[Lazarus] Embedded database for Lazarus/Linux

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:

> On 17/06/2010, waldo kitty wrote:
>>
>> besides, XML is a good example as well since everyone and their mother seem
>> to see it as a huge step forward for some reason...
>
> I can't agree more on this point. Yes, XML has it's uses, but
> replacing a INI file with a XML file simply to store some application
> settings like "recently opened files", or editor color settings etc is
> pretty ridiculous. And yes, Lazarus IDE is a culprit in this too. I
> mean, INI is a dead simple file format which FPC and Delphi (and just
> about any other language) has very good support for reading/writing
> INI files. So why use XML which is much more complex and much harder
> to work with. Again Lazarus IDE being an example here. There are
> multiple XML reading/writing solutions (inside FCL and LCL and IDE),
> all with varying degrees of features and how to use them.

There is a very simple rule of thumb I use.

If it is 'flat' info, I use .ini files. They are easy to use, human
editable, and inifiles is a small unit.

If the info is somehow hierarchical (multi-level), I use XML.

Michael.