include file or database

[Bryan Harrington]

I'm working on an application that I will make use of "constants". I put
contants in quotes becuase they will change periodically (Logo path, css
path, psw expiration times etc). From a system admin standpoint does it make
sense to put them in a constants file, or put them in a database?

My database argument is that they can be modified by the customer via some
web forms.
My contants include file argument is that they can't be modified as easiliy
by a half wit customer, and there is no database overhead.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Ray at]

It sounds to me that you already see the advantages and disadvantages to
both options. I typically put constants that will rarely change, if ever,
in an include file. If you wanted to have the best of both worlds, you
could create a page that would actually modify this file. You could open
the file with an FSO, parse the contents to find all the constants and the
values, write them back to a form, and have the form, when submitted, create
a new file.

Ray at work

 

[William Morris]

For my part, I would have a form on a webpage that controls what the user
can update, whether file or db. Give a user access to your files, and they
can really screw things up - it only takes one inattentive typo and you've
lost one or more of your constants. If they only have access to the values,
you can trap for that.

- Wm

William Morris
Product Development, Seritas LLC