Managing External Files

[Auguy]

I have an app that manages external files (Doc, Pdf, Xls, Txt, Jpg, etc) by storing the file names in a table and letting the user add a small description and reference date. All of these files are in a specific client's folder and/or subfolders. After the user navigates to a selected client they can display a list of the client's subfolders in a grid and expand or collapse any subfolder to show all of the files in that subfolder. This is done by clicking on a text field in the grid that has either a "+" or "-" in it indicating it's current status. The user can double click any file name and I open the selected file with the default program associated with the file extension. This works fine as there are only about 400-500 clients. I am starting to port this over to another system where the number of clients (rental units in this case) is along the lines of 3 to 4 thousand and each unit may have many related files. Looking for some guidance/experience in the organization of all of these files. Worried about speed in accessing a particular file out of the thousands of files through my app. This will be running on a pretty decent Windows 2003 server. Would this many files in one folder cause any speed or other issues on the server? I don't think individual folders for each unit makes sense (too many?), but maybe a few generic folders based on some other criteria such as invoices, payables, leases, etc. would help to reduce the number of files in any one folder. Any ideas will be appreciated. Thanks.

Auguy
Sylvania, Ohio

 

[dgrewe]

When I did the same thing for a Printing company that collected all the bids from the U.S.G.P.O. (about 120,000 a year), I was able to divide the Bids (.TIF Files) into 3 groups the USGPO placed them in. I then divided the 3 Groups into 12 months.

I stored the Group and the Month in fields in the same table as the files names and location.

I wrote a function to build the Directory path when the user selected the file they wanted to see.

A stored trigger marked the record inactive if someone deleted a file from the directory and failed to do the same in the table.


David W. Grewe (Dave)

 

[Auguy]

David, thanks for the help.

Auguy
Sylvania, Ohio

 

[dgrewe]

NO problem, Glad I could help.
How is the Snow up there last weekend in Toledo.
I'm From Dayton.

David W. Grewe (Dave)

 

[Auguy]

Not too bad, had a couple inches of real wet snow Saturday night. All melted by noon on Sunday. My son graduates from UD in about 3 weeks. Degree in MIS and Econ. Has a job with IBM in Virginia starting late June. Plan on going to Marion's for Pizza after graduation!

Auguy
Sylvania, Ohio