Reading from XML

[Crystalii]

Hello!

I am making some sort of alarm program. The alarm goes on 5 times a day, at certain times. The times differs for each day. For example, today the alarm will go on at these times:

Morning: 04:04

Noon: 12:05

Afternoon: 15:22

Sunset: 18:26

Night: 19:57

And tomorrow the time would be:

Morning: 04:01

Noon: 12:05

Afternoon: 15:24

Sunset: 18:29

Night: 20:00

As you see, the times are different for each day. There is 365 days in a year, so that would mean 1875 different times, and each time is unique for a particular day. I am storing all these times into an XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<_03>   <<< March month

  <_26>  <<< 26th March

    <Morning>04:04</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:22</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:26</Sunset>
    <Night>19:57</Night>

  </_26>


  <_27>   <<< 27th March

    <Morning>04:01</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:24</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:29</Sunset>
    <Night>20:00</Night>

  </_27>

</_03>

As you see, I sort them like this:

Month
Days in a month
The times for the day

For example:

March
26
Morning: 04:04 Noon: 12:05 and so on
27
Morning 04:01 Noon 12:07 and so on
April
12
Morning 03:42 Noon: 12:33 and so on
13
Morning 03:40 Noon: 12:35 and so on


Do you get the idea? The program first checks the current month and day we are in:

    Dim CurrentDate As Date = Date.Now()
    Dim CurrentMonth As String = CurrentDate.ToString("MM")
    Dim CurrentDay As String = CurrentDate.ToString("dd")

Then it starts to load the XML. First of all it checks the current month. Today, the CurrentMonth will give you "03" since we are in March. It then opens the XML, and looks for the "_03" element and loads it up. Then it's time to check what day in the month we are in. CurrentDay will give "28" today, since it's 28th March today. So next it loads up the "28" element. In that element there is 5 times for that specific day, the alarm will go on.

    <Morning>04:04</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:22</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:26</Sunset>
    <Night>19:57</Night>

So it loads all these 5 times into their own strings:

    Dim Morning As String
    Dim Noon As String
    Dim Afternoon As String
    Dim Sunset As String
    Dim Night As String

But I have problems loading the times up correctly from the XML file. Here is my code for loading the times:

    Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        If (IO.File.Exists("data.xml")) Then
            Dim document As XmlReader = New XmlTextReader("data.xml")
            While (document.Read())
                Dim type = document.NodeType

                If (type = XmlNodeType.Element) Then

                    If (document.Name = "_03") Then

                        If (document.Name = "_" + CurrentDay) Then
                            TextBox1.Text = document.ReadInnerXml.ToString() ' It's not reaching here for some reason
                        End If
                    End If
                    If (document.Name = "LastName") Then

                        TextBox2.Text = document.ReadInnerXml.ToString()

                    End If
                End If

            End While
        End If
    End Sub

The XML is like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<_03>
  <_28>
    <Morning>04:04</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:22</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:26</Sunset>
    <Night>19:57</Night>
  </_28>
  <_27>
    <Morning>04:01</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:24</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:29</Sunset>
    <Night>20:00</Night>
  </_27>
</_03>

What's the problem?

[dunfiddlin]

If (document.Name = "_03") Then

If (document.Name = "_" + CurrentDay) Then

These two conditions can't both be true simultaneously (well, other than on the 3rd of the month).

[Crystalii]

Okay wait I think I understand what you mean..

What is document.Name ? Do you mean only the _03 is the document? Then what is the other stuff inside the _03 ? Are they called elements? And if so how do I load them?

