Persistence of Data
OLE Structured Storage, page 8
It sometimes seems that part of the challenge of being a Windows developer (whether you use Visual Basic or another language) is coping with the multitude of new terms and acronyms that are generated with great frequency from Redmond. OLE Structured Storage is one of these.
Fortunately, this is where the somewhat long introductory material that you have read up to now serves its purpose. Because it makes it possible to understand exactly what OLE Structured Storage is and why it exists and even how it might fit into your own development plans.
Think again, for a moment, about a file system - both its advantages and disadvantages, and how it might be used to address the problem of creating complex documents. Consider then, that a file system exists on a hard disk drive - a large area that is able to store information. What would happen if, instead, you could place an entire file system within a single disk file? Suddenly you would have all of the advantages of a file system, with none of the disadvantages. Since the entire file system is within a single disk file, you can copy, move and Email all of the objects for that file system by simply copying, moving or Emailing the file that contains the file system.
OLE Structure Storage is a technology that places an entire file system within a single disk file. Nothing more and nothing less. And understanding that this is what OLE structured storage is, you know nearly as much about it as any of the experts.
