John Salerno wrote:
> I'm thinking about writing a small script that will update an xml file
> with whatever game settings the user enters. I imagine that the user
> will have a single-screen GUI application with several different
> settings, like this:
>
> CROSSHAIRS ON
> LOCATION ON
> HEALTHBAR OFF
> etc.....
>
> These settings will somehow be toggleable with an ON/OFF button, or
> something.
>
> Anyway, I can think of two ways to do this:
>
> 1. After the user chooses his settings and clicks the Save button,
> Python reads all the settings from the GUI application and updates
> *every* entry in the xml file (whether it has changed or not).
>
> 2. After the user chooses his settings and clicks the Save button,
> Python reads all the settings from the GUI application, compares these
> settings to those in the xml file, and updates only the ones that have
> been changed.
You can't write into the middle of an XML file effectively; any field
that has changed length won't fit. You generally have to create a new
XML file.
Read this on how to replace a file with a new one, as an atomic operation:
http://blogs.msdn.com/adioltean/archive/2005/12/28/507866.aspx
If you really want to update files in place, use a database, like
SQLite. If you find yourself rewriting big files for minor changes,
switch to a database. For small files, just rewrite the whole thing.
John Nagle
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