I've been trying to use StreamReader to read a log file. I cannot verify what it is encoded in, as when I open it in notepad++ and select ANSI encoding, I get this result:
I'm getting the characters needed when using ANSI but they are followed by things like [NULL][EOT][SOH][NUL][SI]
When I try and read the file in VB (using StreamReader or ReadAll) with ANSI encoding selected the resulting string I get back is completely wrong.
How could I read a file like this in VB.net?
You could use the IO.File.ReadAllText("File Location", encoding as System.Text.Encoding) method,
Dim textFromFile as string = IO.File.ReadAllText("C:\Users\Jason\Desktop\login20130417.rdb", System.Text.Encoding.ASCII) 'Or Unicode, UFT32, UFT8, UFT7, BigEndianUnicode or default. Default is ANSI.
If you still don't get the text you need by using the default encoding (ANSI), then you can always try the other 6 different encoding methods.
Update...
It appears that your file is corrupt, using the code below I was able to get a binary representation of whatever is in the file, I got this,
1111111111111101000001110000010000000000000001010000000000010011000000000000100000000000000111100000000000100110000000000011100000000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000110000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000111111111111110100000111000001000000000000000101000000000001001100000000000010000000000000011110000000000010100000000000111111111111110100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000110011100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The massive amount of null data would suggest that the file is corrupt, which would also explain why we are not getting a lot of data whenever we try to read the file.
The code,
Dim fileData As String = IO.File.ReadAllText("C:\Users\Jason\Desktop\login20130417.rdb")
Dim i As Integer = 0
Dim binaryData As String = ""
Dim ch As String = ""
Do Until i = fileData.Length
ch = fileData.Chars(i)
bin = bin & System.Convert.ToString(AscW(ch), 2).PadLeft(8, "0")
i = i + 1
Loop
As #Daniel A. White suggested in his comment, that file does not appear to be encoded like a "normal" text file. A StreamReader will not work in this situation. I would attempt to use a BinaryReader.
Rdb file? Never heard of it. Quick google makes it less clear - n64 database file, Darkbot, etc...
However considering the name you have, and the general look of the opened file, i would say its a binary file.
If you want to read the file in vb.net you'll need a library of sorts, and i can't help you with one until you are able to shed some light on what the file may be, or what it was created with.
Related
Is it possible for the following code to produce NUL values within a text file?
var temp_str = "123456;1234567"
My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText(Path & "stats.txt", temp_str, False)
It seems simple, but it writes quite often and I'm seeing several files that get accessed by the application that have Strings written to as:
When opening the file with Notepad++. Some other editors show just squares, and it seems like each character is represented by a block/NUL.
So far I've been unable to reproduce this on my test system. I just find the files on a COMX module's file system that's been running in the field and comes back faulty, but I've been seeing enough of these files to make it a problem that needs to be solved.
Does anyone have an idea to prevent this behaviour?
Hard to say what the problem is without more code, but try this if you want to replace the existing contents of the file:
Dim fileContent = "My UTF-8 file contents"
Using writer As IO.StreamWriter = IO.File.CreateText(fullPathIncludingExtension)
writer.Write(fileContent)
End Using
Or this if you want to append UTF-8 text:
Dim newLines = "My UTF-8 content to append"
Using writer As IO.StreamWriter = IO.File.AppendAllText(fullPathIncludingExtension)
writer.Write(fileContent)
End Using
If you want to append Unicode text, you must use a different constructor for StreamWriter:
Using writer As IO.StreamWriter = New IO.StreamWriter("full/path/to/file.txt", True, Text.Encoding.Unicode)
writer.Write(MyContentToAppend)
End Using
Note that the True argument to the constructor specifies that you want to append text.
Please help. I have a piece of code that's already working in other parks of my program, however fails to work when accessed by a certain form so i can't see there can be an error with it. Its an information storage project using text files. A screenshot of the exact code and the error:
I expected it to change the label text to the contents of the text file its trying to read.
