[RESOLVED] Help with this VB 2005 program

[Motoidar]

This VB program is supposed to merge two files together, part1.txt and part2.txt, and store it in everyone.txt. Files each have a first name, last name, and an id on each line. Parts 1 and 2 are both already sorted in alphabetical order by last name, and the program needs to move the contents of 1 and 2 into everyone with it still being sorted by last name. The problem is, this program fully writes part1 to everyone.txt before it even starts writing part2. I can't seem to figure out why. It's like it only ever thinks that theData1(1) > theData2(1). Please help. Thanks.

Public Class Form1

    Structure People 'Defines the People structure

        Dim FirstName, LastName As String
        Dim Id As Integer
    End Structure

    Dim Everyone(1) As People
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

        Dim mySr1 As New IO.StreamReader("C:\part1.txt")
        Dim mySr2 As New IO.StreamReader("C:\part2.txt")
        Dim mySw As New IO.StreamWriter("C:\Everyone.txt")

        Dim aStrLine1, aStrLine2 As String 'To hold an inputted string
        Dim theData1, theData2 As Object 'To temporarily hold inputted values

        ReadFromPart1(mySr1, aStrLine1, theData1)
        ReadFromPart2(mySr2, aStrLine2, theData2)

        While (Not mySr1.EndOfStream) And (Not mySr2.EndOfStream)

            If ((theData1(1)) > (theData2(1))) Then
                WriteFromPart1(mySw)
                ReadFromPart1(mySr1, aStrLine1, theData1)
            End If

            If ((theData1(1)) < (theData2(1))) Then
                WriteFromPart2(mySw)
                ReadFromPart2(mySr2, aStrLine2, theData2)
            End If

            If ((theData1(1)) = (theData2(1))) Then
                WriteFromPart1(mySw)
                ReadFromPart1(mySr1, aStrLine1, theData1)

                WriteFromPart2(mySw)
                ReadFromPart2(mySr2, aStrLine2, theData2)

            End If

            If (mySr1.EndOfStream) Then
                While (Not mySr2.EndOfStream)
                    WriteFromPart2(mySw)
                    ReadFromPart2(mySr2, aStrLine2, theData2)
                End While
            End If

            If (mySr2.EndOfStream) Then
                While (Not mySr1.EndOfStream)
                    WriteFromPart1(mySw)
                    ReadFromPart1(mySr1, aStrLine1, theData1)
                End While

            End If

        End While

        mySr1.Close()
        mySr2.Close()
        mySw.Close()

    End Sub

    Sub WriteFromPart1(ByRef mySw As IO.StreamWriter)
        mySw.WriteLine(Everyone(0).FirstName & " " & Everyone(0).LastName & " " & Everyone(0).Id)
    End Sub

    Sub WriteFromPart2(ByRef mySw As IO.StreamWriter)
        mySw.WriteLine(Everyone(1).FirstName & " " & Everyone(1).LastName & " " & Everyone(1).Id)
    End Sub

    Sub ReadFromPart1(ByRef mySr1 As IO.StreamReader, ByRef aStrLine1 As String, ByRef theData1 As Object)
        aStrLine1 = mySr1.ReadLine
        theData1 = Split(aStrLine1, " ")
        Everyone(0).FirstName = theData1(0)
        Everyone(0).LastName = theData1(1)
        Everyone(0).Id = theData1(2)
    End Sub

    Sub ReadFromPart2(ByRef mySr2 As IO.StreamReader, ByRef aStrLine2 As String, ByRef theData2 As Object)
        aStrLine2 = mySr2.ReadLine
        theData2 = Split(aStrLine2, " ")
        Everyone(1).FirstName = theData2(0)
        Everyone(1).LastName = theData2(1)
        Everyone(1).Id = theData2(2)
    End Sub

End Class

[Motoidar]

Nobody can figure this out?

[timeshifter]

I'd read in everybody from both files into a single List(Of People), then loop through that list AFTER you've fully closed both files and write it all to the new file.

[Shaggy Hiker]

What TS suggested is definitely the way to go. It will be much cleaner and easier.

However, if you want to get what you have working, you are very close. This is a case where you need to set a breakpoint early in the code and step through it. Make sure that the two items being read are what you expect them to be, then step through the loop to see which branch you are taking. I can think of a couple issues that might be arising from your code, but without stepping through it, I would just as likely focus on the wrong piece.

[Motoidar]

After further testing, I have found out that it only wants to enter the first if statement where theData1(1) > theData2(1). That is many times not true, but it still does it.

[Motoidar]

I figured it out. The lessthan and greaterthan signs needed to be switched.