Re: voting using text files

> A good structure would be to have one file for each possible answer and each > file contains the number of votes it has recieved. > Then: > --> Open file for the chosen option as read only > --> Read the value in the file > --> Close the file > --> Increase the value by one using ++ > --> Open the file again in write mode > --> Lock the file > --> Write the new value to the file - old one overwritten > --> Unlock the file > --> Close the file That's a bad method. You have to have the lock around the read and the write. With your method, 5 users might read the file, all getting 99 for the count, and then each one will try to seperatly write 100 to the file. So you lose 4 actual counts. You want to open the file, read it, update value, write it, unlock, and close the file. Using multiple files would just be a waste of space in my opinion. A locked file doesn't stop the script, it simply waits for the file to be unlocked and then continues on. ---John Holmes...