Counting by numbers with 0's added.

[cafeenman]

write a function to pad the number. Send it the number and an integer value representing the length it should be in characters.

Public Function LPAD (sNumber as String, Length as Integer) as String
 
LPAD = String$(Length - Len(sNumber) , "0") & sNumber
 
End Function

[Bruce Fox]

Possibly:

Format(yourNumber, "000000")   'Will pad out with precceding 0's

[cafeenman]

I like to do things the hard way.


I hate it when I don't think of things like that.

[Bruce Fox]

LOL

Actually I was just testing for speed, and I think there identical.

[Bruce Fox]

Wow, it looks like the FUNCTION wins hands down

Format ~ 500 and Function ~ 100!!!

Option Explicit
Private Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "kernel32" () As Long
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
   Dim x As Long, i As Long
   Dim ans1 As Integer, ans2 As String
   Dim t1 As Integer, t2 As Integer
   
   
'************* Test First Routine ***************
      x = GetTickCount  'Load the Initial count, prior to test
      For i = 0 To 50000
         ans1 = Format("123", "000000")
      Next
 
      t1 = GetTickCount - x   'Determine time taken
 
 
'************* Test Second Routine ***************
      x = GetTickCount  'Load the Initial count, prior to test
      For i = 1 To 50000
         ans2 = LPAD("123", 6)
      Next
 
      t2 = GetTickCount - x   'Determine time taken
 
 
'************* Display the Results ***************
      Debug.Print t1 & vbTab & t2
 
End Sub
 
Private Function LPAD(sNumber As String, Length As Integer) As String
   LPAD = String$(Length - Len(sNumber), "0") & sNumber
End Function

Bruce.

[cafeenman]

Bruce, I'm playing around with these function. Did you know you declared ans1 and ans2 as different types?

[Animelion]

Dim ans2 As String
Dim x As Integer
Dim i As Long

x = Text1

For i = Text1 To Text2
ans2 = LPAD(x, Text3)
x = x + 1
Next

MsgBox "Finsihed", , "End"


Why isn't this working ?

text 1 = starting number
text 2 = ending number
text 3 = number of 0's to pad with

[Bruce Fox]

Yep, cause the Format returns an Integer, and the Function returns a String.

[Animelion]

I noticed the he declared them differently as well, but he probably had a reason.

[Animelion]

Guess I should refressh the page before I goto reply.

[cafeenman]

Originally posted by Bruce Fox
Yep, cause the Format returns an Integer, and the Function returns a String.

OK, that makes sense to me, but I wasn't sure if you did it on purpose or not.

My computer just crashed again - new ram. I took the ram out and now have to start over again since I lost all the code.

Basically, I'm doing it about the same as you, but I'm trying to send the number to the LPAD function as a string, a long and a variant to see the difference.

I was 3/4 of the way there when my puter died.

[Bruce Fox]

Thanks Cafeenman the results will be interesting.

Animelion,
The answer to your last question is in this tread too!
(Hint: our loops are for testing...)

[cafeenman]

Bruce, I ran each test 3 times - not scientific or anything, but the results were pretty much the same each time.

Column 1 is the Format result
Column 2 is the LPAD result

480 421  String
471 371  Long ' best time here using Long in LPAD
471 591  Variant

This is the code I used. Slightly different than yours. I wanted to see how it would do with varying length numbers. The only thing I changed for each test was the type for sNumber as an argument in LPAD. I didn't change any of the types in the Form_Load event.

Option Explicit
Private Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "kernel32" () As Long
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim i As Long
Dim x As Long
Dim sAnswer As String
Dim t1 As Long
Dim t2 As Long
 
' Test using Format
 
x = GetTickCount  'Load the Initial count, prior to test
For i = 0 To 100000
   sAnswer = Format(Int(Rnd * 999999) + 1, "000000")
Next
 
t1 = GetTickCount - x   'Determine time taken
 
 
' Test using LPAD
      
x = GetTickCount  'Load the Initial count, prior to test
For i = 1 To 100000
   sAnswer = LPAD(Int(Rnd * 999999) + 1, 6)
Next
 
t2 = GetTickCount - x   'Determine time taken
 
'  Display the Results
 
Debug.Print t1 & vbTab & t2
 
MsgBox "Finished"
 
