Service Application Appropriate?

[lespaul]

How can I determine if a Service Application is appropriate for a project?

Here's what we need to do. We have a folder in the IFS (Integrated File System) of an AS400 where PDF documents are being temporarily stored. Once a document has been saved to this temporary area it needs to be moved to a different location on the IFS. The reason for the temporary area is that users don't have any modify rights to the final location so the final save must be done programatically. Unfortunately the process that puts the document in the temp folder can not put it to the final location.

So, I want a program that will watch a specific location; when a file appears in the folder automatically run the program that moves the document to the correct location.

After reading the help on the Service Application, I thought I was heading in the right direction, but wanted some clarification and pointers if anyone has done something similar.

Can I still use components in a Service Application? I would want to have an AS400 connection and be able to call specific AS400 programs. Is this possible?

Thanks for any pointers!

leslie

 

[Oppenhiemer]

Hi -

I am not familiar with AS400, however - I can see no reason you cannot use a Windows Service to handle this situation. I guess the onnly thing you may need to be careful of - is the ammount of work the serice may need to do (the number and size of the PDF files. If these are large, it may tie up the service.)

Im guessing that if the files are large, or you have a high volume of traffic - it may put a strain on the system resources (thread management would be important here.)

Here is an interesting link..

http://finn.mobilixnet.dk/delphi/service/service.htm

Hope this helps..

Opp.