Re: INI - read multiline! - Visual Basic Discussion Boards

Hi there,

just a bit more...please... i have this code to search for data in a .txt/.ini file but it is only returning the first line found!

VB

Private Sub Button3_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
     Dim folderPath As String = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()
     Dim filePath As String = Path.Combine(folderPath + ("Data1.ini"))
     TextBox7.Text = File.ReadAllLines(filePath).FirstOrDefault(Function(x) x.Contains("11/12/2016"))
 End Sub

My idea is to get all lines that contain the "date i want".....if possible without the .ini key name!!!

Help?!

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

Let me repeat what has been said; INI files are deprecated. There is hardly any support for them in .NET, and there is no reason to prefer them over XML.

There's an error on below line;

VB

Dim filePath As String = Path.Combine(folderPath + ("Data1.ini"))

You are concatenating two strings, and passing them to the Path.Combine method. That method gets one single string, and does nothing to it.

Below code lists all the occurences of a string in your textbox. With XML, you could simply select the required elements.

VB

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    Dim folderPath As String = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()
    Dim filePath As String = Path.Combine(folderPath, "TextFile1.txt") ' note, 2 arguments.
    TextBox1.Multiline = True
    TextBox1.Size = New Size(100, 100)
    TextBox1.Text = String.Join(Environment.NewLine, File.ReadAllLines(filePath).Where(Function(x) x.Contains("audio")))
End Sub

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

ok thanks.. i am using a .ini file just to keep some dates and names...nothing big...

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

You can do the same with XML, for which there IS support. Why use an outdated format?

It can't be the fact that you can easily edit INI-files in a text-editor, as XML files have the same option. It can't be due to the support, as there is none. It's a bad idea.

Rolling your own text-files and using a file-extension to your liking is even a better option.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

i am very newbie..if i change to XML i gotta ask you almost everything.. as i already made some code with .ini some years ago, i am more familiarized of how to work with it... : )

Thanks,
Duarte

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

The problem is that the framework is not familiair with it, and that there is no "nice" way of getting those values or, like you may have noticed, have some strange characters in them (like a newline).

It ain't that hard to learn to read/write XML. No more problems with newlines or weird characters.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

ok my code as changed..i googled for new code and i believe i found some that i can understand and is easy to apply.
The only problem is that is writing and reading only the first node.
How can i create new nodes and read only those that have the Date i want selected?
Please give me a hand here..this is not important as hell but i would like to be able to end my gadget... i believe i can do it with a few lines of code and is nothing really hard..but yes.. i am not understanding how to read and write more than one node...
here is my current code:

VB

Private Sub Button5_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button5.Click
    Dim folderPath As String = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()
    Dim filePath As String = Path.Combine(folderPath, "MEMOS\Database.xml")
    Dim dat = TextBox1.Text
        Dim plc = TextBox2.Text
        Dim hed = TextBox3.Text
        Dim mem = TextBox4.Text
    Dim hor = ComboBox1.Text + " : " + ComboBox2.Text + " " + ComboBox3.Text
    Dim writer As New XmlTextWriter(filePath, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8)

    writer.WriteStartDocument(True)
        writer.Formatting = Formatting.Indented
        writer.Indentation = 2
    writer.WriteStartElement("MEMOSAVE")
    createNode(dat, hor, plc, hed, mem, writer)
    writer.WriteEndElement()
    writer.WriteEndDocument()
    writer.Close()
End Sub

Private Sub Button3_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
    Dim folderPath As String = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()
    Dim filePath As String = Path.Combine(folderPath, "MEMOS\Database.xml")
    If Not File.Exists(filePath) Then
        MessageBox.Show("DataBase not found!")
    Else
        Dim sav = TextBox1.Text
        Dim xmlFile As XmlReader
        xmlFile = XmlReader.Create(filePath, New XmlReaderSettings())
        Dim ds As New DataSet
        Dim dv As DataView
        ds.ReadXml(xmlFile)
        dv = New DataView(ds.Tables(0))
        dv.Sort = "Date"
        Dim index As Integer = dv.Find(sav)

        If index = -1 Then
            MsgBox("Item Not Found")
        Else
            Label9.Text = (dv(index)("Date").ToString())
            Label10.Text = (dv(index)("Hour").ToString())
            Label11.Text = (dv(index)("Place").ToString())
            Label12.Text = (dv(index)("Header").ToString())
            TextBox4.Text = (dv(index)("MEMO").ToString())
        End If
        Return
    End If
End Sub

Thank you!

