- A Simple Temperature Conversion Program
- Building a Temperature Class
- Putting the Decisions into the Temperature Class
- Using Classes for Format and Value Conversion
- A String Tokenizer Class
- Classes as Objects
- Class Initialization
- Classes and Properties
- Another Interface Example·The Voltmeter
- A vbFile Class
- Programming Style in Visual Basic
- Summary
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
A vbFile Class
File handling in VB is for the most part awkward and primitive for historical reasons. The statements for opening files have this form.
f = FreeFile Open "file.txt" for Input as #f
And those for reading data from files have this form.
Input #f, s Line Input #f, sLine
There is no simple statement for checking for the existence of a file, and the file rename and delete have counterintuitive names.
Exists = len(dir$(filename))>0 'file exists Name file1 as file2 'Rename file Kill filename 'Delete file
None of these statements are at all object oriented. There ought to be objects that encapsulate some of this awkwardness and keep the file handles suitably hidden.
VB6 introduced the Scripting.FileSystemObject as a way to handle files in a presumably more object-oriented way. However, these objects are not fully realized and a bit difficult to use. Thus, we might do well to create our own vbFile object with convenient methods. These methods could include the following.
Public Function OpenForRead(Filename As String) As Boolean Public Function fEof() As Boolean Public Function readLine() As String Public Function readToken() As String Public Sub closeFile() Public Function exists() As Boolean Public Function delete() As Boolean Public Function OpenForWrite(fname As String) As Boolean Public Sub writeText(s As String) Public Sub writeLine(s As String) Public Sub setFilename(fname As String) Public Function getFilename() As String
A typical implementation of a few of these methods includes the following.
Public Function OpenForRead(Filename As String) As Boolean
'open file for reading
f = FreeFile 'get a free handle
File_name = Filename 'save the filename
On Error GoTo nofile 'trap errors
Open Filename For Input As #f
opened = True 'set true if open successful
oexit:
OpenForRead = opened 'return to caller
Exit Function
'--error handling--
nofile:
end_file = True 'set end of file flag
errDesc = Err.Description 'save error messae
opened = False 'no file open
Resume oexit 'and resume
End Function
'------
Public Function fEof() As Boolean
'return end of file
If opened Then
fEof = EOF(f)
Else
fEof = True 'if not opened then end file is true
End If
End Function
'------
Public Function readLine() As String
Dim s As String
'read one line from a text file
If opened Then
Line Input #f, s
readLine = s
Else
readLine = ""
End If
End Function
With these useful methods, we can write a simple program to read a file and display it in a list box.
Dim fl As New vbFile cDlg.ShowOpen 'use common dialog open fl.OpenForRead cDlg.Filename 'read in up to end of file sline = fl.readLine While Not fl.fEof lsFiles.AddItem sline sline = fl.readLine Wend fl.closeFile
Now, the implementation of this vbFile object can change as VB evolves. However, by concealing the details, we can vary the implementation in the future. We'll see another implementation of this class when we discuss VB.NET.