I have a macro which pass through paragraphs of a word document. This code is intended to pass the paragraph, identify its outline level and retrieve the content when the desired paragraph outline level is found. With this information, I'm populating a listbox that will allow users to choose from what point they want to export some text in a document.
This functionality is working, however, I'm looking for a way to improve its speed. Right now I'm handling a document with 5678 paragraphs, and it is taking over 30 minutes to process all the information. Do you have any suggestion?
I had tried to approaches without having success:
1 - I've tried to use the object TableOfContents, however I was not able to have a clean information and differentiate outline levels from the paragraphs.
2 - I've tried to adapt the code from here Getting the headings from a Word document, specially because of the use of the command _docSource.GetCrossReferenceItems(wdRefTypeHeading), also with no success
Here there is the image of the form, and the code I'm using.
Sub ProcessHeaders()
Dim j As Long
Dim Paragraph_Number() As Variant
Dim Paragraph_Content() As Variant
Dim Paragraph_Mapping() As Variant
j = 1
With UserForm1
If .ComboBox4.ListCount > 0 Then
.ComboBox4.Clear
End If
For i = 1 To wordDoc.Paragraphs.Count
If wordDoc.Paragraphs.Item(i).OutlineLevel = wdOutlineLevel1 _
Or wordDoc.Paragraphs.Item(i).OutlineLevel = wdOutlineLevel2 _
Or wordDoc.Paragraphs.Item(i).OutlineLevel = wdOutlineLevel3 _
Or wordDoc.Paragraphs.Item(i).OutlineLevel = wdOutlineLevel4 Then
If wordDoc.Paragraphs.Item(i).Range.ListFormat.ListString <> "" Then
ReDim Preserve Paragraph_Number(j)
ReDim Preserve Paragraph_Content(j)
Paragraph_Content(j) = wordDoc.Paragraphs.Item(i).Range.ListFormat.ListString & " " & Trim(Left(wordDoc.Paragraphs.Item(i).Range.Text, (Len(wordDoc.Paragraphs.Item(i).Range.Text) - 1)))
Paragraph_Number(j) = i
j = j + 1
End If
End If
Next i
ReDim Preserve Paragraph_Mapping(1 To UBound(Paragraph_Content), 1)
For i = 1 To UBound(Paragraph_Number)
Paragraph_Mapping(i, 0) = Paragraph_Content(i)
Paragraph_Mapping(i, 1) = Paragraph_Number(i)
Next i
.ComboBox4.List = Paragraph_Mapping
End With
End Sub
Edit 1 - I Achieve to reduce the time from 32 minutes to 8 minutes of execution with the code below. Any suggestions to improve even more? Thanks in advance
Sub ProcessHeaders()
Dim j As Long
Dim thisOutlineLevel As WdOutlineLevel
Dim thisHeader As String
Dim thisList As String
Dim ParagraphCount As Long
Dim Paragraph_Number_Base() As Variant
Dim Paragraph_Content_Base() As Variant
Dim Paragraph_ListItem_Base() As Variant
Dim ParagraphContent() As Variant
Dim ParagraphNumber() As Variant
Dim Paragraph_Mapping() As Variant
Dim StartTime As Double
Dim MinutesElapsed As String
j = 1
With UserForm1
If .ComboBox4.ListCount > 0 Then
.ComboBox4.Clear
End If
ParagraphCount = wordDoc.Paragraphs.Count
ReDim Paragraph_Content_Base(ParagraphCount + 1)
ReDim Paragraph_ListItem_Base(ParagraphCount + 1)
ReDim Paragraph_Number_Base(ParagraphCount + 1)
StartTime = Timer
For i = 1 To ParagraphCount
MinutesElapsed = Format((Timer - StartTime) / 86400, "hh:mm:ss")
UserForm1.Label7.Caption = "Reading Paragraphs. " & Format(i / ParagraphCount, "0%") & " | Total of Paragraphs Found: " & ParagraphCount & " | Time Elapsed: " _
& MinutesElapsed & " Minutes"
With wordDoc.Paragraphs.Item(i)
Select Case .OutlineLevel
