Hi, I am working on some new functionality for an app I have been working on over the summer and I decided to give it the ability to look up items from a database. My problem is I do not know the best way to approach this. Right now I have a very basic solution setup where I have I database class which has a map of Product objects. The database is constructed from a text file each time the program is loaded and is then searchable by name/product number/barcode. It contains 5-10k items and isn't so bad but I am just wondering if there is a more... standard or professional way of handling this. I'm not familiar with databases at all really besides their basic function and a very vague idea of how they work effeciently. The only criteria I really have is that the database can be updated from a text file (I get the file every monday and want to update it then, automatically if possible). Maybe the way I have it setup now is appropriate for what I need, I don't really know. I am just looking for some input/ideas/links which I can start looking into.
Thanks
-ac
edit: Sorry, I forgot to mention I am working in VC++ Express which is why I posted in this forum.