Text Files to Chart is it Possible?

Hello Everyone,

I'm very new to VB6 and i'm worried that some of the things i'm trying to do may not be possible.

My Scenario:

I have a text file and this file contains different things, so i want to search for specific words (say, 'red sport car'), the count the number of times the word appear in the file and then plot this in various charts.

I've been trying different things, but still no result, so i was wondering if you guys can put some light to this problem.

I really appreciate your help. In the main time, i'll keep on searching for similar problem (if any)!

Thanks in advance

Nick

LOL Hi MadBoy, I KNOW THIS IS YOU!!!

There you go again replying to irrelevant posts. Besides i dont waste my time signing up again. And i dont use charts:rolleyes: If it makes you happy get the mods to check my IP against the two. If the other guy is me, ill give you £10, otherwise you owe me £10 loser:lol:

thank you 'nkad' 'madboy', i can see you guys know each other, great!

But i'm kind of stuck in my project at the minute, so this serious, so if you guys could help or offer any idea, please feel free!

Thank you

Nick

Sorry about that.

First would need to write a function to search the file. If the file is really big then things get a little more complicated,assuming you dont want to load the entire file into memory.

Ok so the search function. Have you written any code to search for occurences of strings yet?

Here is what i have created for you. Untested ofcourse.

Code:

---

    Dim strSearchCriteria As String
    Dim strBuffer As String
    Dim lngCt As Long
    Dim p As Long
   
    '-load data from file into strBuffer
   
    Do
        p = InStr(Data, i, strSearchCriteria, vbDatabaseCompare)
        If p <> 0 Then
            lngCt = lngCt + 1
        Else
            If lngCt = 0 Then
                MsgBox "'" & strSearchCriteria & "' Not Found.", vbInformation + okonly
            Else
                MsgBox "'" & strSerachCriteria & "' Was found " & lngCt & " times.", vbInformation + okonly
            End If
            Exit Do
        End If
       
        p = p + Len(strSearchCriteria) + 1
    Loop

---

I dont do graphing much but you sould be able to use the pset() function to plot some points.

Thanks nkad;)

Lol, its not really me, honest:lol:

Can you for help nkad, im sorry but im very new to VB. I'm going to go through the search function you wrote and try to understand it. Afterwards, i could move to the plotting of the chart.

Regarding your search code, where i'm i going to specify the location of the file that needs to be searched?

Thank you in advance

Nick

EDITED:

Code:

---

    Dim strSearchCriteria As String
    Dim strBuffer As String
    Dim lngCt As Long
    Dim p As Long
   
    '-Load data from file into strBuffer
    Open app.path "\yourfile.txt" For Input As #1
        strBuffer = Input(LOF(1),1)
    Close #1
   
    '-Search strBuffer
    p = 1

    Do
        '-Find occurances of strSearchCriteria
        p = InStr(Data, p, strSearchCriteria, vbDatabaseCompare)
        If p <> 0 Then
            '-We found one!
            lngCt = lngCt + 1
        Else
            '-No more left, display results.
            If lngCt = 0 Then
                MsgBox "'" & strSearchCriteria & "' Not Found.", vbInformation + okonly
            Else
                MsgBox "'" & strSerachCriteria & "' Was found " & lngCt & " times.", vbInformation + okonly
            End If
            Exit Do
        End If
       
        p = p + Len(strSearchCriteria) + 1 '-This keeps the current position in strBuffer
    Loop

---

The function will start at the begining of strBuffer (the file data we loaded into memory) and search until the end (until p=0, meaning there was no more occurances of strSearchCriteria left)

I dont mess with graphic stuff much, maybe someone else can help you with that.

Hi nkad,

i'm slowly understanding your code, and i have only had one error, which i was able to rectify :)

There is one thing though:
You know i'm trying to seach for specific words in the text file, should l create a textbox and command button that will allow this?

I was thinking of doing this and at the back of the command button, insert this syntax 'strSearchCriteria'.

Also, how is the item or string entered in the textbox be monitored against what's on the textfile?

Is that right? Once again, i'm sorry for my stupidity, VB is very new to me.

Nick

Yes, I agree you are taken a huge leap. What is this project for again? School? Homework?


Yes you could easily copy and past the code into a command buttons Subrutine and assign a text box to the strSearchCriteria variable before you load the file.

Code:

---

strSearchCriteria = Text1.Text

---

The function that i write will only search for a string phrase e.g. "Red Sports Car" you will have to write a more advanced function to search for multiple words at once, such as: 'Red' AND 'Sports' AND 'Car'.

With a database this can be easily accomplished with fewer lines of code, but it can still be accomplished using data from a file.

Hello again,

Based on your guidelines, l have able to embed the code to a cmd button and a create a text file and i only had syntax error.

