Implementing an Asp.net File Manager Application

[AnotherCoder]

Hello All.

Ive been contracted to write an application in .net(Vb.net that is) that manages word documents for a small consulting firm. The application should be a web-based app that organizes these word documents in folders for each client. Subsequently, each client folder should have sub folders that allow further management of the word documents in each client folder.

The questions that arise are:

1. Should i organize these files in a database or should i organize these files using the local file system.

2. If i should organize these files in the database, what method should these file s be organized in the database in? (Binary Data, or file paths)

3. I have found a solution for using the binary format for accessing the word documents but how do i reach my proposed goal using the file paths for data access(ex. /client-abc/year-2006-/proposal.doc in database table)?

4. Last but not least i need to provide a "check-in and check-out" solution to the word document access because there may be multiple users editing one document so i dont want 1 user to make modifications to a word document and then some else's changes are overwritten. How do i protect the files from this overwriting behavior?


Thank you all for expertise in advanced.

[Motoma]

1. This really depends on the level of scalability you desire, the network topology for your server system (i.e. multiple web servers? different web/db servers?), and the amount of data you are working with.

2. This really is the same question as the first. You will need a database either way, the question is really where the actual file data lies.

3. Draw up an ERD or UML diagram for your data structures. This will make decisions a lot easier.

4. The tool for this is called a Mutual Exclusion Semaphore (mutex). You will need to build a mutex in your database.