[.paul.]

try this.
this is the xml i used:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<months>
    <_03>
      <_28>
        <Morning>04:04</Morning>
        <Noon>12:05</Noon>
        <Afternoon>15:22</Afternoon>
        <Sunset>18:26</Sunset>
        <Night>19:57</Night>
      </_28>
      <_27>
        <Morning>04:01</Morning>
        <Noon>12:05</Noon>
        <Afternoon>15:24</Afternoon>
        <Sunset>18:29</Sunset>
        <Night>20:00</Night>
      </_27>
    </_03>
</months>

i read it into an xDocument + queried that with LINQ + displayed the output in labels:

Public Class Form1

    Dim xml As XDocument

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        xml = XDocument.Load("C:\Users\Paul\Desktop\xml.txt")
        ComboBox2.DataSource = Enumerable.Range(1, 12).Select(Function(x) MonthName(x)).ToArray
        ComboBox1.DataSource = New String() {"_27", "_28"}
    End Sub

    Private Sub ComboBoxes_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ComboBox1.SelectedIndexChanged, ComboBox2.SelectedIndexChanged
        If ComboBox1.SelectedIndex = -1 Or ComboBox2.SelectedIndex = -1 Then Return
        Dim monthString As String = "_" & (ComboBox2.SelectedIndex + 1).ToString("00")
        Dim month As XElement = xml.Root.Element(monthString)
        If month IsNot Nothing Then
            Label1.Text = month.Elements(ComboBox1.Text)(0).Element("Morning").Value
            Label2.Text = month.Elements(ComboBox1.Text)(0).Element("Noon").Value
            Label3.Text = month.Elements(ComboBox1.Text)(0).Element("Afternoon").Value
            Label4.Text = month.Elements(ComboBox1.Text)(0).Element("Sunset").Value
            Label5.Text = month.Elements(ComboBox1.Text)(0).Element("Night").Value
        End If
    End Sub

End Class

[Crystalii]

27 and 28 was just examples. I will put 30 days into each month. Will I have to write them all here too?

        ComboBox1.DataSource = New String() {"_27", "_28"}

Also, what is the combobox for?

[.paul.]

27 and 28 was just examples. I will put 30 days into each month. Will I have to write them all here too?

        ComboBox1.DataSource = New String() {"_27", "_28"}

Also, what is the combobox for?

why 30? max number of days in any month is 31...
i used comboboxes as you need some way of choosing a month + a day to read from the xml

[Crystalii]

Yeah 31 then.. The amount of days in every month must be exact, so some months got 31 days and some 30. So it really depends for each month if it is 30 or 31. The user will not be able to choose the month and day to read from the XML. The program will check the current month and day, and then it will load up the times for the current day.

    Dim CurrentDate As Date = Date.Now()
    Dim CurrentMonth As String = CurrentDate.ToString("MM")
    Dim CurrentDay As String = CurrentDate.ToString("dd")

So in Form1_Load, I will load the times from the XML for the current day, then I will save them in the memory as:

    Dim Morning As String
    Dim Noon As String
    Dim Afternoon As String
    Dim Sunset As String
    Dim Night As String

All i'll do is load the times from the XML for the current day into these strings. No need to display them in a label. Also is there any other way to read XML files? I am not a big fan of LINQ :/

Oh btw, the reason I have a _ before the date is because I can't have digits in element names. I have to put the _ there or it will give me an error.

[.paul.]

ok. using your underscore values, here's an example of how to show months in combobox1 + the correct number of days in combobox2:

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        ComboBox1.DataSource = Enumerable.Range(1, 12).Select(Function(x) MonthName(x)).ToArray
    End Sub

    Private Sub ComboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ComboBox1.SelectedIndexChanged
        Dim year As Integer = Now.Year
        ComboBox2.DataSource = Enumerable.Range(1, Date.DaysInMonth(year, CInt(ComboBox1.SelectedIndex) + 1)).Select(Function(x) "_" & x.ToString).ToArray
    End Sub

End Class

[Crystalii]

Wait your misunderstanding me.. I don't want to put them into a ComboBox. All I want to do is load the times into my program as I said earlier:

For now I put 2 example days, 27 and 28 March. So let's use them for now, just to get the code working. So basically I just want to load the times from the _28 column into the

    Dim Morning As String
    Dim Noon As String
    Dim Afternoon As String
    Dim Sunset As String
    Dim Night As String

No need for combobox or anything else. I just want to load the times from the <_28> here:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<_03>
  <_28>
    <Morning>04:04</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:22</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:26</Sunset>
    <Night>19:57</Night>
  </_28>

