Hi

I keep track of my application by writing to log file using StreamWriter(append=true).
I'd like to have a limit for the file size. Once the file gets to the limit, the new entry would overwrite the oldest one in the beggining of the file (the oldest is then removed for good).

This kind of circular file appending happens for example on the log file of the Scheduled Tasks Folder(C:\WINNT\SchedLgU.txt).


Is there a neat way of doing this circular appending ?

Thanks!

You could treat the log file as a datasource instead of a stream, and then use the .delete method.

When the record cout got to be at the max size, prior to adding a new entry (which would cause a size of Max + 1), .MoveFirst, then .Delete, then do your addition of a new record.

Thanks Brian

Could you please give a short example of how to treat the log file as datasource.

Thanks!

I have never actually done this, but I have read often that ADO.net (as was the case with ADO, I believe) can utilize text files as a data source.
I hate using VisualStudio help, but I'm sure there are some samples in there.

Make another posting if you are unable to find anything on it, and I’ll see if I can find something.

I found some information about Microsoft Text Driver that connects to .txt and .csv files and treats them as datasource.
In my application, the .txt log file is displayed within a multiline textbox (which as far as I know don't have a datasource member).

Anyway, I'm looking for an alternative way to save and display the log file. XML is my main focus since I worked with it before, and the data manipulation is much easier.
BTW, is there any size limit when loading an xml file into XMLDocument object (or the only problem is the cost in processing time) ?