You all know those cats will eat you if they get the chance

I knew I should have left the rock stars part out of it. I also learned it's not a good idea to ask a question when I've been drinking. It was just spontaneous combustion I guess. But what the heck, sh#t happens. (Like posting in the lounge, sorry bout that) Lots of good answers here anyway, It looks to me like if it is simple keep it simple. If it is complicated, keep it simple by using a database. That about sums it up. But then again, how do you define simple? What simple for some may be Rock Science to others.

I guess it all depends on what is is? wreckless

Just kidding about the rock stars but thought it might get some attention. But I do have a question. I have read all about the databases and really don't care which one is better or more efficient and so on, what I want to know and have always wanted to ask: If you have a simple program that needs to store data, what is the data size cut off that it is more efficient to use a database or just serialize to files (xml or other)? I have tested xml files holding as many as 10,000 elements, and have not noticed much of a delay putting same elements in database tables. I have tried several different approaches and tried to complicate the tables and queries and didn't see much difference in performance. Has anybody ever done any load testing or any research on what would be the cutoff point on data size, or evaluated the overhead over XML or a Database? I also know that there is a lot of support for working with databases and cloud storage which simplifies the DAL & LOB data access and storage, but it also leaves a large footprint on your device for something where the data load might not be so large as to warrant such a large footprint, such as mobile devices. Or does it? I don't know that's why I am asking. Please enlighten me on the subject.

The difference between a question and a stupid question depends on who you ask to answer it! wreckless