But when i type something say "Red Sports Car" in the text field, it brings an error say, no items found, and that item is actually in the text file, what should l do :confused: ?

Here is the code:

Private Sub SearchCommand_Click()

VB Code:

Dim strSearchCriteria As String
    Dim strBuffer As String
    Dim lngCt As Long
    Dim p As Long
    
    '-Load data from file into strBuffer
    Open App.path & "\search.txt" For Input As #1
        strBuffer = Input(LOF(1), 1)
    Close #1
    
    '-Search strBuffer
    p = 1
 
    Do
        '-Find occurances of strSearchCriteria
        p = InStr(data, p, strSearchCriteria, vbDatabaseCompare)
        If p <> 0 Then
            '-We found one!
            lngCt = lngCt + 1
        Else
            '-No more left, display results.
            If lngCt = 0 Then
                MsgBox "'" & strSearchCriteria & "' Items Not Found.", vbInformation + okonly
            Else
                MsgBox "'" & strSerachCriteria & "' Was found " & lngCt & " times.", vbInformation + okonly
            End If
            Exit Do
        End If
        
        p = p + Len(strSearchCriteria) + 1 '-This keeps the current position in strBuffer
    Loop
 End Sub
 
 
Private Sub Text1_Change()
strSearchCriteria = Text1.Text
End Sub

Sorry about that. Fixed a few bugs NOW IT WORKS!

Code:

---

    Dim strSearchCriteria As String
    Dim strBuffer As String
    Dim lngCt As Long
    Dim p As Long
   
    strSearchCriteria = Text1.Text
 
    '-Load data from file into strBuffer
    Open App.Path & "\test.txt" For Input As #1
        strBuffer = Input(LOF(1), 1)
    Close #1
   
    '-Search strBuffer
    p = 1

    Do
        '-Find occurances of strSearchCriteria
        p = InStr(p, strBuffer, strSearchCriteria, vbTextCompare + vbDatabaseCompare)
        If p <> 0 Then
            '-We found one!
            lngCt = lngCt + 1
        Else
            '-No more left, display results.
            If lngCt = 0 Then
                MsgBox "'" & strSearchCriteria & "' Not Found.", vbInformation + okonly
            Else
                MsgBox "'" & strSearchCriteria & "' Was found " & lngCt & " times.", vbInformation + okonly
            End If
            Exit Do
        End If
       
        p = p + Len(strSearchCriteria) '-This keeps the current position in strBuffer
    Loop

---

Thank you nkad,

At last i can see progress. The next stage is to imple,ent the chart.
My worry is that, that may not be possible, because the search function is only searching for a string phrase.

Is there anyway, I could manipulate the search function, so that it could search for multiple words at once. For example if l enter 'red sport car', it should be to search for things like: 'red car', 'sport car', 'red sport', etc.

I'm really sorry for being a pain and i'm very grateful for you help and useful ideas.

Nick

Yes, there is a way to do it. Maybe I will write some code to do it, but not right now. How is your project so urgent? What exactly is this project for? (Not my business but just asking)

Quote:

---

i'm worried that some of the things i'm trying to do may not be possible.

---

Anything is possible...

Hi again,

Well i'm suppose give a feedback to my tutor tomorrow, and it's been a struggle trying to get somewhere with text files and chart in VB6. I will keep on playing with the code, if i can't create a chart derived from a search function by tonight, i'l have to come up with some excuse.

Oh no, I don't you asking at all:

Briefly.....i'm suppose to design an interface with a search capability. One of the things of the interface, if for a user to be able to search for some items in the text file. The user should able to view the result in different charts, bar chart, pie chart, line chart etc.
I also expected to make lively by putting sounds and things like that. I hope this has given you an overview of what i'm trying to do.

Also, is there anyway i could display the search results in plain text as well? As i also need to do this.

Cheers for your help nkad

Nick

I take it that you procrastinated on the project uh?

Quote:

---

Also, is there anyway i could display the search results in plain text as well? As i also need to do this

---

If you dont know how to change the code I wrote to do this, then I think you have skipped out on 1 to many classes. Sorry, no more help for you!

Psst.. There are graphing controls that come with vb. But you didn't here that from ME!

Hey be easy on me! I'm very very new to this and i have been going through your to get a better understanding.

Believe me, i have worked on this project, the only problem is time learning a new language. I don't leave things to last minute, its just been hectic thats all.

I don't want to sound as though l don't apprecaite your idea, cos i do!

I thought my last question is entirely different. All l was asking, was displaying the results as an actuall text in my interface.

Once again nkad, thank you for your help and i didn't skip 1 too many classes, programming isn't my strongest link and i do try my best, honest.

Nick