Develop Reference

Importing text files lines to certain text and combo boxes

My apologies upfront if this is posted incorrectly. I will promptly take it down if requested.
I am (very much) a beginner of C# and Visual Studio. I have created a little program that exports data into a text file. See this picture:
You'll see my program, the export feature, and the exported text file.
Now I want to do the reverse and import these created text files into my program.
My first guess is to somehow call the lines (or strings). But how would I get just pieces of the line into my text fields or combo boxes? For instance, see POINT 1 in the text file and the program.
I am not posting any code because I have not written any yet as I do not know where to start. Yet, I can post any of my existing code if requested.
I will do whatever I need to make it easier for you to help. Thank you!

My first question is why you are using a combobox for a number that can supposedly go up to 123? Are there limited options for your values because if not, I would instead use textboxes.
I would start by create a Object class for "Point" accepting 6 parameters for each of the values. Then importing your text file data into your application with some sort of StreamReader or OpenFileDialog. This is some sample code that you can use/change to fit your needs (working with beginning values and Point at the beginning of your line won't work for this code).
Stream myStream;
openFileDialog1.FileName = string.Empty;
openFileDialog1.InitialDirectory = "C:\\";
if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
if (extension.Equals(".TXT", compareType))
{
try
{
using (myStream = openFileDialog1.OpenFile())
{
string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(openFileDialog1.FileName);
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(openFileDialog1.FileName);
string line;
while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)
{
string[] value = line.Split('-'); //Split line based on delimiter
_pointList.Add(new Parameter(value[0], value[1], value[2], value[3], value[4], value[5]));
}
If you want to populate your textbox, you can call each element from your list.
textbox1.Text = _pointList.ElementAt(0).Value1;
Hope this helps!

I'm not so great with comboboxes as I haven't done any winforms stuff in a while, but here's how to get your text file data into your c# program:
string[] fileEntries = Directory.GetFiles(yourPathToFileHere);
This will insert each line of your text file as a string in an array (e.g. line 1 of your textfile = fileEntries[0]. Then you're probably going to want to split the line into individual items of interest so you'll want to use this:
string[] partsOfString = yourString.Split('charToSplitOn');
See if you can solve it yourself from there. If you still need help let me know and we'll go further! : )
EDIT1: A demo of .Split() in action!
string inputString = "POINT 1 123-123-123N 123-123-123W";
string[] results = inputString.Split('-', ' '); //split the input on hyphens and spaces
your results view will look like this:
results[0] = "POINT"
results[1] = "1"
results[2] = "123"
results[3] = "123"
results[4] = "123N"
results[5] = "123"
results[6] = "123"
results[7] = "123W"

How to not include data in a text file if it is already in there

I want to add data into a text file based on a specific output, it will read an XML file and write a certain line to a text file. If the data is already written into the text file, i dont want to write it again.
Code:
public void output(string folder)
{
string S = "Data" + DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmm") + ".xml";
//Trades.Save(S);
string path = Path.Combine(folder, S);
Console.WriteLine(path);
XDocument f = new XDocument(Trades);
f.Save(path);
string[] lines = File.ReadAllLines(path);
File.WriteAllLines(path, lines);
using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(#"H:\Test" + DateTime.Now.ToString("yyMMdd") + ".txt", true))
{
foreach (string line in lines)
{
if (line.Contains("CertainData"))
{
file.WriteLine(line);
if (File.ReadAllLines(path).Any(x => x.Equals(line)))
{
}
else
{
string[] tradeRefLines = File.ReadAllLines(path);
File.WriteAllLines(path, tradeRefLines); ;
}
}
}
}
}
The problem is it will still write the line even if the data is exactly the same elsewhere. I don't want duplicate lines
Any advice?
CLARIFICATION UPDATE
The "CertainData" is a reference number
I have a bunch of files that has data in it and the piece i want to seperate and put into a text file is "CertainData" field, which will have a reference number
Sometimes the files i get sent will have the same formatted information inside it with the "CertainData" appearing in their for reference
When i run this programme, if the text file i have already contains the "CertainData" reference number inside it, i dont want it to be written
If you need anymore clarification let me know and i will update the post

I think you want this: read all lines, filter out those containing a keyword and write it to a new file.
var lines = File.ReadAllLines(path).ToList();
var filteredLines = lines.Where(!line.Contains("CertainData"));
File.WriteAllLines(path, filteredLines);
If you also want to remove duplicate lines, you can add a distinct like this:
filteredLines = filteredLines.Distinct();

Why you don't use Distinct before for loop. This will filter your lines before write in file.
Try something like this
string[] lines = new string[] { "a", "b", "c", "a" };
string[] filterLines = lines.Distinct().ToArray<string>();

Rich Text to Plain Text via C#?