  <_27>
    <Morning>04:01</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:24</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:29</Sunset>
    <Night>20:00</Night>
  </_27>
</_03>

to the

    Dim Morning As String
    Dim Noon As String
    Dim Afternoon As String
    Dim Sunset As String
    Dim Night As String

So all I really want to do is load this:

  <_28>
    <Morning>04:04</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:22</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:26</Sunset>
    <Night>19:57</Night>
  </_28>

[.paul.]

ok. you want to read from an xml file that has months with day nodes
how do you expect to choose a month + day???

i was trying to answer your unclear question in a way that would work

[Crystalii]

I'm not supposed to choose a month + day. It should automaticly choose the month + day. Look, I will have an XML file with 12 months: January, February, March, April and so on........ Each month will be labeled by it's number, like 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12

Then in each month, there will be 30 or 31 days depending on the specific month. For example if the month is March, then there will be 31 days, since March has 31 days. If it's April then it's 30 days, because April has 30 days only.

Then in each day, there will be 5 times.


Now to the loading part. I will not choose what day I want to load. The program will look at date today. For example if I open the program in 29 March, then the program will look at the date.. it is March 29.. Okay.. So it goes to the XML, searches for 03, then in 03 it loads 29, and in 29 there is 5 times. It loads the 5 times.

See? So it just loads the times for the day you are in, automaticly..

[.paul.]

the method is exactly the same however you select month + day:

Dim monthString As String = "_" & now.month.ToString("00")
Dim month As XElement = xml.Root.Element(monthString)
If month IsNot Nothing Then
    Label1.Text = month.Elements("_" & now.day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Morning").Value
    Label2.Text = month.Elements("_" & now.day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Noon").Value
    Label3.Text = month.Elements("_" & now.day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Afternoon").Value
    Label4.Text = month.Elements("_" & now.day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Sunset").Value
    Label5.Text = month.Elements(("_" & now.day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Night").Value
End If

[Crystalii]

It's not working :/


This is the code I used:
* *

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim xml As XDocument
        xml = XDocument.Load(Application.StartupPath & "\data.xml")

        Dim monthString As String = "_" & Now.Month.ToString("00")
        Dim month As XElement = xml.Root.Element(monthString)
        If month IsNot Nothing Then        '  <<<< problem is here
            Morning = month.Elements("_" & Now.Day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Morning").Value
            'Label2.Text = month.Elements("_" & Now.Day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Noon").Value
            'Label3.Text = month.Elements("_" & Now.Day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Afternoon").Value
            'Label4.Text = month.Elements("_" & Now.Day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Sunset").Value
            'Label5.Text = month.Elements(("_" & now.day.ToString("00"))(0).Element("Night").Value
            MsgBox("Hello")
        End If
    End Sub

I analyzed the code, the problem is that 'month' is nothing here:

        If month IsNot Nothing Then

so it just jumps over.

[.paul.]

what does monthString equal?
if month is nothing, then that node doesn't exist in your xml

[.paul.]

also, what is the actual format of data.xml?
the code i gave you works with the xml i posted in post#4

[Crystalii]

monthString equals "_03"

This is my XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<_03>
  <_29>
    <Morning>04:04</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:22</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:26</Sunset>
    <Night>19:57</Night>
  </_29>
  <_27>
    <Morning>04:01</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:24</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:29</Sunset>
    <Night>20:00</Night>
  </_27>
</_03>

I replaced the _28 with _29 since it is 29 March today.

Edit: It worked! I noticed that you had modified your XML, so I did the same, I put <months> before the <_03>, like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<months>
<_03>
  <_29>
    <Morning>04:04</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:22</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:26</Sunset>
    <Night>19:57</Night>
  </_29>
  <_27>
    <Morning>04:01</Morning>
    <Noon>12:05</Noon>
    <Afternoon>15:24</Afternoon>
    <Sunset>18:29</Sunset>
    <Night>20:00</Night>
  </_27>
</_03>
</months>

Thank you very much!

Edit: Does it matter if I change the way you calculated the current day and current month?

You calculated the current day and month like this:

Now.Day.ToString("00")
Now.Month.ToString("00")

I calculate it like this:

    Dim CurrentDate As Date = Date.Now()
    Dim CurrentMonth As String = CurrentDate.ToString("MM")
    Dim CurrentDay As String = CurrentDate.ToString("dd")

Which way is better?

