Q. data stacks and app design

[Terry Vogelaar]

> Why don't you just maintain the data in an external text file? Then, you can
> read and write it as simply as:
> 
> put url ("file:" & tFileName) into tData
> 
> and
> 
> put tData into url ("file:" & tFileName)
> 
> Ken Ray

Sometimes this is a good solution, but there is a possible problem you have
to keep in mind:
When you develop for a multi-platform app and the text file is brought from
one platform to another, you have to keep in mind that the text can contain
upper-ascii chars (international chars, etc.). They are automatically taken
care of when in a field, but you have to do that 'yourself' (call the
MacToISO or the ISOToMac function) when the text is in a text file (or in a
custom prop). But if a text is already ISO encoded and you use MacToISO, you
get output that is incorrect on any platform. So you have to know where the
text comes from to do this right. And that is not always obvious.

Terry