End Sub
Private Function LPAD(lngNumber As Long, Length As Integer) As String
 
LPAD = String$(Length - Len(lngNumber), "0") & sNumber
 
End Function

What I didn't check was to see if the function actually returned the number in the proper format. I'm pretty sure it did, but the type may need to be coerced into a string before padding it because of that thing where VB puts a space in front of a number when it turns it into a string. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Underscore here = space

Dim iNum as long

iNum = 256

Debug.Print CStr(iNum)

' debug window output
_256

[cafeenman]

Originally posted by Bruce Fox
Yep, cause the Format returns an Integer, and the Function returns a String.

I read the "Yes I knew that, CafeenMan" part of this reply, but not the rest of it.

Format returns a variant.
Format$ returns a string.

Why do you say it returns an integer? You're saying it's coerced? If it returns an integer, then the 0's will be dropped off, so it must get coerced into a string?

[Bruce Fox]

Interesting, what I find wierd is difference between our
results!
when I tested, it looked as if the Function (although Fixed value)
was around 500 times faster... I'm glad then that used a random
number sequence (to test the range).

In any case Animelion asked for the fastest way, and the Function
(generaly) is the way to go

I guess, there may be some overhead associated with the FORMAT
function too.

Cheers,
Bruce.

[cafeenman]

I edited my post above to show the fastest LPAD function. The function will need to be modified if the number is a decimal, of course.

[Bruce Fox]

Originally posted by cafeenman

I read the "Yes I knew that, CafeenMan" part of this reply, but not the rest of it.

Format returns a variant.
Format$ returns a string.

Why do you say it returns an integer? You're saying it's coerced? If it returns an integer, then the 0's will be dropped off, so it must get coerced into a string?

S****, sorry I missed that too..... Hmmmm

[cafeenman]

You know, we probably shoud have reversed the order in which the functions get called to be more thorough. I think it may be possible that Format is getting penalized while background things are happening with VB during start up and the form loading. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but it would be the only way to fairly test them.

[cafeenman]

OK, I just tried two other things.

I changed Format to Format$ with no difference at all in the time.

Then I switched the order of the functions and LPAD with the number being a long type was still faster

371 LPAD vs. 470 for Format$

[Animelion]

how can I open a text file and clear it's contents ?

[Bruce Fox]

I have retested with a few changes.
I placed the code in a cmdButton, and made ans1 String type.
Also Format$. (and used Int(Rnd * 999999) + 1)

The results were that same, the Function is faster.


Bruce.

[cafeenman]

Animelion - this turned out to be the fastest of what Bruce and I tried. Call it using the examples in previous posts.

Private Function LPAD(lngNumber As Long, Length As Integer) As String
 
LPAD = String$(Length - Len(lngNumber), "0") & sNumber
 
End Function

[cafeenman]

Originally posted by Animelion
how can I open a text file and clear it's contents ?

Using open for output erases the contents

Sub WriteFile ()
Dim i as Long
Dim sFilename as String
Dim iFilenum as Integer
 
sFilename = app.path & "\numbers.txt"
 
iFilenum = FreeFile
 
Open sFilename For Output As #iFilenum
 
For i = 1 to 50000
   Print #iFilenum, LPAD(i, 6)
Next i
 
Close #iFilenum
 
End Sub

[cafeenman]

I just thought of something else. Using a string in a loop is bad news. This would probably increase the speed for the format function.

This way VB can pull it out of RAM instead of reallocating memory each time through the loop. I'm going to test again like this:

Const NUMBER_FORMAT As String = "000000"
 
x = GetTickCount  'Load the Initial count, prior to test
For i = 0 To 100000
   sAnswer = Format(Int(Rnd * 999999) + 1, NUMBER_FORMAT)
Next
 
t1 = GetTickCount - x   'Determine time taken
 
 
' Test using LPAD
      
x = GetTickCount  'Load the Initial count, prior to test
For i = 1 To 100000
   sAnswer = LPAD(Int(Rnd * 999999) + 1, 6)
Next
 
t2 = GetTickCount - x   'Determine time taken

[cafeenman]

I was wrong... no improvement at all declaring the format as a const.