[.paul.]

they both produce the same result.
either way is ok. your choice as it's your app.

[SeanGrebey]

Yeah 31 then.. The amount of days in every month must be exact, so some months got 31 days and some 30. So it really depends for each month if it is 30 or 31.

What about 29 and 28?

[Crystalii]

And 29 and 28 I guess lol..


Btw, do you know any method or any event that gets triggered whenever the minute changes? Like let's say the clock is 6:30 PM, then ofc the clock ticks to 6:31, and the event gets triggered? Because I need a way to check everytime there is a new minute, if it's time for my Morning / Noon / Afternoon / Sunset / Night times... I was thinking a timer that constantly checks the clock, but that would take too much CPU power..

[techgnome]

personally, it's not the way I would have designed the XML ...

<alarms>
  <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Morning" time="04:00" />
  <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Noon" time="12:05" />
  <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Afternoon" time="15:22" />
  <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Sunset" time="18:26" />
  <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Night" time="19:57" />
</alarms>

Now with that you can selectNodes where month = current month and day = current date and time >= current time....

-tg

[techgnome]

    Private Sub TestXMLAlarm()
        Dim Alarms = <alarms>
                         <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Morning" time="04:00"/>
                         <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Noon" time="12:05"/>
                         <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Afternoon" time="15:22"/>
                         <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Sunset" time="18:26"/>
                         <alarm month="3" day="29" name="Night" time="19:57"/>
                     </alarms>

        Dim todaysAlarms = Alarms...<alarm>.Where(Function(f) f.Attribute("month").Value = Today.Month.ToString AndAlso f.Attribute("day").Value = Today.Day.ToString)
        For Each alarm In todaysAlarms
            MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Alarm for {0} found set for {1}!", alarm.Attribute("name").Value, alarm.Attribute("time").Value))
        Next

    End Sub

some how seems so much simpler to me... but then again... that could be just me.

-tg

[Crystalii]

Nah I'll stick with the version Paul told me, at least I understand the code. Yours looks very complicated for me :P But thanks anyways..

Do you know of any method so that I can check if it's time for the alarm or not? Like let's say I set the alarm to 05:00 AM, how will I know when it is 05:00 AM?

[.paul.]

I set the alarm to 05:00 AM, how will I know when it is 05:00 AM?

you'll need to use a timer with an appropriate interval + test the time now against each alarm time

[Crystalii]

This is what I did:

    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        Dim CurrentTime As String = TimeOfDay.Hour.ToString("00") & ":" & TimeOfDay.Minute.ToString("00")
        If CurrentTime = Morning OrElse CurrentTime = Noon OrElse CurrentTime = Afternoon OrElse CurrentTime = Sunset OrElse CurrentTime = Night Then
            If CurrentTime = Morning Then
                If Not MorningCalled = True Then
                    MorningCalled = True
                    MsgBox("Prayer time!")
                End If
            ElseIf CurrentTime = Noon Then
                If Not NoonCalled = True Then
                    NoonCalled = True
                    MsgBox("Prayer time!")
                End If
            ElseIf CurrentTime = Afternoon Then
                If Not AfternoonCalled = True Then
                    AfternoonCalled = True
                    MsgBox("Prayer time!")
                End If
            ElseIf CurrentTime = Sunset Then
                If Not SunsetCalled = True Then
                    SunsetCalled = True
                    MsgBox("Prayer time!")
                End If
            ElseIf CurrentTime = Night Then
                If Not NightCalled = True Then
                    NightCalled = True
                    MsgBox("Prayer time!")
                End If
                End If
            End If
    End Sub

    Dim Morning As String
    Dim Noon As String
    Dim Afternoon As String
    Dim Sunset As String
    Dim Night As String

    Dim MorningCalled As Boolean
    Dim NoonCalled As Boolean
    Dim AfternoonCalled As Boolean
    Dim SunsetCalled As Boolean
    Dim NightCalled As Boolean

The reason I made a boolean for each alarm period is because the timer would spam "Prayer time!" all the time, since it checks if the time now matches the alarm time every second ( timer interval is set to 1 second ).