I have a program that reads through a Microsoft Word 2010 document and puts all text read from the first column of every table into a datatable. However, the resulting text also includes special formatting characters (that are usually invisible in the original Word document).
Is there a way that I can take the string of text that I've read and strip all the formatting characters from it?
The program is pretty simple, and uses the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word assemblies. Here is the main loop where I'm grabbing the text from the document:
// Loop through each table in the document,
// grab only text from cells in the first column
// in each table.
foreach (Table tb in docs.Tables)
{
for (int row = 1; row <= tb.Rows.Count; row++)
{
var cell = tb.Cell(row, 1);
var listNumber = cell.Range.ListFormat.ListString;
var text = listNumber + " " + cell.Range.Text;
dt.Rows.Add(text);
}
}
EDIT: Here is what the text ("1. Introduction") looks like in the Word document:
This is what it looks like before being put into my datatable:
And this is what it looks like when put into the datatable:
So, I'm trying to figure out a simple way to get rid of the control characters that seem to be appearing (\r, \a, \n, etc).
EDIT: Here is the code I'm trying to use. I created a new method to convert the string:
private string ConvertToText(string rtf)
{
using (RichTextBox rtb = new RichTextBox())
{
rtb.Rtf = rtf;
return rtb.Text;
}
}
When I run the program, it bombs with the following error:
The variable rtf, at this point, looks like this:
RESOLUTION: I trimmed the unneeded characters before writing them to the datatable.
// Loop through each table in the document,
// grab only text from cells in the first column
// in each table.
foreach (Table tb in docs.Tables)
{
for (int row = 1; row <= tb.Rows.Count; row++)
{
var charsToTrim = new[] { '\r', '\a', ' ' };
var cell = tb.Cell(row, 1);
var listNumber = cell.Range.ListFormat.ListString;
var text = listNumber + " " + cell.Range.Text;
text = text.TrimEnd(charsToTrim);
dt.Rows.Add(text);
}
}

I don't know exactly what formatting you're trying to remove, but you could try something like:
text = text.Where(c => !Char.IsControl(c)).ToString();
That should strip the non-printing characters out.

Al alternative can be that You need to add a rich textbox in your form (you can keep it hidden if you don't want to show it) and when you have read all your data just assign it to the richtextbox. Like
//rtfText is rich text
//rtBox is rich text box
rtBox.Rtf = rtfText;
//get simple text here.
string plainText = rtBox.Text;

Why dont you give this a try:
using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
public class Example
{
static string CleanInput(string strIn)
{
// Replace invalid characters with empty strings.
try {
return Regex.Replace(strIn, #"[^\w\.#-]", "",
RegexOptions.None, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1.5));
}
// If we timeout when replacing invalid characters,
// we should return Empty.
catch (RegexMatchTimeoutException) {
return String.Empty;
}
}
}
Here's a link for it as well.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/844skk0h.aspx

Totally different approach would be to look at the Open Office XML SDK.
This example should get you started.

how to get text file rows with no delimiter into array

I have a text file that I'm trying to input into an array called columns.
Each row in the text file belongs to a different attribute in a sub-class I have created.
For example, row 2 in my text file is a date that I would like to pass over...I do not want to use the Split because I do not have a delimiter but I do not know an alternative. I am not fully understanding the below if someone could help. When I try to run it, it says that columns[1] is out of its range...Thank you.
StreamReader textIn =
new StreamReader(
new FileStream(path, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Read));
//create the list
List<Event> events = new List<Event>();
while (textIn.Peek() != -1)
{
string row = textIn.ReadLine();
string[] columns = row.Split(' ');
Event special = new Event();
special.Day = Convert.ToInt32(columns[0]);
special.Time = Convert.ToDateTime(columns[1]);
special.Price = Convert.ToDouble(columns[2]);
special.StrEvent = columns[3];
special.Description = columns[4];
events.Add(special);
}
Input file sample:
1
8:00 PM
25.00
Beethoven's 9th Symphony
Listen to the ninth and final masterpiece by Ludwig van Beethoven.
2
6:00 PM
15.00
Baseball Game
Come watch the championship team play their archrival--No work stoppages, guaranteed.

