Design decision -- Files in groups of 4

[Michael A. Covington]

I'm developing an application that will handle files in groups of 4, namely
3 video files plus a script saying how to put them together.

These are all files that I will deliver with the app, so I have complete
control over the format and the naming of the files. I will be using
DirectShow to read and process the video files.

One obvious approach -- somewhat UNIX-like -- is to require that the four
files reside in the same directory and have names for the format xxxx.zz0,
xxxx.zz1, xxxx.zz2, xxx.zz3. My program will make sure all four are
present before trying to use them.

This should be quite reliable, because I'm delivering the files myself, but
is there a better way? Deliver them in a single ZIP file which Windows
could treat as a compressed folder? Concatenate them myself and pick them
apart at run time?

 

[simida]

It's a proper way that using manifest file to describe your 4 files.
you can use xml file to achieve it. your application can retrieve
information from xml file. all files reside in the same directroy.

Folder organization

Root
|
|____Videos
| |_video1
| |_video2
| |_video3
| |_video4
|
|____script file
|
|____manifest.xml

Holp this helps

Sincerely,

 

[Michael A. Covington]

Actually the script file is written in XML and can also serve as the
manifest.

("Script" is not a very good description of what it does... for proprietary
reasons I don't want to go into detail... but it is basically a manifest
with some additional information about the files besides their names.)

Thanks.

 

[simida]

en...Yes, I perfer to use Folder to catain all files. If it use single
ZIP file, the application will cost much time to uncompress it . It
affects performance much.If you have more elegent approach, plz mail to
me. thx.

Sincerely,
simida

Deliver them in a single ZIP file which Windows
could treat as a compressed folder?

 

[Laura T]

If you need to support only NTFS and the users need (should) not see the
separate files, you could use NTFS data streams to create just one file with
3 or 4 streams in it.
Check
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/NTFSStreams.asp
or
http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/...mpleGuid=5b3cf345-80c1-46f7-8d34-4cac36e04449

Otherwise I'd choose compressed file