Case wdOutlineLevelBodyText
GoTo ResumeNext
Case wdOutlineLevel1, wdOutlineLevel2, wdOutlineLevel3, wdOutlineLevel4
Paragraph_Content_Base(i) = .Range.Text
Paragraph_ListItem_Base(i) = .Range.ListFormat.ListString
Paragraph_Number_Base(i) = i
End Select
End With
ResumeNext:
Next i
MinutesElapsed = Format((Timer - StartTime) / 86400, "hh:mm:ss")
UserForm1.Label7.Caption = ParagraphCount & " read on " & MinutesElapsed & " Minutes. Now, identifying the Headers"
For i = 0 To UBound(Paragraph_Content_Base)
If Paragraph_Content_Base(i) <> "" And Paragraph_ListItem_Base(i) <> "" Then
ReDim Preserve ParagraphContent(j)
ReDim Preserve ParagraphNumber(j)
ParagraphContent(j) = Trim(Paragraph_ListItem_Base(i)) & " " & Trim(Left(Paragraph_Content_Base(i), Len(Paragraph_Content_Base(i)) - 1))
ParagraphNumber(j) = Paragraph_Number_Base(i)
j = j + 1
End If
Next i
Erase Paragraph_Content_Base
Erase Paragraph_ListItem_Base
Erase Paragraph_Number_Base
ReDim Preserve Paragraph_Mapping(1 To UBound(ParagraphContent), 1)
For i = 1 To UBound(ParagraphNumber)
Paragraph_Mapping(i, 0) = ParagraphContent(i)
Paragraph_Mapping(i, 1) = ParagraphNumber(i)
Next i
.ComboBox4.List = Paragraph_Mapping
MinutesElapsed = Format((Timer - StartTime) / 86400, "hh:mm:ss")
UserForm1.Label7.Caption = "Identifying Headers: " & j & " identified. Total Time: " & MinutesElapsed & " minutes"
End With
Edit 2 - With the Help of Cindy, the code which was initially running in 32 minutes right now is running on 32 seconds. Here is the final Code.
Sub ProcessHeaders()
Dim rng As Word.Range
Dim para As Word.Paragraph
Dim lstFormat As Word.ListFormat
Dim paraNr() As Variant
Dim paraContent() As Variant
Dim counter As Long, paraIndex As Long
Dim Paragraph_Mapping() As Variant
Dim ParagraphCount As Long
Dim i, j As Long
Dim StartTime As Double
Dim StartRealTime As Date
Dim MinutesElapsed As String
With UserForm1
If .ComboBox4.ListCount > 0 Then
.ComboBox4.Clear
End If
counter = 1
paraIndex = 1
i = 0
j = 1
StartTime = Timer
StartRealTime = Now
Set rng = wordDoc.Content
ParagraphCount = rng.ListParagraphs.Count
For Each para In rng.ListParagraphs
i = i + 1
Set lstFormat = para.Range.ListFormat
MinutesElapsed = Format((Timer - StartTime) / 86400, "hh:mm:ss")
.Label7.Caption = "Reading Paragraphs. " & Format(i / ParagraphCount, "0%") & " | Total of Paragraphs Found: " & ParagraphCount & _
" | Start Time: " & StartRealTime & " | Time Elapsed: " & MinutesElapsed & " Minutes"
'CheckOutLine = rng.ListParagraphs.Item(1).OutlineLevel
If lstFormat.ListString <> "" And Len(lstFormat.ListString) >= 2 Then
ReDim Preserve paraNr(counter)
ReDim Preserve paraContent(counter)
paraContent(counter) = lstFormat.ListString & " " _
& Trim(Left(para.Range.Text, (Len(para.Range.Text) - 1)))
paraNr(counter) = i
wordDoc.Bookmarks.Add Name:="ExpContent" & i, Range:=para.Range
counter = counter + 1
End If
paraIndex = paraIndex + 1
Next
j = 1
ReDim Preserve Paragraph_Mapping(1 To UBound(paraNr), 1)
For i = UBound(paraNr) To 1 Step -1
Paragraph_Mapping(j, 0) = paraContent(i)
Paragraph_Mapping(j, 1) = paraNr(i)
j = j + 1
Next i
.ComboBox4.List = Paragraph_Mapping
MinutesElapsed = Format((Timer - StartTime) / 86400, "hh:mm:ss")
.Label7.Caption = "Identifying Headers: " & j & " identified. Total Time: " & MinutesElapsed & " minutes"
End With
'
' For counter = 1 To UBound(paraNr)
' Debug.Print paraNr(counter) & vbTab & paraContent(counter)
' Next