Well, one way to do it (though it is a bit ugly) would be to use File.ReadAllLines, and then loop through the array, something like this:
string[] lines = File.ReadAllLines(path);
int index = 0;
while (index < lines.Length)
{
Event special = new Event();
special.Day = Convert.ToInt32(lines[index]);
special.Time = Convert.ToDateTime(lines[index + 1]);
special.Price = Convert.ToDouble(lines[index + 2]);
special.StrEvent = lines[index + 3];
special.Description = lines[index + 4];
events.Add(special);
lines = lines + 5;
}
This is very brittle code - a lot can break it. What if one of the events is missing a line? What if there are multiple blank lines in it? What if one of the Convert.Toxxx methods throws an error?
If you have the option to change the format of the file, I strongly recommend you make it delimited at least. If you can't change the format, you'll need to make the code sample above more robust so that it can handle blank lines, failed conversions, missing lines, etc.
Much, much, much easier to use a delimited file. Even easier to use an XML or JSON file.
Delimited File (CSV)
Let's say you have the same sample input, but this time it's a CSV file, like this:
1,8:00 PM,25.00,"Beethoven's 9th Symphony","Listen to the ninth and final masterpiece by Ludwig van Beethoven."
2,6:00 PM,15.00,"Baseball Game","Come watch the championship team play their archrival--No work stoppages, guaranteed"
I put quotes on the last two items in case there's ever a comma in there, it won't break the parsing.
For CSV files, I like to use the Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser class, which despite it's name can be used in C#. Don't forget to add a reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic and a using directive (using Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO;).
The following code will allow you to parse the above CSV sample:
using (TextFieldParser parser = new TextFieldParser(path))
{
parser.Delimiters = new string[] {","};
parser.TextFieldType = Delimited;
parser.HasFieldsEnclosedInQuotes = true;
string[] parsedLine;
while (!parser.EndOfData)
{
parsedLine = parser.ReadFields();
Event special = new Event();
special.Day = Convert.ToInt32(parsedLine[0]);
special.Time = Convert.ToDateTime(parsedLine[1]);
special.Price = Convert.ToDouble(parsedLine[2]);
special.StrEvent = parsedLine[3];
special.Description = parsedLine[4];
events.Add(special);
}
}
This still has some issues though - you would need to handle cases where there were missing fields and I would recommend using TryParse methods instead of Convert.Toxxx, but it's a little easier (I think) than the non-delimited sampe.
XML File (Using LINQ to XML)
Now let's try it with an XML file and use LINQ to XML to get the data:
<Events>
<Event>
<Day>1</Day>
<Time>8:00 PM</Time>
<Price>25.00</Price>
<Title><![CDATA[Beethoven's 9th Symphone]]></Title>
<Description><![CDATA[Listen to the ninth and final masterpiece by Ludwig van Beethoven.]]></Description>
</Event>
<Event>
<Day>2</Day>
<Time>6:00 PM</Time>
<Price>15.00</Price>
<Title><![CDATA[Baseball Game]]></Title>
<Description><![CDATA[Come watch the championship team play their archrival--No work stoppages, guaranteed]]></Description>
</Event>
</Events>
I've used CDATA for the title and description so that special characters won't break the XML parsing.
This is easily parsed into your Events by the following code:
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(path);
List<Event> events = (from x in doc.Descendants("Event")
select new Event {
Day = Convert.ToInt32(x.Element("Day").Value),
Time = Convert.ToDateTime(x.Element("Time").Value),
Price = Convert.ToDouble(x.Element("Price").Value),
StrEvent = x.Element("Title").Value,
Description = x.Element("Description").Value
}).ToList();
Of course, this is still not perfect as you still have the possibility of conversion failures or missing elements.
Pipe-Delimited File Example
Per our discussion in the comments, if you want to use the pipe (|), you need to put each event (in its entirety) on one line, like this:
1|8:00 PM|25.00|Beethoven's 9th Symphony|Listen to the ninth and final masterpiece by Ludwig van Beethoven.
2|6:00 PM|15.00,|Baseball Game|Come watch the championship team play their archrival--No work stoppages, guaranteed
You can still use the TextFieldParser example above if you like (just change the delimiter from , to |, or if you want you can use your original code.
Some Final Thoughts
I wanted to also address the original code and show why it wasn't working. The main reason was that you were reading one line at a time, and then splitting on ' '. This would have been a good start if all the fields were on the same line (although it still would have had problems because of spaces in the Time, StrEvent and Description fields), but they weren't.
So when you read the first line (which was 1) and split on ' ', you got one value back (1). When you tried to access the next element of the split array, you got the index out of range error because there was no columns[1] for that line.
Essentially, you were trying to treat each line as if it had all the fields in it, when in reality it was one field per line.

