Rearranging lines in file

I'm trying a new approach. When I write the file, I add the correct index to the start followed by a $. So the file would read something like

4$prop4:ddd
2$prop2:bbb
5$prop5:eee
1$prop1:aaa
3$prop3:ccc

and the new code I'm using is:

Dim lines As New List(Of String)
lines.AddRange(IO.File.ReadAllLines(Path.GetFullPath(file)))
Dim contents As New List(Of String)
Dim order As New List(Of String)
For Each line In lines
order.Add(line.Split("$")(0))
contents.Add(line.Split("$")(1))
Next
contents.Sort(order)
IO.File.WriteAllLines(Path.GetFullPath(file), contents)

The issue is again that I cannot use a List(Of String) to be the order for comparing

No, I can't use that because I get the error Unable to cast object of type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[VB$AnonymousType_0`2[System.String,System.String]]' to type 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1[System.String]'.

I had to because I had to split the string and add to each list. You can't add to String()s at runtime

It turns out I can use Array.Sort(lines) with the new index$prop:value format, except it's sorting it like:
1$..
10$..
11$..

instead of 1$.. 2$.. 3$..

That code doesn't allow any "-"s to be written to the final file. In that case, the whole line is index$- instead of index$propertyname:defaultvalue

It may help to see the listbox: http://www.4shared.com/download/LILmKmuXce/help.png?sbsr=90f75debed35b4d40f3999d3816f35cf5cccf23deabfba4e&lgfp=3000

The data is in testfile.txt in the format index$propertyName:defaultValue OR index$- (a divider)

When I click save/rewrite, it calls both the function to do behind-the-scenes processing and write to the file in the formats above, except in the wrong order.

After that, the sub reOrderFiles is called which looks like this:

Dim lines As New List(Of String)

lines.AddRange(IO.File.ReadAllLines(Path.GetFullPath(file)))

'YOUR CODE''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Dim orderedlines = lines _
.Where(Function(s) s.Contains(":")) _
.Select(Function(s) New With
{
Key .Index = Convert.ToInt32(s.Split(New Char() {"$", ":"})(0)),
Key .PropertyName = s.Split(New Char() {"$", ":"})(1),
Key .DefaultValue = s.Split(New Char() {"$", ":"})(2)
}) _
.OrderBy(Function(item) item.Index) _
.ToList()
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Dim final As New List(Of String)

For Each line In orderedlines

final.Add(line.PropertyName & ":" & line.DefaultValue)
MsgBox(line.ToString)
Next

IO.File.WriteAllLines(Path.GetFullPath(file), final)



That Msgbox statement never shows a divider, meaning it returns values of indexes 0, 1, 2, 4 ... because the divider is at index 3.

Changed to:

Dim orderedlines = lines _
.Where(Function(s) s.Contains("$")) _
.Select(Function(s) New With
{
Key .index = Convert.ToInt32(s.Split(New Char() {"$"})(0)),
Key .rest = s.Split(New Char() {"$"})(1)
}) _
.OrderBy(Function(item) item.index) _
.ToList()

All working now