see if I should try and store them there. While I have used these for some things in the past, I think because of the more variable nature and volume of possibilities, I would not be able to set this up properly.
So should I continue to use an mdb file or would it better to learn something about using ini/xml files? Or is there another option I am not thinking of?
I have eliminated adding to the MySQL database with my data for various reasons but the main one is that I want the categories and options available regardless of the database used.
If you have some time, I wouldn't mind a few people weighing in on some options for me. Just looking for ideas and reasoning (yes I have thought of obselescence of the Access 2000 mdb), not code here, I'm still working with ideas, not coding.
TIA, rasinc