[.paul.]

you must be very devout

[Crystalii]

I ran into a new problem.. I need to know what alarm time is the next, and display it in a label. For example if the next alarm time is Noon, then I need to display "Next alarm: Noon - 12:05". But I don't know what method I can use to know this?

[Crystalii]

Do you guys know if it is possible to compare the current time with 5 times, then see which of the 5 times is closest to the current time?

Let's say it's 15:10 now, and I got 5 strings, each one is a time.

String 1: 03:22

String 2: 10:02

String 3: 15:08

String 4: 18:34

String 5: 22:19

And in this case it would give 2 outputs, one is the closest time that has already been, in this case it would be String 3, 15:08. And the second output would be the closest time that is going to be, which is String 4, 18:34.

I was thinking of converting the times into integers, then just differate them, and compare them like that. But I got problems combining the minutes with the hours. Also I don't think this is a good way of doing it :S

[dunfiddlin]

Well the first problem is that it's not obvious to the computer (though it may be obvious to you!) whether 03.22 is behind or ahead of 22:19! Unless you impose conditions such as the order of entries counts, it's always best to do all time calculations through full date variables to eradicate the possible ambiguities. You can then use the DateDiff() function to calculate the number of minutes between two times.

[Crystalii]

Can you give me an example of the DateDiff?

[Crystalii]

Hello!

I read some about DateDiff()

Here is my try:

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim CurrentTime As String = TimeOfDay.Hour.ToString("00") & ":" & TimeOfDay.Minute.ToString("00")
        Dim SecondTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("05:02")
        MsgBox(DateDiff(DateInterval.Minute, CurrentTime, SecondTime))
    End Sub

[dunfiddlin]

Dim NumberMinutes As Long = DateDiff(DateInterval.Minute, Date1, Date2)

[Crystalii]

Thank you! I also noticed that my SecondTime and CurrentTime was not in the same format. So I fixed that. Here is how my code is now:

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim SecondTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("05:02")
        Dim CurrentTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now
        Dim NumberMinutes As Long = DateDiff(DateInterval.Minute, CurrentTime, SecondTime)

        MsgBox(NumberMinutes)
    End Sub

Edit: So I edited the code further to suit my situation. Here I got 5 alarm times, and I need to differate them, to see which alarm time is the closest time to the current time.

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim MorningTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Morning)
        Dim NoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Noon)
        Dim AfterNoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Afternoon)
        Dim SunSetTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Sunset)
        Dim NightTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Night)

        Dim CurrentTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now
        'Dim NumberMinutes As Long = DateDiff(DateInterval.Minute, CurrentTime, MorningTime)


    End Sub

[.paul.]

here's an example, but here at 00:30, it doesn't work for the reasons that dunfiddlin pointed out.
there is no time that is less than now:

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim MorningTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("03:22") 'Morning)
        Dim NoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("10:02") 'Noon)
        Dim AfterNoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("15:08") 'Afternoon)
        Dim SunSetTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("18:34") 'Sunset)
        Dim NightTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("22:19") 'Night)

        Dim allTimes As New Dictionary(Of String, DateTime) From {{"MorningTime", MorningTime}, {"NoonTime", NoonTime}, {"AfterNoonTime", AfterNoonTime}, {"SunSetTime", SunSetTime}, {"NightTime", NightTime}}

        Dim CurrentTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now
        'Dim NumberMinutes As Long = DateDiff(DateInterval.Minute, CurrentTime, MorningTime)

        MsgBox(allTimes.Last(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key)
        MsgBox(allTimes.First(Function(kvp) kvp.Value > CurrentTime).Key)
    End Sub

End Class

to fix it you could add a midnight value:

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim MorningTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("03:22") 'Morning)
        Dim NoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("10:02") 'Noon)
        Dim AfterNoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("15:08") 'Afternoon)
        Dim SunSetTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("18:34") 'Sunset)
        Dim NightTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("22:19") 'Night)
        Dim midnight As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("00:00")

