The work on the new TWatch (I’ll likely change that name later on) has begun. I’m currently working on the Flat-file-to-Db application. The core is about 80% finished and working fine.

The main purpose of this application is to read the flat file database produced by Statlink, but it will also have a limited support for other flat files; as long as the values are in the form date-value, and one item per line, the application will be able to read it (with the appropiate configuration, of course).

I’ve decided to make this applications work in two modes:

1. First Use Conversion
2. Monitoring

The First Use Conversion mode will have a simple user interface allowing the user to make some choices before the flat-file-to-database conversion starts.

The Monitoring mode will work in the background, parsing the flat files in real-time. Naturally, this is the mode the application will run in once the initial data conversion is complete.

The application is configured using a XML file. Seeing as the configuration is very simple I’ve opted not to make a configuration dialog; this might be added at a later time if enough requests are voiced.

I’ve opted for a MySQL database since it is very easy to install and configure, and it also runs good on older computers with good performance. The fact that it also has very good support for .Net didn’t make the choice any harder