Select random person from text file and change corresponding values - vb.net

Question

I have a form with a button and a label. I also have a text file with the following contents:
Bob:Available:None:0
Jack:Available:None:0
Harry:Available:None:0
Becky:Unavailable:Injured:8
Michael:Available:None:0
Steve:Available:None:0
Annie:Unavailable:Injured:12
Riley:Available:None:0
The values in the text file are:
person-name:available-or-unavailable:sick-or-injured:months-they-will-be-unavailable
What I would like to do is to have the user click the button and a random (available) person will be selected from the text file. The label's text will then say:
personname & " has gotten injured and will be unavailable for 10 months."
I would then like to overwrite the text file with the corresponding values for that particular person. For example that person's second value will now be "Unavailable", the third value will be "Injured" and the fourth value will be 10.
I hope this makes sense.
I don't have any code, as I literally have no idea how to do this. Any help would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

Explanations and code in line.
Private r As New Random
Private RandomIndex As Integer
Private dt As New DataTable
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
AddColumnsToDataTable()
FillDataTable()
End Sub
Private Sub AddColumnsToDataTable()
'Need to prepare the table to receive the data
dt.Columns.Add("Name")
dt.Columns.Add("Available")
dt.Columns.Add("Injury")
dt.Columns.Add("Months")
End Sub
Private Sub FillDataTable()
'ReadAllLines returns an array of lines in the text file
Dim lines = File.ReadAllLines("workers.txt")
'Loop through each line in the lines array
For Each line As String In lines
'.Split returns an array based on splitting the line
'by the colon. The c following ":" tells the compiler
'that this is a Char which the split function requires.
Dim items = line.Split(":"c)
'We can add a row to the data table all at once by
'passing in an array of objects.
'This consists of the elements of the items array
dt.Rows.Add(New Object() {items(0), items(1), items(2), items(3)})
Next
'Now we have an in memory DataTable that contains all the data from the text file.
End Sub
Private Function GetRandomWorker() As String
'A list of all the row indexes that are available
Dim AvailableList As New List(Of Integer)
For i As Integer = 0 To dt.Rows.Count - 1
'Loop through all the data in the date table row by row
If dt.Rows(i)("Available").ToString = "Available" Then
'Add only the row indexes that are Available
AvailableList.Add(i)
End If
Next
'Get a random index to use on the list of row indexes in IndexList
If AvailableList.Count = 0 Then
'No more workers left that are Available
Return ""
End If
'Get a random number to use as an index for the available list
Dim IndexForList = r.Next(AvailableList.Count)
'Selects a row index based on the random index in the list of Available
RandomIndex = AvailableList(IndexForList)
'Now use the index to get information from the row in the data table
Dim strName = dt.Rows(RandomIndex)("Name").ToString
Return strName
End Function
Private Sub SaveDataTable()
'Resave the whole file if this was a real app you would use a database
Dim sb As New StringBuilder
'A string builder keeps the code from creating lots of new strings
'Strings are immutable (can't be changed) so every time you think you are
'changing a string, you are actually creating a new one.
'The string builder is mutable (changable)
For Each row As DataRow In dt.Rows
'The ItemsArray returns an array of objects containing all the
'values in each column of the data table.
Dim rowValues = row.ItemArray
'This is a bit of Linq magic that turns the values into strings
Dim strRowValues = From s In rowValues
Select DirectCast(s, String)
'Now that we have strings we can use the String.Join with the colon
'to get the format of the text file
sb.AppendLine(String.Join(":", strRowValues))
Next
'Finally we change the StringBuilder to a real String
'The workers.txt is stored in the Bin\Debug directory so it is current directory
'no additional path required
File.WriteAllText("workers.txt", sb.ToString)
End Sub
Private Sub Form1_FormClosing(sender As Object, e As FormClosingEventArgs) Handles MyBase.FormClosing
SaveDataTable()
End Sub
Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
Dim WorkerName As String = GetRandomWorker()
If WorkerName = "" Then
MessageBox.Show("There are no available workers")
Return
End If
Label1.Text = $"{WorkerName} has gotten injured and will be unavailable for 10 months."
dt.Rows(RandomIndex)("Available") = "Unavailable"
dt.Rows(RandomIndex)("Injury") = "Injured"
dt.Rows(RandomIndex)("Months") = "10"
End Sub