Chapter 8 – Sequential Files

8.1 Sequential Files

8.2 Using Sequential Files

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Section 8.1 – Sequential Files
• Creating a Sequential File
• Adding Items to a Sequential File
• Structured Exception Handling

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Sequential Files
• A sequential file consists of data stored
in a text file on disk.
• May be created with the Visual Basic IDE
• May also be created programmatically
from Visual Basic

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 Creating a Sequential File
1. Choose a filename – may contain up to 215
characters
2. Select the path for the folder to contain this
file
3. Execute a statement like the following:
Dim sw As IO.StreamWriter = IO.File.CreateText(filespec)

(Opens a file for output.)

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 Creating a Sequential File…
4. Place lines of data into the file with
statements of the form:
sw.WriteLine(datum)
5. Close the file:
sw.Close()
Note: If no path is given for the file, it will
be placed in the Debug subfolder of bin.
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 Example
Private Sub btnCreateFile_Click(...) _
Handles btnCreateFile.Click
Dim sw As IO.StreamWriter =
IO.File.CreateText("PAYROLL.TXT")
sw.WriteLine("Mike Jones") 'Name
sw.WriteLine(9.35) 'Wage
sw.WriteLine(35) ‘Hours worked
sw.WriteLine("John Smith")
sw.WriteLine(10.75)
sw.WriteLine(33)
sw.Close()
End Sub

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File: PAYROLL.TXT
Mike Jones
9.35
35
John Smith
10.75
33

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 Caution
• If an existing file is opened for output,
Visual Basic will erase the existing file
and create a new one.

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 Adding Items to a Sequential
File
1. Execute the statement
Dim sw As IO.StreamWriter =
IO.File.AppendText(filespec)
where sw is a variable name and filespec
identifies the file.
2. Place data into the file with the WriteLine
method.
3. After all the data have been recorded into the
file, close the file with the statement
sw.Close()
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IO.File.AppendText
• Will add data to the end of an existing file
• If a file does not exist, the method will
create it.

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 Sequential File Modes
• CreateText – open for output
• OpenText – open for input
• AppendText – open for append
• A file should not be opened in two
different modes at the same time.

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 Avoiding Errors
• Attempting to open a non-existent file for
input brings up a message box titled:
FileNotFoundException
• There is a method to determine if a file
exists before attempting to open it:
IO.File.Exists(filespec)
will return a True if the file exists
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 Testing for the Existence of a
File
Dim sr As IO.StreamReader
If IO.File.Exists(filespec) Then
sr = IO.File.OpenText(filespec)
Else
message = "Either no file has yet been "
message &= "created or the file named"
message &= filespec & " is not found."
MessageBox.Show(message, "File Not Found")
End If

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 Deleting Information from a
Sequential File
• An individual item of a file cannot be changed
or deleted directly.
• A new file must be created by reading each
item from the original file and recording it, with
the single item changed or deleted, into the
new file.
• The old file is then erased, and the new file
renamed with the name of the original file.

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 Delete and Move Methods
• Delete method:
IO.File.Delete(filespec)
• Move method (to change the filespec
of a file):
IO.File.Move(oldfilespec, newfilespec)
• Note: The IO.File.Delete and IO.File.Move
methods cannot be used with open files.
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Imports System.IO
• Simplifies programs that have extensive file
handling.
• Place the statement
Imports System.IO
at the top of the Code Editor, before the
Class frmName statement. Then, there is
no need to insert the prefix “IO.” before the
words StreamReader, StreamWriter, and File.

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Structured Exception Handling
• Two types of problems in code:
• Bugs – something wrong with the code the
programmer has written
• Exceptions – errors beyond the control of
the programmer
• Programmer can use the debugger to
find bugs; but must anticipate exceptions
in order to be able to keep the program
from terminating abruptly.
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How Visual Basic Handles
Exceptions
• An unexpected problem causes Visual Basic
first to throw an exception then to handle it.
• If the programmer does not explicitly include
exception-handling code in the program, then
Visual Basic handles an exception with a
default handler.
• The default exception handler terminates
execution, displays the exception’s message in
a dialog box and highlights the line of code
where the exception occurred.
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 Exception Example
• If the user enters a word or leaves the input
box blank in the following program, an
exception will be thrown:
Dim taxCredit As Double
Private Sub btnComputeCredit_Click(...) _
Handles btnComputeCredit.Click
Dim numDependants As Integer
numDependants = CInt(InputBox( _
"How many dependants do you have?"))
taxCredit = 1000 * numDependants
End Sub
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Exception Handled by Visual
Basic

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 Try-Catch-Finally Block
Dim taxCredit As Double
Private Sub btnComputeCredit_Click(...)
Handles btnComputeCredit.Click
Dim numDependents As Integer, message As String
Try
numDependents = CInt(InputBox("How many dependents?"))
Catch
message = "You did not answer the question " _
& " with an integer value. We will " _
& " assume your answer is zero."
MessageBox.Show(message)
numDependents = 0
Finally
taxCredit = 1000 * numDependents
End Try
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End Sub Schneider 21
 Catch Blocks
• Visual Basic allows Try-Catch-Finally blocks to
have one or more specialized Catch clauses that
only trap a specific type of exception.
• The general form of a specialized Catch clause is
Catch exp As ExceptionName
• where the variable exp will be assigned the
name of the exception. The code in this block will
be executed only when the specified exception
occurs.
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 Try Catch Block Syntax
Try
normal code
Catch exc1 As FirstException
exception-handling code for FirstException
Catch exc2 As SecondException
exception-handling code for SecondException
.
.
Catch
exception-handling code for any remaining
exceptions
Finally
clean-up code
End Try
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Exception Handling and File
Errors
• Exception handling can also catch file
access errors.
• File doesn't exist causes an
IO.FileNotFoundException
• If an attempt is made to delete an open
file, IO.IOException is thrown.