Thanks everyone :)
Well, there must be one or more illegal characters coming from your "zoots1.txt" file!
Build the filename and see what it looks like:
Dim zoot1s As String
zoot1s = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText("zoot1s.txt")
Dim fileName As String
fileName = zoot1s + "c.txt"
MessageBox.Show(fileName)
Dim ClassStrain As String
ClassStrain = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText(fileName)
TempLabel3.Text = ClassStrain
Timer1.Start()
--- EDIT --
My bad. I Found the issue to be that there is a skip in text where it goes to a new line. As if i had added vbNewline to it. Is there any way to edit the text file and take away the last character so there isnt a new line.
Use the Trim() function to get rid of white space. Also use Path.Combine() to make sure the path is correctly separated from the filename with the correct number of backslashes:
zoot1s = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText("zoot1s.txt").Trim()
Dim fileName As String = System.IO.Path.Combine(zoot1s, "c.txt")
I think you just missed the most important thing, which is the whole specific path of your file that will be reading data from, specifically after the ReadAllText() method, so instead of this line:
zoom1s=My.computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText('zoot1s.txt")
You should edit it like this:
zoom1s=My.computer.FileSystem.ReadAllTex(My.Computer.FileSystem.CurrentDirectory & \zoot1s.txt")
I hope this can solve your problem.
^_^
I have a whole bunch of text files that are exported from Photoshop that I need to import into an Excel document. I wrote a macro to get the job done and it seemed to work just fine for my test document but when I tried loading in some of the actual files produced by Photoshop Excel started putting all the data in a separate column except for the first line.
My code that reads the text file:
Open currentDocPath For Input As stream
Do Until EOF(stream)
Input #stream, currentLine
columnContents = Split(currentLine, vbTab)
For n = 0 To UBound(columnContents)
ActiveSheet.Cells(row, Chr(64 + colum + n)).Value = columnContents(n)
Next n
row = row + 1
Loop
Close stream
The text files I am reading look like this, only with much more data:
"Name" "Data" "Info" "blah"
"Name1" "Data1" "Info1" "blah1"
"Name2" "Data2" "Info2" "blah2"
The problem seemed pretty trivial, but when I load it into excel, instaed of looking like it does above it looks like this:
ÿþ"Name" "Data" "Info" "blah"
Name1
Data1
Info1
blah1
Name2
Data2
Info2
blah2
Now I am not sure why this is happening. It seems like the first two characters in the first row are there because those bytes declare the text encoding. Somehow those characters keep the first row formatted correctly while the remaining rows lose their quotation marks and all get moved to new lines.
Could someone who understands UCS-2 Little Endian text encoding explain how I can work around this? When I convert the files to ASCII it works fine.
Cheers!
edit: Okay so I understand now that the encoding is UTF-16 (I don't know a whole lot about character encoding). My main issue is that it's formatting strangely and I don't understand why or how to fix it. Thanks!
As I mentioned in my comment, it appears the file you're trying to import is encoded in UTF-16.
In this vbaexpress.com article, someone suggested that the following should work:
Dim GetOpenFile As String
Dim MyData As String
Dim r As Long
GetOpenFile = Application.GetOpenFilename
r = 1
Open GetOpenFile For Input As #1
Do While Not EOF(1)
Line Input #1, MyData
Cells(r, 1).Value = MyData
r = r + 1
Loop
Close #1
Obviously I can't test it myself, but maybe it'll help you.
Why not just tell excel to import the file. MS has probably put hundreds of thousands of person hours into that code. Record the importation to get easy code.
Remember Excel is a tool for non programmers to do programming things. Use it instead of trying to replace it.
These are the replacement file functions that you use for new code. Add a reference to Microsoft Scripting Runtime.
