Visual Basic

Whets the best way to…

Hi all

I have been tasked with creating an application that generates a flat-file in which the content changes depending on the users input; I.e. different record lengths and other flags and headers, etc.

Now my question is what is the best way to present this to the user filling in the front end?  For example, I could use a dynamic run-time generated form or create a plug-in architecture or create different exe to do each job.

This application should ideally be easy to operate and easy to generate new templates so it can be maintained if I should move on.

Example Output:

Runtime]
Date=
Time=22:00:00
AllowErrors=FALSE

[Task.1]
Server=Employee
Module=Employee
Operation=AddUpdate

;======================================================================
;NB - STS CODE:  Pending = 1, Active = 2, Terminated = 3, Inactive = 4
;        Suspended = 5, Deleted = 6
;     TERM_DATE: Format as YYYY-MM-DD
;See NL_Employee.doc for information on field formats and descriptions.
;======================================================================

[Data.1]
Employee,[EMPLOYEE_NO],[STORE_NO],,,,,,,,[STS_CODE],,,,,,,,,,,2099-01-01,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

**END EXAMPLE**

NB These files can become quite complicated with multiple [TASK.X] and [DATA.X] sections

Any help with picking the best solution would be appreciated.

In addition, I class myself as a novice / intermediate VB programmer

Language Used: VB 2011 Express

Thanks