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

Alienoiz wrote:
The only problem is that is writing and reading only the first node.

I only see one call to the "createNode" method. What happens if you call that method twice?

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<MEMOSAVE>
  <15/12/2016>  
    <Date>15/12/2016</Date>
    <Hour>01 : 05 PM</Hour>
    <Place>USA</Place>
    <Header>Testing Memo</Header>
    <MEMO>Memorando test text!</MEMO>
  </15/12/2016>
</MEMOSAVE>

Your fragment has an element with the name 15/12/2016, but element-names (the things between the < and >) aren't allowed to have slashes in them. You could name it "entry" though. You already have the date in the properties following that, so it would also be a bit redundant to specify it twice.

Alienoiz wrote:
i believe i can do it with a few lines of code and is nothing really hard..but yes..

You may need a bit more to handle multiple memo's.

I'd recommend creating a POCO, put those entries in a list, and XmlSerialize that. It looks more readable, and is easier to play with.

VB

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Xml.Serialization

' defines how our stuff looks
Public Class MyMemoEntry
    Public CreatedOn As DateTime ' contains both date and time
    Public Location As String
    Public Header As String
    Public Memo As String
End Class

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        ' create a list to hold our stuff
        Dim Entries As New List(Of MyMemoEntry)

        ' create new stuff
        Dim newEntry As New MyMemoEntry
        newEntry.CreatedOn = DateTime.Now
        newEntry.Location = "Home, sweet home"
        newEntry.Header = "How to build a decent chicken-soup"
        newEntry.Memo = "Call Mom and say you want chicken-soup"

        ' add new stuff to list
        Entries.Add(newEntry)

        ' save list to XML; for that we need a serializer
        Dim serializer As New XmlSerializer(Entries.GetType(), "space")

        ' write it to a filestream using said serializer
        Using FileStream As New FileStream("output.xml", FileMode.Create)
            serializer.Serialize(FileStream, Entries)
        End Using

    End Sub

End Class

Which results in a file similar to below;

XML

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ArrayOfMyMemoEntry xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="space">
  <MyMemoEntry>
    <CreatedOn>2016-12-14T17:59:55.9937761+01:00</CreatedOn>
    <Location>Home, sweet home</Location>
    <Header>How to build a decent chicken-soup</Header>
    <Memo>Call Mom and say you want chicken-soup</Memo>
  </MyMemoEntry>
</ArrayOfMyMemoEntry>

That should be somewhat easier than writing the XML using a writer directly.

Also note that above saves a list of entries, not just one entry. You can fetch the CreatedOn property and get either the Date-part, the Time-part or both parts. Aw, and you don't have to use the "xml" file-extension when writing to a file, as long as you're using the right format.

Another nice thing about the above is that it is quite easy to replace the XmlSerializer with a JsonSerializer or the BinarySerializer. That way you are not limited or bound to XML.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

ok.. thanks.. i am going to explore this as i am.. i hope i can get this done : )

Thanks again!

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

something is wrong.. i am not still being able to create various "myMemoEntry" nodes.. i would like to support each dataset in different nodes and access it by "Date"...
i would like to write something like this:

XML

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ArrayOfMyMemoEntry xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="space">
  <MyMemoEntry>
    <CreatedOn>2016-12-14T17:59:55.9937761+01:00</CreatedOn>
    <Location>Home, sweet home</Location>
    <Header>How to build a decent chicken-soup</Header>
    <Memo>Call Mom and say you want chicken-soup</Memo>
  </MyMemoEntry>
  <MyMemoEntry1>
    <CreatedOn>2016-12-14T17:59:55.9937761+01:00</CreatedOn>
    <Location>Home</Location>
    <Header>chicken-soup</Header>
    <Memo>Call Mom</Memo>
  </MyMemoEntry1>
</ArrayOfMyMemoEntry>

: ) .. and then when i read, get all data inside the entry that has for eg: "2016-12-14"

:s

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

That's not a valid* XML format; forget about how you want it to look, the format is simply there to provide structure to load and save from.