        Dim allTimes As New Dictionary(Of String, DateTime) From {{"MorningTime", MorningTime}, {"NoonTime", NoonTime}, {"AfterNoonTime", AfterNoonTime}, {"SunSetTime", SunSetTime}, {"NightTime", NightTime}, {"NightTime.", midnight}}

        Dim CurrentTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now
        'Dim NumberMinutes As Long = DateDiff(DateInterval.Minute, CurrentTime, MorningTime)

        MsgBox(allTimes.Last(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key)
        MsgBox(allTimes.First(Function(kvp) kvp.Value > CurrentTime).Key)
    End Sub

End Class

[Crystalii]

Okay I have it working, thanks!

But that midnight created another problem. Look, this way when the clock is 03:00 for example, and the closest previous alarm time is let's say 22:30. It doesn't show the Night, 22:30 as the previous. It shows the midnight, 00:00 as previous, since it is closer to 03:00 than 22:30. We need to somehow make it skip the midnight, and count the time before midnight, in case the previous time would be midnight. This is the code I made:

    Private Sub CheckStatus()
        Dim MorningTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("03:22") 'Morning)
        Dim NoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("10:02") 'Noon)
        Dim AfterNoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("15:08") 'Afternoon)
        Dim SunSetTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("18:34") 'Sunset)
        Dim NightTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("22:19") 'Night)
        Dim midnight As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime("00:00")

        Dim allTimes As New Dictionary(Of String, DateTime) From {{"MorningTime", MorningTime}, {"NoonTime", NoonTime}, {"AfterNoonTime", AfterNoonTime}, {"SunSetTime", SunSetTime}, {"NightTime", NightTime}, {"NightTime.", midnight}}
        Dim CurrentTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now

        'MsgBox(allTimes.Last(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key) ' Prayer before
        'MsgBox(allTimes.First(Function(kvp) kvp.Value > CurrentTime).Key) ' Prayer after

        If allTimes.Last(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "MorningTime" Then
            lblCurrent.Text = "Current prayer: Morning"
        ElseIf allTimes.Last(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "NoonTime" Then
            lblCurrent.Text = "Current prayer: Noon"
        ElseIf allTimes.Last(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "AfterNoonTime" Then
            lblCurrent.Text = "Current prayer: AfterNoon"
        ElseIf allTimes.Last(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "SunSetTime" Then
            lblCurrent.Text = "Current prayer: Sunset"
        ElseIf allTimes.Last(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "NightTime" Then
            lblCurrent.Text = "Current prayer: Night"
        ElseIf allTimes.Last(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "NightTime." Then    '   <<< There you go
            lblCurrent.Text = "Current prayer: Night"
        End If

        If allTimes.First(Function(kvp) kvp.Value > CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "MorningTime" Then
            lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Morning"
        ElseIf allTimes.First(Function(kvp) kvp.Value > CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "NoonTime" Then
            lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Noon"
        ElseIf allTimes.First(Function(kvp) kvp.Value > CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "AfterNoonTime" Then
            lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: AfterNoon"
        ElseIf allTimes.First(Function(kvp) kvp.Value > CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "SunSetTime" Then
            lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Sunset"
        ElseIf allTimes.First(Function(kvp) kvp.Value > CurrentTime).Key.ToString = "NightTime" Then
            lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Night"
        End If
    End Sub

However it is giving me the wrong answer. The time is 03:35 at the moment, and Morning time is 03:22 as you can see. So the Previous alarm should be Morning right? But it says the Previous alarm is midnight.

[.paul.]

the easiest way is to remove the midnight time + instead of allTimes.Last + allTimes.First, use allTimes.LastOrDefault + allTimes.FirstOrDefault
you just need to change the words. most of the time it'll work. when it doesn't, it'll return Nothing (which is default)
also the dictionary is Of String, DateTime, which means you could simplify the code by changing the keys:

Dim allTimes As New Dictionary(Of String, DateTime) From {{"Morning", MorningTime}, 'etc

dim previous as string = allTimes.LastOrDefault(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key
if not previous = Nothing then
    lblCurrent.Text = "Current prayer: " & previous
else
    'you need to check time here
end if
dim [next] as string = allTimes.FirstOrDefault (Function(kvp) kvp.Value > CurrentTime).Key
if not [next] = Nothing then
    lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: " & [next] 
else
    'you need to check time here
end if

[Crystalii]

Okay it all worked! What did you mean by 'you need to check time here ?

