[RESOLVED] Strings help

[jlt7]

I have this in a database

Start§Claire Danes|Yvaine|0000132#§Sienna Miller|Victoria|1092227#§Ricky Gervais|Ferdy the Fence|0315041#§Jason Flemyng|Primus|0002076#§Mark Strong|Septimus|0835016#§Rupert Everett|Secundus|0000391#§Charlie Cox|Tristan Thorn|1214435#§Michelle Pfeiffer|Lamia|0000201#§Robert De Niro|Captain Shakespeare|0000134#§Sarah Alexander|Empusa|0018729#§Melanie Hill|Ditchwater Sal|0384514#§Joanna Scanlan|Mormo|0768936#§Kate Magowan|Slave Girl - Una|0536461#§Peter O'Toole|King|0000564#§David Kelly|Guard|0446303#End

and I this is my code.

Public Function Actors()
Dim lonPos As Long, lonEnd As Long
Dim strStart As String, strEnd, strInfo As String
Dim strSAct As String, strEAct, strName As String

    mystring = frmMain.Data
    tempString = Split(mystring, "#")
    num = UBound(tempString)
        
    strStart = "Start"
    strEnd = "End"

    lonPos = InStr(1, frmMain.Data, strStart, vbTextCompare)

    If lonPos > 0 Then
        lonPos = lonPos + Len(strStart)
    
        lonEnd = InStr(lonPos, frmMain.Data, strEnd, vbTextCompare)
    
        If lonEnd > 0 Then
            strInfo = Mid$(frmMain.Data, lonPos, lonEnd - lonPos)
        End If
    End If
    
    
    For i = 1 To num
        strSAct = "§"
        strEAct = "#"

        lonPos = InStr(1, strInfo, strSAct, vbTextCompare)

        If lonPos > 0 Then
            lonPos = lonPos + Len(strSAct)
    
            lonEnd = InStr(lonPos, strInfo, strEAct, vbTextCompare)
    
            If lonEnd > 0 Then
                strName = Mid$(strInfo, lonPos, lonEnd - lonPos)
            End If
        End If
    Next i
    

        Set a = frmMain.lstCast.ListItems.Add(, , strName)
        
End Function

I'm not sure if this can be done but if it can be done can someone help me out.

I have it count the # in the string so that is how many there will be in the listview. and then I want it to loop thru the string from the § to # and separate each one into the different listitems.

I'm not sure if I need an array and if so how do I do that or if I can loop thru it and split it somehow. pls someone help me out on what I can do.

thanks

basically it will separate like so:
Claire Danes|Yvaine|0000132
Sienna Miller|Victoria|1092227

[leinad31]

One of the secrets of string manipulation/parsing is you don't have to limit your algorithm to the string as it is (in its original form), you can make copies. Modify the string (copy most of the time) accordingly, as long as the data you need from the string remains intact. If there are extraneous characters then git rid of them if it will make parsing easier... If you need to iterate through data in the string then consider converting it to an array... etc, etc

Get rid of Start§ and #End.

 Mid(yourStr, 7, Len(yourStr) - 10)

Transfer from string to string array

Dim strLines() As String

strLines = Split(yourString, "#" & Chr(167))

Just iterate through the array if you need to transfer to list control

Dim i As Long
For i = 0 To Ubound(strLines)
   'update code in iteration according to your needs
   Debug.Print strLines(i)     
Next

[jlt7]

Thanks leinad31, I finally got it working.

Thank you very much