VB

' create new stuff
Dim newEntry As New MyMemoEntry
newEntry.CreatedOn = DateTime.Now
newEntry.Location = "Home, sweet home"
newEntry.Header = "How to build a decent chicken-soup"
newEntry.Memo = "Call Mom and say you want chicken-soup"

Dim notherEntry As New MyMemoEntry
notherEntry.CreatedOn = DateTime.Now
notherEntry.Location = "Home, sweet home"
notherEntry.Header = "How to build a decent noodle-soup"
notherEntry.Memo = "Call Mom and say you want noodle-soup"

Dim testEntry As New MyMemoEntry
testEntry.CreatedOn = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-2)
testEntry.Location = "The restaurant at the end of the Universe"
testEntry.Header = "Eat more soup"
testEntry.Memo = "I forgot the reason"

' add new stuff to list
Entries.Add(newEntry)
Entries.Add(notherEntry)
Entries.Add(testEntry)

Gives you valid XML like below;

XML

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ArrayOfMyMemoEntry xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="space">
  <MyMemoEntry>
    <CreatedOn>2016-12-14T18:54:25.0337545+01:00</CreatedOn>
    <Location>Home, sweet home</Location>
    <Header>How to build a decent chicken-soup</Header>
    <Memo>Call Mom and say you want chicken-soup</Memo>
  </MyMemoEntry>
  <MyMemoEntry>
    <CreatedOn>2016-12-14T18:54:25.0337545+01:00</CreatedOn>
    <Location>Home, sweet home</Location>
    <Header>How to build a decent noodle-soup</Header>
    <Memo>Call Mom and say you want noodle-soup</Memo>
  </MyMemoEntry>
  <MyMemoEntry>
    <CreatedOn>2016-12-12T18:54:25.0337545+01:00</CreatedOn>
    <Location>The restaurant at the end of the Universe</Location>
    <Header>Eat more soup</Header>
    <Memo>I forgot the reason</Memo>
  </MyMemoEntry>
</ArrayOfMyMemoEntry>

..accessing the items in a list by date would not be hard either this way;

VB

For Each item As MyMemoEntry In Entries _
    .Where(Function(ent As MyMemoEntry) As Boolean
               Return ent.CreatedOn.Date = DateTime.Today
           End Function)
    MessageBox.Show(item.Header)
Next

You can filter on any of the other fields in a similar way.

--edit
It is valid to confuse stuff more, as any XML-validator will tell you. It would also be abusing the format, as items representing the same thing are supposed to have the same element-name.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

ok thats very good.. i understand it...thank you..i just do not know (again) how to create the variables for MyMemoEntry!!
i mean .. you are using code to set new entries but i would like to make that based on a button click.

for eg. i click on the button and it creates:

VB

Dim newEntry As New MyMemoEntry
       newEntry.CreatedOn = DateTime.Now
       newEntry.Location = "Home, sweet home"
       newEntry.Header = "How to build a decent chicken-soup"
       newEntry.Memo = "Call Mom and say you want chicken-soup"

then i choose some new data to enter in the memo and when i click the button again it creates:

VB

Dim notherEntry As New MyMemoEntry
       notherEntry.CreatedOn = DateTime.Now
       notherEntry.Location = "Home, sweet home"
       notherEntry.Header = "How to build a decent noodle-soup"
       notherEntry.Memo = "Call Mom and say you want noodle-soup"

then i choose new data, click in the save button and it creates:

VB

Dim testEntry As New MyMemoEntry
      testEntry.CreatedOn = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-2)
      testEntry.Location = "The restaurant at the end of the Universe"
      testEntry.Header = "Eat more soup"
      testEntry.Memo = "I forgot the reason"

and so on : ) ...

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

If the property is a string, then you can assign the contents of a textbox to it. Like below;

VB

testEntry.Header = textBoxHeader.Text
testEntry.Memo = textBox163.Text

For the DateTime, I'd recommend a picker, not a textbox.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

i have it like that..but it is not creating new entries, everytime i insert new data in the textboxes it only overwrites previous data in the .xml

: \

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

i believe i need this as variable:

VB

Dim testEntry As New MyMemoEntry

i mean.. use a textbox to replace the "testEntry" with a name at my choice and then create it as new entry : )

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

See Re: INI - read multiline! - Visual Basic Discussion Boards[^] .

well its funny.. i am not able to do it for what i think they are 3 or 4 lines of code..or even less..

i just need to find out how to create multiple entries with the same button!!!
the code is almost ready..i can write (only one entry cause when i try the second it overwrites the previous data)..i can read based in the "Date" field and i can also delete my file...

