Hi Peter,

-=> On 16 Feb 97  23:27:43 Peter Schuller said to All <=-

 PS> (I like server #2 better than #1)

 PS> Server #1)
 PS> I could make a server SPECIFICLY for the BBS' different parts. Ie,
 PS> a server  that takes messages like "read next message",
or "scan for
 PS> new files", or  "write this message to area 123" etc... 

This is the right way to do it for OS/2.

 PS> The questions I
 PS> have on creating this  server is: How should the server give the client
 PS> the extracted information? If  the client send "get next
message", how
 PS> should the client get it's hands on  the message? Pipe? Som sort of
 PS> RAM-file? Temp file on disk? 

Through the pipe for messages. 

 PS> And also: How do I handle BIG requests? 

Either through the pipe or send a header in the pipe saying where the data
is on disk. Select which by a flag in the request. IE flag says 'if more than
2k (64k), send as file if possible.' return packet either says 'data follows'
or 'data can be found at: c:\temp\data.$$$'

 PS> I could queue'em (stuff like
 PS> "scan for  new files") in one thread, and simply put away a certain
 PS> amount of time for  each client until the operation is finished. Would
 PS> this be the best way? Ie.  handeling a bit of the operation at a time. 

Start a thread for these, allowing the user to geep doing other things while
scanning. ie scan for new files while reading mail. When you click on the
'new files' window, a popup says 'still scanning' if the thread hasn't
completed.

 PS> Server #2)
Not good over a network - network traffic would be high. Also the coarse
grain of integrity - files -would mean frequent contention for data.

Personally, I would love to see/own a BBS server that is written in SQL.
I'd write it myself if I had time. The database technology had 30 years
of finding out how to do this stuff. Much better than anyone's first
attempt at doing it by hand, even yours, I would guess. No insult intended.

ANdrew



... Backup the hard disk? where's the gear stick?
--- Blue Wave/Max v2.30 [NR]