End Sub
And After the user choose the paragraph, the bookmarks are being managed by this call
With objWord.Selection
BookmarkID = "ExpContent" & PositionReference
wordDoc.Bookmarks(BookmarkID).Select
.InsertParagraphBefore
End With
Once again, thank you
I think the fastest approach is going to be looping only the numbered paragraphs, rather than all paragraphs. This can be done using the ListParagraphs object. For example:
Sub IdOutlineLevels()
Dim rng As word.Range
Dim para As word.Paragraph
Dim lstFormat As word.ListFormat
Dim paraNr() As Variant
Dim paraContent() As Variant
Dim counter As Long, paraIndex As Long
counter = 1
paraIndex = 1
Set rng = ActiveDocument.content
For Each para In rng.ListParagraphs
Set lstFormat = para.Range.ListFormat
Select Case lstFormat.ListLevelNumber
Case 1, 2, 3, 4
If lstFormat.ListString <> "" Then
ReDim Preserve paraNr(counter)
ReDim Preserve paraContent(counter)
paraContent(counter) = lstFormat.ListString & " " _
& Trim(Left(para.Range.Text, (Len(para.Range.Text) - 1)))
paraNr(counter) = paraIndex
counter = counter + 1
ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Add Name:="ExpContent" & counter, Range:=para.Range
End If
Case Else
End Select
paraIndex = paraIndex + 1
Next
For counter = 1 To UBound(paraNr)
Debug.Print paraNr(counter) & vbTab & paraContent(counter)
Next
End Sub
Rather than relying on the index number of the paragraph in the document to locate the paragraph again I've added bookmarks to each of the paragraphs using the same "counter" as the paragraph number. This is the technique Word, itself, uses for cross-referencing.
I'm trying to make an automated templated with VBA and this code seems to run fine when I enter in a low number of "pages", but when I enter in something such as the following into the prompts it gives me a run-time error 1004: 14 pages: 41, 26, 19, 28, 26, 28, 17, 26, 21, 19, 19, 10, 23, 28.
Public TitleSize As Integer
Public MostValves() As Integer
Public TotalValves As Integer
Public TitleBlockSize As Integer
Function ConvertToLetter(iCol As Integer) As String
Dim iAlpha As Integer
Dim iRemainder As Integer
iAlpha = Int(iCol / 27)
iRemainder = iCol - (iAlpha * 26)
If iAlpha > 0 Then
ConvertToLetter = Chr(iAlpha + 64)
End If
If iRemainder > 0 Then
ConvertToLetter = ConvertToLetter & Chr(iRemainder + 64)
End If
End Function
Sub ManualValve()
'On Error GoTo ErrHandler
'On Error Resume Next
Worksheets(1).Activate
ActiveSheet.Name = "Valve List"
ActiveSheet.Cells.Clear
PnIDPage = InputBox("How many pages are on your P&ID?")
'Values for Number of Pages: 14
Dim i As Integer
TotalValves = 0
ReDim MostValves(PnIDPage)
For i = 0 To PnIDPage - 1
ValveCount = InputBox("How many valves are on page " & i + 1 & " ?")
'Values for valves: 41, 26, 19, 28, 26, 28, 17, 26, 21, 19, 19, 10, 23, 28
If IsNumeric(ValveCount) Then
MostValves(i) = ValveCount
TotalValves = TotalValves + ValveCount
Else
MsgBox ("You did not enter a valid number")
'GoTo ErrHandler
End If
Next i
Dim Title As Variant
Response = MsgBox(prompt:="Do you want to use the default titleblock? (Count, Valve, Module, Note)", Buttons:=vbYesNo)
If Response = vbYes Then
Title = Array("Count", "Valve", "Module", "Note")
TitleSize = UBound(Title, 1) - LBound(Title, 1) + 1
Else
Title = Array("Count", "Valve", "Module")
TitleSize1 = UBound(Title, 1) - LBound(Title, 1) + 1
XtraCol = InputBox("How many extra columns would you like to add?")
