Im using C#.Net to set up a small slightly intelligent Batch printing app for my fellow employees at my office, because many of them have to nurse computers for hours on end printing out nearly identical documents.
I know that I could get the actual printing done with some simple scripts, but a fancy GUI impresses my boss more than a highly contrasted powershell window.
I've had no problems with the process of printing, but I am wonder what would be the most effective way to store "printer profiles" and regex definitions.
I currently have it designed so that the users can see all available printers on their network by name, and all of the saved file regexes.
The regular expressions are input in a separate dialog and saved to a dictionary by for use in the current session, and then output to an XML file to save data after the program closes. On the printer assign screen, I pull the regName data from the dictionary (or the XML file) and then after the user has selected the desired printer and file associations, they save them to a dictionary containing the regName and printer values. Before the program exits, that association is recorded in an XML file for reload and verification on next start.
This current design SEEMS stable, and I have no issues with load times. I'd like to HOPE that there will be no memory issues from trying to load what should be small XML files in to the program, but I get the feeling that I should know better, and I do feel like there is a more robust way to store profiles than XML.
For the record: I'd prefer not to use a database, unless that is the accepted way of handling things, because that feels too bulky for what should be a relatively moderate amount of data.
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