System.IndexOutOfRangeException

[phpman]

I understand the error but I don't know why I am getting it. I have a tab delimited file that I am reading line by line. The line it fails on in the file is the last one and gives the error

			0000.24c5.eaac		8	Sec1
	Of00		0007.e788.a2d3 Cam		9	Sec1

The error points to this line

RowItem(4) = RowItem(4).TrimEnd(RowItem(4), vbCrLf)

There is a tab between Cam and 9 and as the same with the line above it.

Dim Contents = IO.File.ReadAllLines("file1.txt").ToList
            Dim Contents2 = IO.File.ReadAllLines("file2.txt").ToList
            Dim StrippedMAC As String
            Dim NewRoom As String

            Contents.RemoveAt(0)
            Contents2.RemoveAt(0)

           

  
            Dim RowItem() As String

            For x As Integer = 0 To Contents.Count - 1
               
                RowItem = Contents(x).Split(vbTab)
                RowItem(4) = RowItem(4).TrimEnd(RowItem(4), vbCrLf)  ' <------ Error Line                               

                If RowItem(4).ToString.Length > 1 Then
                    NewRoom = "Room " & RowItem(0).ToString & " " & RowItem(1).ToString
                    StrippedMAC = Replace(CStr(RowItem(4)).ToString, ".", "")
                   
                    For i = 0 To Contents2.Count - 1
                        ' Contents2(i) = Contents2(i).Substring(0, Contents2(i).Count - 1)
                        Dim RowItem2 = Contents2(i).Split(vbTab)

                        If Not RowItem2(6).ToString = "NULL" And StrippedMAC = RowItem2(6).ToString Then
                            ' If Not RowItem2(6).ToString = "NULL" Then                           
                            DataGridView1.Rows.Add(RowItem)
                        ElseIf Not NewRoom = RowItem2(7).ToString Or RowItem2(7).ToString = "NULL" Then 
                            DataGridView1.Rows.Add(RowItem)                           
                        End If
                    Next
                End If
            Next         
        End If
    End Sub

[jmcilhinney]

Forget what you think is the case and find out what actually is the case. Look at the contents of RowItem and that will tell you where the Tabs were in Contents(x) that it was split on. You can even examine each character in Contents(x) to confirm what they are. If 4 is an invalid index into RowItem then there are fewer than 5 elements in RowItem so there are fewer than 4 Tabs in Contents(x). It's that simple.

That said, what the hell is this line supposed to achieve anyway?

RowItem(4) = RowItem(4).TrimEnd(RowItem(4), vbCrLf)

That line is wrong for more than one reason. I suggest that you actually read how TrimEnd works and also ask yourself exactly how a line break could get into that value in the first place.

[phpman]

Ok, I looked into Contents(x) and seen that the space (which is a return character) and errors out. The file is produced from a database and all the returns are suppose to be replaced with spaces, so the text file shows them all on one line but the code thinks its a return still? If I am splitting on a TAB why does it care about spaces?

And that line was a product of to many copy and pastes lol

[jmcilhinney]

You need to look at the actual characters. I'm not talking about what they look like in NotePad. I'm talking about their ASCII/Unicode values. Something in that text is not what you think it is.

[phpman]

Yeah, I looked at the same text in a different text editor and it shows they are line breaks. I can see why it errors out. The line just stops so there is no index 4.

Thanks jmcilhinney, I think I need to look at how that file is produced and find out why its not replacing line break with spaces.