ReDim Preserve Title(XtraCol + TitleSize1 - 1)
TitleSize = UBound(Title, 1) - LBound(Title, 1) + 1
For i = TitleSize1 + 1 To TitleSize
XtraTitle = InputBox("Extra Title " & i & "?")
Title(i - 1) = XtraTitle
Next i
End If
Dim TitleBlock As Variant
TitleBlock = Array("Project Number", "Project Name", "By", "Rev", "Date")
TitleBlockSize = UBound(TitleBlock, 1) - LBound(TitleBlock, 1) + 1
Range(ConvertToLetter(1) & "1:" & ConvertToLetter(1) & TitleBlockSize) = Application.Transpose(TitleBlock)
Dim Maximum As Integer
Dim ValveNum() As Integer
Dim TempSize As Integer
TempSize = 1
Maximum = WorksheetFunction.Max(MostValves) + 1
For i = 0 To PnIDPage - 1
Do Until MostValves(i) <> 0
i = i + 1
Loop
ReDim ValveNum(MostValves(i))
For j = 0 To MostValves(i)
ValveNum(j) = j + 1
Next j
MsgBox TempSize
If i Mod 2 = 0 Then
Worksheets(1).Range(ConvertToLetter(TempSize) & TitleBlockSize + 2 & ":" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize + TitleSize - 1) & Maximum + TitleBlockSize).Interior.ColorIndex = 42
Else
'This is where I encounter the run-time error
Worksheets(1).Range(ConvertToLetter(TempSize) & TitleBlockSize + 2 & ":" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize + TitleSize - 1) & Maximum + TitleBlockSize).Interior.ColorIndex = 43
End If
Worksheets(1).Range(ConvertToLetter(TempSize) & TitleBlockSize + 2 & ":" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize) & CStr(MostValves(i) + 1 + TitleBlockSize)). _
Resize(MostValves(i), 1) = Application.Transpose(ValveNum)
Worksheets(1).Range(ConvertToLetter(TempSize + 2) & TitleBlockSize + 2 & ":" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize + 2) & CStr(MostValves(i) + 1 + TitleBlockSize)) = "00" & CStr(i + 1)
Worksheets(1).Range(ConvertToLetter(TempSize) & TitleBlockSize + 1 & ":" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize + TitleSize - 1) & TitleBlockSize + 1) = Title
TempSize = TempSize + TitleSize
Worksheets(1).Range(ConvertToLetter(TempSize - 1) & TitleBlockSize + 1 & ":" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize - 1) & Maximum + TitleBlockSize). _
Borders(xlEdgeRight).Weight = xlMedium
Next i
Cells(1, 4) = "Total Valve Count"
Cells(1, 5) = TotalValves
Range("A1:" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize) & Maximum + TitleBlockSize).HorizontalAlignment = xlCenter
Range("A1:A" & TitleBlockSize).HorizontalAlignment = xlLeft
Columns("A:" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize)).AutoFit
Range("A1:" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize) & TitleBlockSize + 1).Font.Bold = True
Range("A" & TitleBlockSize + 1 & ":" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize - 1) & TitleBlockSize + 1).Interior.ColorIndex = 1
Range("A" & TitleBlockSize + 1 & ":" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize - 1) & TitleBlockSize + 1).Font.Color = vbWhite
Range("A" & Maximum + TitleBlockSize & ":" & ConvertToLetter(TempSize - 1) & Maximum + TitleBlockSize). _
Borders(xlEdgeBottom).Weight = xlMedium
'ErrHandler:
'MsgBox "An error has occurred. The macro will end."
End Sub
The problem does not depend on your Valve, but on your ConvertToLetter function. In fact, at some point the error occurs because the function returns an invalid range letter:
input: iCol = 53
return: "A["
Clearly, when you try to call the Range("A[2"), this raises the exception.
The code inside your function is not solid because converts the number into letter with:
ConvertToLetter = Chr(iAlpha + 64)
The Chr() function returns the value associated to the index from the characters collection, which is a unique chars list and cannot be used as you try to do there.
I would just replace your ConvertToLetter function with a more solid one, such as the following:
Function ConvertToLetter(iCol As Integer) As String
Dim vArr
vArr = Split(Cells(1, iCol).Address(True, False), "$")
ConvertToLetter = vArr(0)
End Function
...which has been kindly provided by brettdj in one of his precious answers (don't forget to give him an upvote for this piece of gold ;).