[.paul.]

Okay it all worked! What did you mean by 'you need to check time here ?

for the reasons I pointed out in post#33
at 00:10 there is no previous time + at 22:30 there is no next time + in both cases previous or [next] will return Nothing

[Crystalii]

Okay I did this to solve the problem:

    Public Sub CheckStatus()
        Dim MorningTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Morning)
        Dim NoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Noon)
        Dim AfterNoonTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Afternoon)
        Dim SunSetTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Sunset)
        Dim NightTime As DateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Night)

        Dim allTimes As New Dictionary(Of String, DateTime) From {{"Morning", MorningTime}, {"Noon", NoonTime}, {"Afternoon", AfterNoonTime}, {"Sunset", SunSetTime}, {"Night", NightTime}}
        Dim CurrentTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now

        CurrentPrayer = allTimes.LastOrDefault(Function(kvp) kvp.Value < CurrentTime).Key
        If Not CurrentPrayer = Nothing Then
            lblCurrent.Text = "Current prayer: " & CurrentPrayer
        End If


        If CurrentPrayer = "" Then
            lblCurrent.Text = "Current prayer: Night "
            CurrentPrayer = "Night"
        End If



        If CurrentPrayer = "Morning" Then
            lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Noon " & Noon
        ElseIf CurrentPrayer = "Noon" Then
            lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Afternoon " & Afternoon
        ElseIf CurrentPrayer = "Afternoon" Then
            lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Sunset " & Sunset
        ElseIf CurrentPrayer = "Sunset" Then
            lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Night " & Night
        ElseIf CurrentPrayer = "Night" Then
            If Date.Now.Hour >= 0 Then
                If Not MorningCalled = True Then
                    lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Morning " & GetTime("_" & CurrentMonth, "_" & CurrentDay, "Morning")
                ElseIf MorningCalled = True Then
                    Dim Tomorrow As String = Date.Now.AddDays(1).Day.ToString("00")
                    lblNext.Text = "Next prayer: Morning " & GetTime("_" & CurrentMonth, "_" & Tomorrow, "Morning")
                End If
            End If
        End If
    End Sub

I made it so that if CurrentPrayer is nothing, then it will change CurrentPrayer into "Night". It works good. Then I made it that if CurrentPrayer is "Night" then lblNext.text should be "Morning". This works very good too.

Now my problem is that I display the lblNext.text for example like this "Morning 04:30". I first write what time it is (e.g Morning, Night, Noon and so on...) and then the time (e.g 01:00, 13:02 and so on..).

Now usually, to get the Morning time, I would just use the string "Morning", which is the time for the morning prayer of the current day. However if it is night, and the clock is before 00:00 AM, then the 'Morning' time we want is not the 'Morning' time of the current day, but we want the Morning time of the next day. So for that I made a function that will return the specific time of a specific date I want:

    Private Function GetTime(ByVal monthString As String, ByVal dayString As String, ByVal time As String) As String
        Dim xml As XDocument
        xml = XDocument.Load(Application.StartupPath & "\data.xml")

        Dim TempTime As String

        Dim month As XElement = xml.Root.Element(monthString)
        If month IsNot Nothing Then
            TempTime = month.Elements(dayString)(0).Element(time).Value
            Return TempTime
        Else
            Return ""
        End If
    End Function

However my problem is how to determine if the clock is before 00:00 AM, and in that case get the time of tomorrow Morning, using my function. Or if the clock is past 00:00, then I should use the 'Morning' for the current day.

[Crystalii]

Anyone?

[dunfiddlin]

The question doesn't make any sense. Apart from at 00:00 itself a clock is always simultaneously past 00:00 and before 00:00. If the current time is 13:00 then all times from 00:01 to 12:59 are before 13:00 and therefore must apply, if they are alarms, to the next day. I really can't see where the difficulty lies.