vb6 richtextbox max length

[si_the_geek]

My employer wanted to use excel because of data corruption in the past where data was lost. So instead of building one large data base, I have each of the customers orders in it own excel spread sheet that is saved to their individual folder. Then I have a small data base of the file locations. If there is a corruption it will only effect one excel file and not the whole database.

That is a rather odd choice... it would be far better to implement a backup system instead, as that would mean that any corruption would be recoverable.

If a proper database system was being used, the backup options included with it would do the job nicely.

Without a database system you should use some other backup method.

Also each file can be read outside my program.

That is a valid reason, and I can't think of a simple alternative at the moment.

It is also easier for archiving and the program will be as fast in 2 years as it is today when it's new.

Unless you have huge amounts of data per day, there would be virtually no speed loss with a database over that period (assuming the database tables etc are designed properly).

Archiving is debatable, with a database it might take more work up front (or less, depending on the circumstances), but can then be fully automatic after that.

Again thank you for the explanation. To many so called programmers have lots of smart a** advice but can't give you an answer to your question. You spelled it out nicely.

No problem... but note that giving you advice to change tools/methods is often far better than giving you the answer you want.

It usually means a temporary halt to your work while you get/learn the new thing, but it can save you time quickly. As an example, one program I wrote took 3 days in VB6 (which I had been using for over 10 years), but in VB2008 (which I hadn't used before) it took less than 2 days, plus made the future requirements far easier to implement.

Unless you explain valid reasons for using 'bad' tools (in terms of the data control you definitely haven't), it is perfectly understandable that people will suggest alternatives that are known to be better in most cases.