HOW: Off-line feature

[dee-u]

I wish to give my application an off-line feature but I am unsure what path to take. I don't want to used Access database for the local storage, what are my options? I am using custom objects in my application...

TIA

[mendhak]

Sorry, do I already know what your application does in 'online' mode? I may have forgotten. Or you probably assumed we knew.

[DeanMc]

I presume the application is an ASP.NET application. There are many ways including a SQL Server express Database or even XML. Hell if you really wanted to push the boat out you could use comma delimited files. What type of data and how much of it is stored locally will influence your decision.

[jmcilhinney]

I very much doubt that it's an ASP.NET app. A Web application offline basically means a Web application you can't access. More likely this is a Windows app that will be on a system that doesn't always have connectivity, like a laptop or a mobile device. Basically you just need a local database with the same or similar schema to the primary database, such that it can store the data you generate while offline. If you're using SQL Server as the primary database then SQL Server Express or CE might be a good choice for a local database. With Express you can use the same ADO.NET objects and just change the connection string, while CE would require a different data provider. When a database operation fails while online you set a flag to indicate that all data operations should use the local database. You'd then check for a connection to the primary database at intervals or maybe not until the app starts up again.

I haven't read any of it but you may find some of these useful.