P.s. note that this explain also why a low number would not raise the exception: as long as the number is small, your function doesn't need to append a second letter to the output so it remains consistent. But as soon as it has to do that, CRASH ;)
Use the above function, it's way safer because it just retrieves the Range address from the Cells object. Your code will work fine once you will replace your old function with the new one above.
I have this visual basic code to receive user input and print out that many primes. For instance if a user inputs 5, the output should be: 1, 3, 5, 7, 11. But I found difficulty with it.Here is my code:
Dim i, n, input, currentPrime As Integer
Dim Wrap As String = Chr(10) & Chr(13)
input = txtInput.Text
currentPrime = 1
txtAns.Text = "Prime Numbers are : " & Wrap
Do While (currentPrime <= input)
For i = currentPrime To input
For j = 2 To Fix(i / 2) + 1
If i Mod j = 0 Then
n = 1
End If
Next
If n = 1 Then
n = 0
Else
txtAns.Text = txtAns.Text & Wrap & i & " is a prime number " & Wrap
End If
Next
currentPrime += 1
Loop
Try this...
Dim i, n, input As Integer
Dim Wrap As String = Chr(10) & Chr(13)
input = txtInput.Text
Dim found = 0
Dim output = "Prime Numbers are : " & Wrap
While found < input
i = i + 1
For j = 2 To Fix(i / 2) + 1
If i Mod j = 0 Then
n = 1
End If
Next
If n = 1 Then
n = 0
Else
output = output & Wrap & i & " is a prime number " & Wrap
found = found + 1
End If
End While
txtAns.Text = output
I am using Vb to take a .txt file, parse it, and check for errors. My code works just fine, however, the code does not go through the entire file. It stops, on average, 20 lines shy of the EOF.
I am using the following
For Each lines As String In System.IO.File.ReadLines(myFile)
from here I parse the line and see if it needs any fixes.
Is there something that I'm missing or something that just cant be avoided.
The files that I'm reading in are about 150,000 KB to 230,000 KB and over 2 million lines.
As requested, the following is my code. Warning, I just started using Vb...
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim root As String = "C:\Users\mschramm\Documents\Agco\WindSensor\Data\filestobecleaned\"
Dim datafile As String = root & "ES.txt"
Dim outfile As String = root & "temptry.txt"
Dim output As System.IO.StreamWriter = My.Computer.FileSystem.OpenTextFileWriter(outfile, False)
Dim k As UInteger = 0
Dim fixes As UInteger = 0
Dim time As ULong = 0
Dim count As UInteger = 0
Dim n As UInteger = 0
Dim LineCount As UInteger = 0
Dim TimeStep As ULong = 100
Dim Solar As UInteger = 0
For Each lines As String In System.IO.File.ReadLines(datafile)
LineCount = LineCount + 1
'Console.WriteLine(LineCount)
Dim parsedline As String() = Split(lines, ",")
If IsNumeric(parsedline(0)) = True And UBound(parsedline) = 8 Then
'TimeStep = parsedline(0) - time
Solar = parsedline(1)
time = parsedline(0)
output.WriteLine(lines & " Good Line")
count = count + 1
Else
Dim j As UInteger = 0
Dim ETX As Integer = 0
Dim STX As Integer = 0
Dim datacheck As Boolean = False
Dim fixedline As String = ""
Dim newtime As ULong = 0
For j = 0 To UBound(parsedline)
Dim a As Char = parsedline(j)
If a = (Chr(3)) Then ETX = j
If a = (Chr(2)) Then STX = j
Next
j = 0
If (STX < ETX) And (ETX - STX) = 6 And STX >= 2 Then
If Len(parsedline(STX + 1)) = 8 And Len(parsedline(STX + 2)) = 8 And Len(parsedline(STX + 3)) = 8 Then
Dim g = Len(parsedline(STX - 2))