[Animelion]

Dim sfilename As String
Dim x As String
Dim i As Long

sfilename = App.Path & "\NumberList.txt"
x = Text2 - 1

Open sfilename For Output As #1
For i = Text2 To Text3 'number to count to
x = x + 1
Print #1, LPAD(x, Text1)
Next i
Close #1

text 1 = number of 0's to pad with
text 2 = number to start at
text 3 = number to end at

For some reson it does not print to the file, however I know it is returning the right numbers.

[Bruce Fox]

Thanks for all that (side tracking ).
However, I think its good to know that not allways the easiest
path is the best (quickest).

Cheers,
Bruce.

[cafeenman]

I have no idea what you're doing here. You're declaring x as a string and trying to count with it. If Text2 and Text3 contain numeric values, convert them first.

Also, make sure the For loop is being entered by putting a breakpoint (F9) on the For line and then pressing F8 to step through.

Also, you're passing the string to LPAD instead of the Length of the string.

Try this instead:

Dim sfilename As String
Dim i As Long
dim lngMin as Long
dim lngMax as Long
dim iLen as Integer
 
lngMin= CLng(Text2.Text)
lngMax = CLng(Text3.Text)
iLen = CInt(Text1.Text)
 
sfilename = App.Path & "\NumberList.txt"
     
Open sfilename For Output As #1
    For i = lngMin To lngMax ' number to count to
        Print #1, LPAD(i, iLen)
    Next i
Close #1

[Animelion]

Well.... In your version LPAD(i, iLen) is problematic.

You have i dim as an long

then your throw it into the LPAD thing, but only something dimed as a a string can be thrown into the LPAD thing.

As of now I get (ByRef argument type mismatch) and the i in LPAD(i, iLen) is highlighted.

Can I temporarily redim i as something else ???

Thanks for any help you can give.

[cafeenman]

This is what you should be using for LPAD:

Private Function LPAD(lngNumber As Long, Length As Integer) As String
 
LPAD = String$(Length - Len(lngNumber), "0") & lngNumber
 
End Function

[cafeenman]

Hang on while I actually check this out. I may be giving you bad info here. I'll post when I'm sure it's right.

[cafeenman]

OK, the problem is what I thought it might be. The Len(lngNumber) thing isn't giving the right answer, so the numbers don't line up in the text file. I have no idea how the time of what I'm posting here compares to what we did already, but this will do what you need:

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Command_Click()
Dim i As Long
Dim lngMin As Long
Dim lngMax As Long
Dim iLen As Integer
Dim sFilename As String
 
sFilename = App.Path & "\NumberList.txt"
 
iLen = CInt(Text1.Text)
lngMin = CLng(Text2.Text)
lngMax = CLng(Text3.Text)
 
Open "c:\temp\numbers.txt" For Output As #1
    For i = lngMin To lngMax ' number to count to
        Print #1, LPAD(CStr(i), iLen)
    Next i
Close #1
 
MsgBox "Finished"
 
End Sub
 
Private Function LPAD(sNumber As String, Length As Integer) As String
 
LPAD = String$(Length - Len(sNumber), "0") & sNumber
 
End Function

[Animelion]

If I set the buffer to 10 0's I get this


higher number
0000001638
0000001639

lower numbers
0000000
0000001


??? - why would it just change like that

Is it calculating how many 0's to add based on the final number reached instead of the current number it is at ?

[cafeenman]

it works now. Read my previous post.

[Animelion]

I read the post, so your saying it doesn't work ?

I don't get this
"I have no idea how the time of what I'm posting here compares "

[cafeenman]

I'm saying the last code I posted does what you want it to do.

I do not know how the changes I made in that code compare in speed to the code we were testing. The code I last posted is slightly different than what we were testing for speed. But it does work. I put it in a project and it printed to the file with the numbers lined up as you want them to.