Trying to write text to a file error '5' - vba

Question

I am trying to take code, go through it and delete all tags and then write it to a new document testfile.txt. For some reason I am getting an error with line 5:
Set ts = f.openastextstream(forwriting, tristateusedefault)
and am getting error invalid procedure.
Here is my code:
Sub elizabethwhite()
Set fs = CreateObject("scripting.filesystemobject")
fs.createtextfile "testfile.txt"
Set f = fs.getfile("testfile.txt")
Set ts = f.openastextstream(forwriting, tristateusedefault)
textline = ""
Do While f.opentextstream(forwriting, tristateusedefault).atendofstream <> True
textline = textline & f.opentextstream(forwriting, tristateusedefault).readline & "<BR>"
count = 0
pOne = 1
Do While InStr(textline, "<img") <> 0
count = count + 1
pOne = InStr(pOne, textline, "<img")
Do While InStr(pOne, textline, ">") = 0 & ts.atendofstream <> True
pTwo = InStr(pOne, textline, ">")
Loop
If 0 < count < 10 Then
textline = Left(textline, pOne - 1) & "{{image00" & count & ".jpg}}" & Right(textline, pTwo + 1)
ElseIf 9 < count < 100 Then
textline = Left(textline, pOne - 1) & "{{image0" & count & "}}.jpg" & Right(textline, pTwo + 1)
End If
Loop
Loop
ts.write textline
ts.Close
End Sub

Answer 1

Properly declaring your variables, and using Option Explict will identify the problem. Not tomention, these are good habits to develop and will help you write better code. They also enable the script assist feature, which comes in very handy.
The problem is that you have not enabled a reference to MS Scripting Runtime library AND because of this, ForReading and TriStateUseDefault are being interpreted by the compiler as variables and they are variables with no values, so you are passing invalid parameters to the OpenAsTextStream method.
Option Explicit would have helped you identified this error:
If you add a reference to the Microsoft Scripting Runtime, your code will work as-is, but would still urge you to declare ALL variables by type, and use Option Explicit. Both will save you a lot of trouble in the future :)
Sub elizabethwhite()
Dim fs As New Scripting.FileSystemObject
Dim f As Scripting.File
Dim ts As Scripting.TextStream
fs.CreateTextFile "testfile.txt"
Set f = fs.getfile("testfile.txt")
Set ts = f.OpenAsTextStream(ForWriting, TristateUseDefault)
ts.WriteLine "Hello!"
'
'### The rest of your code goes here... remember to declare any other variables :)
'
Set ts = Nothing
Set f = Nothing
Set fs = Nothing
End Sub
See also (documentation about the OpenAsTextStream method):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa265341(v=vs.60).aspx

Answer 2

I got this error when I tried to write unicode string to non-unicode text file. You have two options:
Open the file as unicode explicitly
Set ts = f.OpenAsTextStream(ForWriting, TristateTrue)
Convert string from unicode to ASCII before writing to the file
Following code will help you strip unicode characters from output string before writing to the file:
Dim regex
Set regex = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
With regex
.Global = True
.Pattern = "[^\u0000-\u007F]+"
End With
MsgBox regex.Replace(Replace(yourStringHere, Chr(160), Chr(32)), vbNullString)
Inner Replace function is just standard VBA Replace which translates one whitespace character to another. I had to add it because regex replace stripped the character \u00A0 too for some reason .
So your code will be:
Sub elizabethwhite()
Dim regex
Set regex = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
With regex
.Global = True
.Pattern = "[^\u0000-\u007F]+"
End With
Set fs = CreateObject("scripting.filesystemobject")
fs.createtextfile "testfile.txt"
Set f = fs.getfile("testfile.txt")
Set ts = f.openastextstream(forwriting, tristateusedefault)
textline = ""
Do While f.opentextstream(forwriting, tristateusedefault).atendofstream <> True
textline = textline & f.opentextstream(forwriting, tristateusedefault).readline & " <BR>"
count = 0
pOne = 1
Do While InStr(textline, "<img") <> 0
count = count + 1
pOne = InStr(pOne, textline, "<img")
Do While InStr(pOne, textline, ">") = 0 & ts.atendofstream <> True
pTwo = InStr(pOne, textline, ">")
Loop
If 0 < count < 10 Then
textline = Left(textline, pOne - 1) & "{{image00" & count & ".jpg}}" & Right(textline, pTwo + 1)
ElseIf 9 < count < 100 Then
textline = Left(textline, pOne - 1) & "{{image0" & count & "}}.jpg" & Right(textline, pTwo + 1)
End If
Loop
Loop
ts.write regex.Replace(Replace(textline, Chr(160), Chr(32)), vbNullString)
ts.Close
End Sub
Stripping unicode characters is just a quick-fix for diagnostics. You may have to do more thorough troubleshooting (and maybe to do some translation of unicode characters instead of simply stripping them).