While (j < g) And datacheck = False
If IsNumeric(parsedline(STX - 2)) Then
If parsedline(STX - 2) - time < 10000 And parsedline(STX - 2) - time > 0 Then
newtime = Right(parsedline(STX - 2), Len(parsedline(STX - 2)))
Solar = parsedline(STX - 1)
'TimeStep = newtime - time
fixedline = newtime & "," & parsedline(STX - 1) & "," & parsedline(STX) & "," & parsedline(STX + 1) & "," & parsedline(STX + 2) & "," & parsedline(STX + 3) & "," & parsedline(STX + 4) & "," & parsedline(STX + 5) & "," & parsedline(STX + 6) & " Fixed Line"
datacheck = True
Else
j = j + 1
parsedline(STX - 2) = Right(parsedline(STX - 2), Len(parsedline(STX - 2)) - 1).ToString
End If
Else
j = j + 1
parsedline(STX - 2) = Right(parsedline(STX - 2), Len(parsedline(STX - 2)) - 1).ToString
End If
End While
End If
End If
If (STX < ETX) And (ETX - STX) = 6 And STX = 0 Then
If Len(parsedline(1)) = 8 And Len(parsedline(2)) = 8 And Len(parsedline(3)) = 8 And Len(parsedline(4)) = 1 And Len(parsedline(5)) = 2 And Len(parsedline(6)) = 3 Then
newtime = time + TimeStep
fixedline = newtime & "," & Solar & "," & parsedline(STX) & "," & parsedline(STX + 1) & "," & parsedline(STX + 2) & "," & parsedline(STX + 3) & "," & parsedline(STX + 4) & "," & parsedline(STX + 5) & "," & parsedline(STX + 6) & " Fixed Line Gave Time and Solar"
datacheck = True
End If
End If
If newtime < time And newtime > 1000 Then
Dim badtime As ULong = newtime
Dim firstdig As ULong = time
Dim loopcount As UInteger = 0
While firstdig > 9
firstdig = firstdig / 10
loopcount = loopcount + 1
End While
firstdig = firstdig * (10 ^ loopcount)
If (firstdig + badtime) > time Then
newtime = firstdig + badtime
If (newtime - (10 ^ loopcount)) > time Then
newtime = newtime - (10 ^ loopcount)
End If
End If
End If
If datacheck = True Then
k = k + 1
If (newtime > 500) Then
output.WriteLine(fixedline)
'count = count + 1
time = newtime
End If
End If
If datacheck = False Then
n = n + 1
If STX >= 0 And ETX > 0 And ETX - STX < 9 Then
Console.WriteLine(LineCount)
'n = n + 1
End If
End If
End If
Next
Console.WriteLine(count & " Good lines")
Console.WriteLine(k & " Lines Corrected")
Console.WriteLine(LineCount & " Total Lines")
Console.WriteLine(n & " Lines were thrown out")
Console.WriteLine(n / LineCount * 100 & "% thrown out")
End Sub
End Module
and here is a sample of the data
Time: 16:52:18.0
Date: 11/6/2014
Time,Sensor1,U,V,W
544161,219,Q,-001.341,+000.947,+000.140,M,00,17
544284,218,Q,-001.207,+001.074,+000.225,M,00,1C
544361,220,Q,-000.935,+000.898,+000.187,M,00,17
544460,220,Q,-001.299,+001.151,-000.009,M,00,17
This is what the last 10 lines look like
Q,+001.681,-003.510,-0356154697,236,Q,+000.826,-002.744,-000.559,M,00,19
Q,+000.474,-002.789,-0356155062,234,Q,+000.400,-002.975,+000.438,M,00,1D
Q,+000.813,-002.934,-0356155297,236,Q,+000.146,-002.129,-000.235,M,00,16
Q,+000.494,-002.234,+0356155497,236,Q,+000.681,-001.996,-000.248,M,00,1F
Q,+000.800,-001.999,-0356155697,236,Q,+001.181,-002.883,-000.795,M,00,1A
356156060,233,Q,+000.400,-002.106,+000.251,M,00,18
356156296,235,Q,+000.888,-001.026,+000.442,M,00,10
356156495,236,Q,+000.570,-001.694,+000.589,M,00,13
356156695,236,Q,+001.495,-002.177,-000.035,M,00,15
356157060,234,Q,+000.770,-003.484,-000.161,M,00,14
for this file, the code makes it to the 6th to last line.
Thanks to mafafu for pointing out the solution.
I never closed the file, so the addition of output.Close() fixed everything.
Once again, thank you mafafu.