Question

I’m writing a simple calendar application which saves the data in a text file. I use the iCalendar-format, so my text file ends “END:VCALENDAR”.

When the user adds a new event, the application should write the associated data at the end of the text file without overwriting “END:VCALENDAR”, how can I do this? What about deleting an event which is saved in the middle of the text file? Is there a need to write the whole file again using the updated data? Many thanks.

Answer 1

You can’t dynamically “expand” the file by writing in the middle of it.
You’ll need to, either:

1. Deserialize the whole calendar to memory, then write it back (best option)
2. Read into memory everything which lies past the point you want to insert the data, write you data, then write the stored file “tail”