: )

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

If you are not using that list to hold "all" entries, then yes, you would need to find a way to see if the entry is already in the file, and if not, append it.

The approach of the list fixes both the invalid names in the XML-file as well as having to see if an entry is in the file, since it is easier to see if your entry is already in the list.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

Ok yes... that´s what i need but i do not know how to code it!!!???
i want to append more entries so i can have different dates and memos and access them individually!
Yes i believe thats what i need to know : )

I manually inserted more entries and the reading seems ok..i am being able to read sorting from the "DATE" field..and it sorts all fields from that entry...so i believe the reading part is ok..the writting part it is not like we know..and i am trying to figure out how to remove my entries...i am being able to do it but it bugs a bit with the reading part cause when the file has all entries deleted the read part is returnning error because the procedure does not finds a valid table!!!

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

Alienoiz wrote:
i am trying to figure out how to remove my entries..

You have the code to "Add" an item to a list(Of T), I'll leave it up to you to figure out how to Remove[^] an item of a List(Of T).

After modifying the list, call your Save-method so that the serializer overwrites the old file with the new contents of the list.

Alienoiz wrote:
because the procedure does not finds a valid table!!!

An XML file does not have the concept of a table; it's elements within elements. Show us some code Smile | :)

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

ok... this is what i am using to read:

VB

Private Sub Button3_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
    Dim folderPath As String = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()
    Dim filePath As String = Path.Combine(folderPath, "MEMOS\Database.xml")
    If Not File.Exists(filePath) Then
        MessageBox.Show("DataBase not found!")
    Else
        Dim sav = TextBox1.Text
        Dim xmlFile As XmlReader
        xmlFile = XmlReader.Create(filePath, New XmlReaderSettings())
        Dim ds As New DataSet
        Dim dv As DataView
        ds.ReadXml(xmlFile)
        dv = New DataView(ds.Tables(0))
        dv.Sort = "Date"
            Dim index As Integer = dv.Find(sav)

            If index = -1 Then
                MsgBox("Item Not Found")
            Else
                Label9.Text = (dv(index)("Date").ToString())
                Label10.Text = (dv(index)("Hour").ToString())
                Label11.Text = (dv(index)("Place").ToString())
                Label12.Text = (dv(index)("Header").ToString())
                TextBox4.Text = (dv(index)("MEMO").ToString())
            End If
            Return
        End If
End Sub

it is working like a glove...it only has 1 catch..when there are no nodes in the .xml document or columns it returns:

"Cannot find table 0"
or
"Cannot find DATE column"

i am also not knowing how to close this proccess... so i can delete the file .xml..sometimes returns that the file is already in use when i try to delete it or record new data on it : (

but the rest seems ok : ) ...

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

Alienoiz wrote:
"Cannot find table 0"

If you load a dataset (a collection of tables) from XML, then these tables have to exist in the XML file.

Alienoiz wrote:
i am also not knowing how to close this proccess... so i can delete the file .xml..sometimes returns that the file is already in use when i try to delete it or record new data on it : (

If you are done using the XmlReader[^], dispose it. Otherwise the reader will remain open and lock the file.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

ok.. but is there a condition that i can use so that when it finds no table it "do nothing" for eg.

and can you show me how to dispose the XMLReader considering the code i have..i am finding too many info in one page that my mind cannot proccess :s

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.

Alienoiz wrote:
ok.. but is there a condition that i can use so that when it finds no table it "do nothing" for eg.

You are now using "ds.Tables(0)", without checking if there is a table at that index.

And yes, that would probably be too cryptic if you don't understand what the code is doing.

Alienoiz wrote:
and can you show me how to dispose the XMLReader considering the code i have.

xmlFile.Dispose()

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

ok..so how can i check if there is a table for this case?

Thanks!

modified 7-Jan-19 21:02pm.