writing to file

how can i write an entire structure to a file without putting each individual member in seperately.

here is the part of my code that deals with this:

Code:

---

Private Type Deviations
    Average As Double
    Deviation As Double
End Type

Private Type Statistics
    HydrogenCounts As Long
    OxygenCounts As Long
    BackgroundCounts As Long
    HydrogenCorrected As Double
    OxygenCorrected As Double
    Ratio As Double
End Type

Private Type FileInfo
    Filename As String
    Path As String
    Import As String
    Export As String
    Workbook As String
    PictureFile As String
    Filter As String
    Title As String
    Prefix As String
End Type

Private Type BinNumber
    Bin(1 To 1024) As Long
End Type

Private Type tofFiles
    Info As FileInfo
    IsFileCalculated As Boolean
    SumData(1 To 1024) As Long
    TotalRecords As Integer
    RawData() As BinNumber
    RawStats() As Statistics
    SumStats As Statistics
    Deviation As Deviations
End Type

Dim tofFile() As tofFiles

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    Open App.Path & "\Data.tof" For Binary As #1
        Put #1, , tofFile()
    Close #1
   
    Unload Form2
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Open App.Path & "\Data.tof" For Binary As #1
        Get #1, , tofFile()
    Close #1
End Sub

---

As you can see i have quite a few arrays that aren't totally declared yet, cuz i need to resize them during run-time. I thought i remembered using this same method before, but i don't know if i had undimensioned arrays, is that the problem? vb isn't smart enough to save arrays that don't have fixed lengths?

thanx

To cycle through each item in an array if you don't know the array's size, use UBound() and LBound(). For example, if you had an array called MyArray....

VB Code:

Dim i as Integer
For i = LBound(MyArray) To UBound(MyArray)
    Debug.Print("MyArray(" & i & ") = " & MyArray(i)
Next i

thats what i want to avoid doing

i already know the LBound is 1 so thats not a problem, but i don't want to use UBound becuase then when I'm reading it from the file I'll have to have stored the UBound value somewhere in the file so i can retrieve the data correctly.

Also, did you see how many members i have? i know it won't be too bad with multi loops, but i just wondered if there was an easier way so in the future if i add any other stuff to the structures i don't have to edit the get and put stuff

Do you know if an Index out of Bounds error is trappable (using an On Error Goto x)? If so, just use an infinite While loop (While True), and when you reach the end of the array, an error will be thrown and you'll exit the loop. For example:

VB Code:

On Error Goto EndOfLoop
 
Dim i as Integer
i = 1 ' According to you, the LBound
While True ' Don't do this too often :)
    Debug.Print MyArray(i)
    i = i + 1 ' Man, I miss the ++ operator from C++ and Java!
Wend
 
EndOfLoop:
   Debug.Print "Done: there are " & i & " elements."

this is cool, i figured it out

it does write it to the file correctly, but you have to dimension all the arrays to the exact number of elements before you can read it back in

Code:

---

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Open App.Path & "\Data.tof" For Binary As #1
        Get #1, , Total
       
        If Total <> 0 Then
            ReDim tofFile(1 To Total) As tofFiles
           
            For i = 1 To Total
                Get #1, , tofFile(i).TotalRecords
                ReDim tofFile(i).RawData(1 To tofFile(i).TotalRecords) As BinNumber
                ReDim tofFile(i).RawStats(1 To tofFile(i).TotalRecords) As Statistics
            Next i
           
            Get #1, , tofFile()
        End If
    Close #1
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    If Total <> 0 Then
        Open App.Path & "\Data.tof" For Binary As #1
            Put #1, , Total
           
            For i = 1 To Total
                Put #1, , tofFile(i).TotalRecords
            Next i
           
            Put #1, , tofFile()
        Close #1
    End If
   
    Unload Form2
End Sub

---

Why not just save the UBound of the array when saving, then redefine that array when loading? e.g:

To save:

VB Code:

Open "C:\Windows\Desktop\MyFile" For Binary As #1
Put #1, , UBound(struct)
Put #1, 10, struct()
Close #1

To load:

VB Code:

Dim struct As tofFiles
 
Open "C:\Windows\Desktop\MyFile" For Binary As #1
Get #1, , amount
ReDim struct(amount)
Get #1, 10, struct()
Close #1

there are other arrays inside the structure that are of arbitrary length that have to be resized.