Reading a text file using OpenFileDialog in windows forms

Question

I am new to the OpenFileDialog function, but have the basics figured out. What I need to do is open a text file, read the data from the file (text only) and correctly place the data into separate text boxes in my application. Here's what I have in my "open file" event handler:

private void openToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {     OpenFileDialog theDialog = new OpenFileDialog();     theDialog.Title = "Open Text File";     theDialog.Filter = "TXT files|*.txt";     theDialog.InitialDirectory = @"C:\";     if (theDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)     {         MessageBox.Show(theDialog.FileName.ToString());     } } 

The text file I need to read is this (for homework, I need to read this exact file), It has an employee number, name, address, wage, and hours worked:

1 John Merryweather 123 West Main Street 5.00 30 

In the text file I was given, there are 4 more employees with info immediately after this in the same format. You can see that the employee wage and hours are on the same line, not a typo.

I have an employee class here:

public class Employee {     //get and set properties for each      public int EmployeeNum { get; set; }     public string Name { get; set; }     public string Address { get; set; }     public double Wage { get; set; }     public double Hours { get; set; }      public void employeeConst() //constructor method     {         EmployeeNum = 0;         Name = "";         Address = "";         Wage = 0.0;         Hours = 0.0;     }      //Method prologue     //calculates employee earnings     //parameters: 2 doubles, hours and wages     //returns: a double, the calculated salary     public static double calcSalary(double h, double w)     {         int OT = 40;         double timeandahalf = 1.5;         double FED = .20;         double STATE = .075;         double OThours = 0;         double OTwage = 0;         double OTpay = 0;         double gross = 0; ;         double net = 0;         double net1 = 0;         double net2 = 0;         if (h > OT)         {             OThours = h - OT;             OTwage = w * timeandahalf;             OTpay = OThours * OTwage;             gross = w * h;             net = gross + OTpay;         }         else         {             net = w * h;         }          net1 = net * FED; //the net after federal taxes         net2 = net * STATE; // the net after state taxes          net = net - (net1 + net2);         return net; //total net     } } 

So I need to pull the text from that file into my Employee class, then output the data to the correct textbox in the windows forms application. I am having trouble understanding how to do this right. Do I need to use a streamreader? Or is there another, better way in this instance? Thank you.

Answer 1

Here's one way:

Stream myStream = null; OpenFileDialog theDialog = new OpenFileDialog(); theDialog.Title = "Open Text File"; theDialog.Filter = "TXT files|*.txt"; theDialog.InitialDirectory = @"C:\"; if (theDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK) {     try     {         if ((myStream = theDialog.OpenFile()) != null)         {             using (myStream)             {                 // Insert code to read the stream here.             }         }     }     catch (Exception ex)     {         MessageBox.Show("Error: Could not read file from disk. Original error: " + ex.Message);     } } 

Modified from here:MSDN OpenFileDialog.OpenFile

EDIT Here's another way more suited to your needs:

private void openToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {     OpenFileDialog theDialog = new OpenFileDialog();     theDialog.Title = "Open Text File";     theDialog.Filter = "TXT files|*.txt";     theDialog.InitialDirectory = @"C:\";     if (theDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)     {         string filename = theDialog.FileName;          string[] filelines = File.ReadAllLines(filename);          List<Employee> employeeList = new List<Employee>();         int linesPerEmployee = 4;         int currEmployeeLine = 0;         //parse line by line into instance of employee class         Employee employee = new Employee();         for (int a = 0; a < filelines.Length; a++)         {              //check if to move to next employee             if (a != 0 && a % linesPerEmployee == 0)             {                 employeeList.Add(employee);                 employee = new Employee();                 currEmployeeLine = 1;             }              else             {                 currEmployeeLine++;             }             switch (currEmployeeLine)             {                 case 1:                     employee.EmployeeNum = Convert.ToInt32(filelines[a].Trim());                     break;                 case 2:                     employee.Name = filelines[a].Trim();                     break;                 case 3:                     employee.Address = filelines[a].Trim();                     break;                 case 4:                     string[] splitLines = filelines[a].Split(' ');                      employee.Wage = Convert.ToDouble(splitLines[0].Trim());                     employee.Hours = Convert.ToDouble(splitLines[1].Trim());                     break;               }          }         //Test to see if it works         foreach (Employee emp in employeeList)         {             MessageBox.Show(emp.EmployeeNum + Environment.NewLine +                 emp.Name + Environment.NewLine +                 emp.Address + Environment.NewLine +                 emp.Wage + Environment.NewLine +                 emp.Hours + Environment.NewLine);         }     } }