Opening file for reading and writing

[Michael Baxter]

I'm building an application that logs data continuously to a file. However, periodically I want to search the log and read data from a specific point in the file, while allowing the log to be continually updated.

Can I do this without closing the file? How do I go about this?

Many thanks,

Michael

[Shea24]

The file system is really not suited for the type of operation you're trying to perform.

I'd suggest using a database of some sort - check out microsoft sql server express 2005 - it's free for database sizes up to 4GB, and interfaces very nicely with visual studio 2005. There's a bit of a learning curve, but the functionality payoff is well worth it.

(Our company started out logging data to the file system, and the transition to a database later rather than sooner caused alot of headaches)