For your given sample file something like
string[] lines = File.ReadAllLines(path);
for (int index = 4; index < lines.Length; index += 5)
{
Event special = new Event();
special.Day = Convert.ToInt32(lines[index - 4]);
special.Time = Convert.ToDateTime(lines[index - 3]);
special.Price = Convert.ToDouble(lines[index - 2]);
special.StrEvent = lines[index - 1];
special.Description = lines[index];
events.Add(special);
}
Would do the job, but like Tim already mentioned, you should consider changing your file format.

delimiters can be deleted if your side column values haven't intersect char or have fix size.by this condition you can read file and split field on it.
if you want to read from file and load data automatically to variables , i suggest Serialize and deSeialize variabls to file but that file isn't text file!

Searching strings in txt file

I have a .txt file with a list of 174 different strings. Each string has an unique identifier.
For example:
123|this data is variable|
456|this data is variable|
789|so is this|
etc..
I wish to write a programe in C# that will read the .txt file and display only one of the 174 strings if I specify the ID of the string I want. This is because in the file I have all the data is variable so only the ID can be used to pull the string. So instead of ending up with the example about I get just one line.
eg just
123|this data is variable|
I seem to be able to write a programe that will pull just the ID from the .txt file and not the entire string or a program that mearly reads the whole file and displays it. But am yet to wirte on that does exactly what I need. HELP!
Well the actual string i get out from the txt file has no '|' they were just in the example. An example of the real string would be: 0111111(0010101) where the data in the brackets is variable. The brackets dont exsist in the real string either.
namespace String_reader
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
String filepath = #"C:\my file name here";
string line;
if(File.Exists(filepath))
{
StreamReader file = null;
try
{
file = new StreamReader(filepath);
while ((line = file.ReadLine()) !=null)
{
string regMatch = "ID number here"; //this is where it all falls apart.
Regex.IsMatch (line, regMatch);
Console.WriteLine (line);// When program is run it just displays the whole .txt file
}
}
}
finally{
if (file !=null)
file.Close();
}
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}

Use a Regex. Something along the lines of Regex.Match("|"+inputString+"|",#"\|[ ]*\d+\|(.+?)\|").Groups[1].Value
Oh, I almost forgot; you'll need to substitute the d+ for the actual index you want. Right now, that'll just get you the first one.
The "|" before and after the input string makes sure both the index and the value are enclosed in a | for all elements, including the first and last. There's ways of doing a Regex without it, but IMHO they just make your regex more complicated, and less readable.

Assuming you have path and id.
Console.WriteLine(File.ReadAllLines(path).Where(l => l.StartsWith(id + "|")).FirstOrDefault());

Use ReadLines to get a string array of lines then string split on the |

You could use Regex.Split method

FileInfo info = new FileInfo("filename.txt");
String[] lines = info.OpenText().ReadToEnd().Split(' ');
foreach(String line in lines)
{
int id = Convert.ToInt32(line.Split('|')[0]);
string text = Convert.ToInt32(line.Split('|')[1]);
}

Read the data into a string
Split the string on "|"
Read the items 2 by 2: key:value,key:value,...
Add them to a dictionary
Now you can easily find your string with dictionary[key].

first load the hole file to a string.
then try this:
string s = "123|this data is variable| 456|this data is also variable| 789|so is this|";
int index = s.IndexOf("123", 0);
string temp = s.Substring(index,s.Length-index);
string[] splitStr = temp.Split('|');
Console.WriteLine(splitStr[1]);
hope this is what you are looking for.

private static IEnumerable<string> ReadLines(string fspec)
{
using (var reader = new StreamReader(new FileStream(fspec, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.Read)))
{
while (!reader.EndOfStream)
yield return reader.ReadLine();
}
}
var dict = ReadLines("input.txt")
.Select(s =>
{
var split = s.Split("|".ToArray(), 2);
return new {Id = Int32.Parse(split[0]), Text = split[1]};
})
.ToDictionary(kv => kv.Id, kv => kv.Text);
Please note that with .NET 4.0 you don't need the ReadLines function, because there is ReadLines
You can now work with that as any dictionary:
Console.WriteLine(dict[12]);
Console.WriteLine(dict[999]);
No error handling here, please add your own

You can use Split method to divide the entire text into parts sepparated by '|'. Then all even elements will correspond to numbers odd elements - to strings.
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(filename);
string text = sr.ReadToEnd();
string[] data = text.Split('|');
Then convert certain data elements to numbers and strings, i.e. int[] IDs and string[] Strs. Find the index of the given ID with idx = Array.FindIndex(IDs, ID.Equals) and the corresponding string will be Strs[idx]
List <int> IDs;
List <string> Strs;
for (int i = 0; i < data.Length - 1; i += 2)
{
IDs.Add(int.Parse(data[i]));
Strs.Add(data[i + 1]);
}
idx = Array.FindIndex(IDs, ID.Equals); // we get ID from input
answer = Strs[idx];