Tab Delimiter?

[The Phoenix]

Greetings everyonel!

I lurk around here from time to time, but now I have a question.

I need to work with a tab-delimited file, but I dont know how to declare the Delimiter as a tab. I know how to work with comma delimiters and such, so I just need to know how to declare a tab as delimiter. I know its probably painfully obvious, but any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[<ABX]

Is this what you wanted????

Imports System.IO
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim fsInput As FileStream
        Dim srInput As StreamReader
        Dim strLine As String
        Dim strTmpArray() As String
        'Array Postitions
        Dim I As Short
 
        fsInput = New FileStream("c:\test.txt", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)
        srInput = New StreamReader(fsInput)
 
        strLine = srInput.ReadLine
 
        While Not (IsNothing(strLine))
            strTmpArray = Split(strLine, Chr(9))
 
            For I = 0 To UBound(strTmpArray)
                MsgBox(strTmpArray(I))
            Next
            strLine = srInput.ReadLine
        End While
 
        srInput.Close()
        fsInput.Close()
 
    End Sub

sample file c:\test.txt

Name	Phone#
friend1	123-4567
friend2	123-4568
friend3	123-4569

it will display Name, Phone#, friend1 ....

EDIT: for got the Inports statement!!!!

[The Phoenix]

Well, I'm gonna do exactly what your signature says: Open my mouth and prove myself an idiot.

You must be using a different Version of .NET than me, cause that code is very unfamiliar. I use .NET Framework 1 version 1.03705.

Here's my code for a comma-delimited file I'm reading:

'''''
            'Create the streamreader, delimiter, lines, and fields
            Dim psrdDisplay As System.IO.StreamReader
            '''''
            'Here's the delimiter I need to change
            Dim pchrDelimiter() As Char = {ToChar(",")}
            Dim pstrline As String
            Dim pstrFields() As String
            Dim pintcount As Integer
            '''''
            'Use a preset fielname and read the line
            psrdDisplay = New System.IO.StreamReader("C:\File.txt")
            pstrline = psrdDisplay.ReadLine()
            '''''
            'Stope reading when we hit a blank line
            Do Until pstrline = Nothing
                '''''
                'Otherwise spilt the line into fields
                ReDim Preserve EventRec(pintcount)
                pstrFields = pstrline.Split(pchrDelimiter)
                EventRec(pintcount).EventName = (pstrFields(0).ToString)
                cboEvents.Items.Add(EventRec(pintcount).EventName)
                EventRec(pintcount).EventDate = ToDateTime(pstrFields(1))
                EventRec(pintcount).EventPrice = ToDouble(pstrFields(2))
                EventRec(pintcount).EventDesc = (pstrFields(3).ToString)
                '''''
                'Increase the counter and read the next line
                pintcount += 1
                pstrline = psrdDisplay.ReadLine()
            Loop
            '''''
            'Display a message bos when file is done opening and close
            'the streamreader
            MsgBox("Done Opening File", MsgBoxStyle.OKOnly, "Event Tracker")
            psrdDisplay.Close()

Now, all I need to know is how to use a TAB instead of a comma for the delimiter. Surely there's an easy way of doing that right?\

Hope that clears it up.

Thanks!

[Edneeis]

There is just more than one way to skin a cat thats all. His code should work with your framework. Here is another way:

Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
        Dim pintcount As Integer
        'open file stream
        Dim sr As New System.IO.StreamReader("C:\File.txt")
        'get all lines/records
        Dim lines() As String = sr.ReadToEnd.Split(ControlChars.NewLine)
        'close the stream
        sr.Close()
        'read each line into class array
        Dim line As String
        For Each line In lines
            'split line into fields
            Dim fields() As String = line.Split(ControlChars.Tab)
            'here is for commas
            'Dim fields() As String = line.Split(",")
            ReDim Preserve EventRec(pintcount)
            EventRec(pintcount).EventName = (fields(0).ToString)
            cboEvents.Items.Add(EventRec(pintcount).EventName)
            EventRec(pintcount).EventDate = ToDateTime(fields(1))
            EventRec(pintcount).EventPrice = ToDouble(fields(2))
            EventRec(pintcount).EventDesc = (fields(3).ToString)
            pintcount += 1
        Next
 
        'Display a message box when file is done
        MsgBox("Done Opening File", MsgBoxStyle.OKOnly, "Event Tracker")
    End Sub

Except if I knew what type the items of the EventRec array were I'd just use an ArrayList then cast them to an array of the specific type.

[Edneeis]

This is what I mean by the ArrayList bit (I just bluffed a dummt event record class):

Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
        'open file stream
        Dim sr As New System.IO.StreamReader("C:\File.txt")
        'get all lines/records
        Dim lines() As String = sr.ReadToEnd.Split(ControlChars.NewLine)
        'close the stream
        sr.Close()
        'read each line into class array
        Dim line As String
        Dim al As New ArrayList
        For Each line In lines
            'split line into fields
            Dim fields() As String = line.Split(ControlChars.Tab)
            'here is for commas
            'Dim fields() As String = line.Split(",")
            Dim er As New EventRecord
            er.EventName = (fields(0).ToString)
            cboEvents.Items.Add(er.EventName)
            er.EventDate = Convert.ToDateTime(fields(1))
            er.EventPrice = Convert.ToDouble(fields(2))
            er.EventDesc = (fields(3).ToString)
            al.Add(er)
        Next
        Dim EventRec() As EventRecord = al.ToArray(GetType(EventRecord))
 
        'Display a message box when file is done
        MsgBox("Done Opening File", MsgBoxStyle.OKOnly, "Event Tracker")
    End Sub
 
End Class
 
Public Class EventRecord
    Public EventName As String
    Public EventDate As DateTime
    Public EventPrice As Double
    Public EventDesc As String
End Class

[The Phoenix]

Thank you very much, both of you! I'll have to mess around with that a little to figure it all out, but I think I now know how to do it.

Thanks!

[<ABX]

just change this line

Dim pchrDelimiter() As Char = {ToChar(chr(9))}

not sure if thats proper but that should work

that was my first attempt at reading a file in vb .net so i dont expect it to be pecfect but it worked - amazingly