How to VB.NET Simple TextReader

By: Rajesh P.S.

TextReader and TextWriter serve as alternative means to accomplish the reading and writing of files, offering distinct functionalities from stream classes. While not directly classified as stream classes, these classes play crucial roles in the process, providing specialized capabilities for working with text-based files.

TextReader

TextReader is designed specifically for reading text data from files and other sources, offering methods and properties that facilitate efficient and convenient retrieval of textual information. Conversely, TextWriter focuses on writing text data to files, enabling developers to seamlessly create or modify text-based content.

StreamReader

Further enhancing their utility, the StreamReader and StreamWriter classes inherit from TextReader and TextWriter, respectively. These derived classes offer additional functionalities and features, building upon the foundation provided by their parent classes. By using StreamReader, developers can efficiently read text from files, while StreamWriter enables seamless writing of text data to files.

Full Source VB.NET

Imports System.IO Public Class Form1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Try Dim line As String Dim readFile As System.IO.TextReader = New _ StreamReader("C:\Test1.txt") line = readFile.ReadToEnd() MsgBox(line) readFile.Close() readFile = Nothing Catch ex As IOException MsgBox(ex.ToString) End Try End Sub End Class

A notable application of the TextReader class involves the capability to read the entire content of a file into a string. By utilizing the TextReader's methods, such as ReadToEnd(), developers can effortlessly retrieve the complete textual content of a file and store it as a string variable. This enables further processing and manipulation of the file's content within the application, providing versatility and flexibility in data handling.

Conclusion

TextReader and TextWriter in VB.NET provide alternative approaches for reading and writing files, specializing in text-based operations. While not stream classes themselves, they serve as foundational components for file handling. Derived classes like StreamReader and StreamWriter extend their functionality, allowing developers to effectively read and write text data. Using TextReader's capabilities, developers can easily retrieve the entirety of a file's content into a string, providing ample opportunities for subsequent data processing and manipulation.

Next > How to VB.NET TextWriter

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