Opens a specified file and returns a TextStream object that can be used to read from, write to, or append to the file.
object.OpenTextFile(filename[, iomode[, create[, format]]])
Arguments
object
Required. Object is always the name of a FileSystemObject.
filename
Required. String expression that identifies the file to open.
iomode
Optional. Can be one of three constants: ForReading, ForWriting, or ForAppending.
create
Optional. Boolean value that indicates whether a new file can be created if the specified filename doesn't exist. The value is True if a new file is created, False if it isn't created. If omitted, a new file isn't created.
format
Optional. One of three Tristate values used to indicate the format of the opened file. If omitted, the file is opened as ASCII.
The format argument can have any of the following settings:
Constant Value Description
TristateUseDefault
-2
Opens the file using the system default.
TristateTrue
-1
Opens the file as Unicode.
TristateFalse
0
Opens the file as ASCII.
The below given code is returning corrupted data to the variable 'mystr'
like
PK ! ��fѲ � [Content_Types].xml �(� �UMk�#���^��N%�9�ɱ
It was reading the word files correctly. Suddenly it started happening without any change in code or software versions or source files!! Any word file I try to run through the below code gives the same corrupted output. I'm able to open the file in MsWord without any issue.
Dim myStreamReader As System.IO.StreamReader
Dim myStr As String
myStreamReader = System.IO.File.OpenText("c:\test.docx")
myStr = myStreamReader.ReadToEnd()
myStreamReader.Close()
Any suggestions why it is happening ?
You can't read a Word document using the StreamReader class as the file itself isn't plain text (it contains the data you find 'corrupted').
This link will help you reading text from a Word document.
I'm pretty new to visual basic (and coding in general) so if I've made any really simple mistakes let me know.
Right now, I'm getting a pretty weird problem with my vb.net code.
The filestream is able to correctly open the file and read from it - but what's weird is that while the code is able to read a bunch of lines from the beginning of the file, when I manually open the file in notepad I'm not. Here's the code:
Dim fs, f, s 'filesystemobject, file, stream.
fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
f = fs.GetFile(CurrDataPath) ' This change made to ensure the correct file is opened
s = f.OpenAsTextStream(1, 0) ' 1 = ForReading, 0 = as ASCII (which i think is right?)
Dim param(14) As String
Dim line As String
line = s.ReadLine()
While i <= 14
i += 1
MessageBox.Show(line)
line = s.ReadLine()
End While
(I've read that arrays are a bad idea but they've been convenient and haven't caused me any problems so I've been using them anyways.)
What's weird is that when this code is run, it will (in the message boxes) show me the information I want to see - which isn't bad at all. The information that I want looks like this:
BEGINPARAM
parameter1, 0
parameter2, 7.5
ENDPARAM
EDIT:
After using Path.GetFullPath(DFile), I found that there were two files in different directories with the same name DFile. The file I had been opening in Notepad was saved in the directory where I expected it to be saved, while the file the code was reading was saved in the VB project's folder.
Once I changed the code to rely on CurrDataPath which includes the expected path, the code read from the file exactly what I did in notepad.
I do have word wrap on in notepad, so I know that's not the issue, however, I will look into getting notepad++.
The file named DFile is created in a c++ program that I'll be digging through to find out why one part of the file is written to a different folder than the rest.
Obviously I'm missing something important, and if anyone could help, that would be great.
*Note: This is a vb6 migration project so if anyone asks I can provide the old code.
Assuming the most recent version of VB.Net, the modern way to write that is like this:
For Each line As String In File.ReadLines(CurrDataPath).Take(14)
MessageBox.Show(line)
Next
I'm not 100% clear on what you're saying. There's nothing in this code that outputs to a file, so what you have to be saying is that when you open the file referenced by "DFile" on line 3 above, that file doesn't have the lines containing "parameter1, 0" and "parameter2, 7.5" in it?
Since we know that's not technically possible, do verify the answer to the question above and make sure you're really opening the same file in notepad as the script is opening. The second thing to do is to turn on Word Wrap in Notepad or download Notepad++ (a text editor I think everyone should have anyway) and make sure that the data's actually missing, and not just not showing on your screen because it's not using Windows style line endings.