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 8.2 Using Sequential Files
• Sorting Sequential Files
• CSV Format
• Merging Sequential Files
• Control Break Processing

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8.2 Sorting Sequential Files
1. Read data from file into an array of
structures.
2. Sort the data based on chosen member
in structure.
3. Write sorted data to file.

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CSV File Format
• Comma Separated Values
• Records are stored on one line with a
comma between each field
• Example:
Mike Jones,9.35,35
John Smith,10.75,33

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LSV File Format
• Line Separated Values
• Each value appears on its own line
• Up to now, this is the only type of file we
have been using.

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 Split Function
• Facilitates working with CSV formatted files.
• Split can convert a line containing commas into
a String array.
• The 0th element contains the text preceding
the first comma, the 1st element contains the
text between the first and second commas, ...,
and the last element contains the text following
the last comma.

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 Split Example
• For instance, suppose the String array
employees() has been declared without an
upper bound, and the String variable line has
the value “Bob,23.50,45”.
employees = line.Split(","c)
• sets the size of employees() to 3
• sets employees(0) = “Bob”
• employees (1) = “23.50”
• employees(2) = “45”.
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 Split Comments
Employees = line.Split(","c)
• In this example, the character comma is called
the delimiter for the Split function, and the
letter c specifies that the comma has data type
Character instead of String. (If Option Strict is
Off, the letter c can be omitted.)
• Any character can be used as a delimiter. If no
character is specified, the Split function will
use the space character as delimiter.
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 Example 2
Private Sub btnConvert_Click(...) _
Handles btnConvert.Click
Dim stateData(), line As String
line = "California, 1850, Sacramento, Eureka"
stateData = line.Split(","c)
For i As Integer = 0 To stateData.GetUpperBound(0)
stateData(i) = stateData(i).Trim 'Get rid
'of extraneous spaces
lstOutput.Items.Add(stateData(i))
Next
End Sub

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Example 2 Output
California
1850
Sacramento
Eureka

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 Example 3: Convert a CSV
Format File to an LSV Format
Private Sub btnConvert_Click(...) Handles btnConvert.Click
Dim line, fields(), fromFile, toFile As String
Dim sr As IO.StreamReader
Dim sw As IO.StreamWriter
fromFile = InputBox("Name of original file:", _
"Convert from CSV to LSV")
toFile = InputBox("Name of converted file:", _
"Convert from CSV to LSV")
sr = IO.File.OpenText(fromFile)
sw = IO.File.CreateText(toFile)
Do While (sr.Peek() <> -1)
line = sr.ReadLine()
fields = line.Split(","c)

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 Example 3 continued
For i As Integer = 0 To fields.GetUpperBound(0)
sw.WriteLine(fields(i).Trim)
Next
Loop
sr.Close()
sw.Close()
sr = IO.File.OpenText(toFile)
Do While sr.Peek <> -1
lstFile.Items.Add(sr.ReadLine)
Loop
sr.Close()
End Sub

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Example 3: Input File
California, 1850, Sacramento, Eureka
New York, 1788, Albany, Excelsior

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Example 3: Output File
California
1850
Sacramento
Eureka
New York
1788
Albany
Excelsior
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 Join Function
• The reverse of the Split function is the Join function
• Join concatenates the elements of a string array into a string
containing the elements separated by a specified delimiter.
Dim greatLakes() As String = _
{"Huron","Ontario","Michigan","Erie","Superior"}
Dim lakes As String
lakes = Join(greatLakes, ",")
txtOutput.Text = lakes

OUTPUT:
Huron,Ontario,Michigan,Erie,Superior

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 Merging Ordered Sequential Files
Algorithm
1. Open the two ordered files for input, and open a
third file for output.
2. Try to get an item of data from each file.
3. Repeat the following steps until an item of data is
not available in one of the files:
a) If one item precedes the other, write it into the
third file and try to get another item of data from
its file.
b) If the two items are identical, write one into the
third file and try to get another item of data from
each of the two ordered files.
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 Merge Algorithm continued
4. At this point, an item of data has most likely
been retrieved from one of the files and not
yet written to the third file. In this case, write
that item and all remaining items in that file to
the third file.
5. Close the three files.

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Control Break Processing
• Used to create subtotals
• When there is special significance to the
changing of the value of a certain
variable, that variable is called a control
variable
• Each change of its value is called a
break.

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Data for Example 5
Month Day Address Price
January 9 102 Elm St $203,000
January 20 1 Main St $315,200
January 25 5 Maple St $123,450
February 15 1 Center St $100,000
February 23 2 Vista Dr $145,320
March 15 5 Rodeo Cir $389,100

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Task for Example 5
• Display sales by month and display the
monthly subtotals.

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Output for Example 5

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 Comments
• Files to be processed can be opened and
closed within a single procedure.
• Files can also be opened just once the instant
the program is run and stay open until the
program is terminated.
• To open a file once, open it in the form’s Load
procedure and put the Close method and End
statement in the click event procedure for a
button labeled “Quit.”
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