Question

c# - Write to text file - appending new text ot the top of the file

Asked by: ThePATMAN26

Writing a webapp. The user posts a comment, the comment is sent to a text file. When the page reloads the text file's contents are displayed to the user.

I want to have it so when the new comment is appended to the text file it is added at the top of the text file, not at the bottom. So that when the content of the text file is displayed to the user the newest additions will be on top.

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Asked On
2009-01-24 at 21:47:46ID24081199
Tags

c#

,

C#

,

asp.net

Topics

C / C++ / C# Editors and IDEs

,

Microsoft Visual C#.Net

,

C# Programming Language

Participating Experts
4
Points
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: CuteBugPosted on 2009-01-24 at 23:21:06ID: 23459952

Use this code

List<string> textList = new List<string>();
textList.AddRange(File.ReadAllLines(filepath);
// Insert your new text here
textList.Insert(0, newTextLine);   
// Write to file         
File.WriteAllLines(filepath, textList.ToArray());

                                              
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by: needo_jeePosted on 2009-01-24 at 23:48:31ID: 23460008

hi,

you may try writing in the file using .. seekOrigion

this may help to write latest comments at the beggining and then reading first the latest ones..

try
      {
      FileStream fStream = File.Open("C:\\test.txt" , FileMode.Open  );
        if(fStream.CanWrite)
        {
        string s = textBox1.Text;
           fStream.Seek(0 , SeekOrigin.Begin);
          byte[] bytes = new byte[100];
          bytes = System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(s);
             
           fStream .Write (bytes,0,bytes .Length );
 
          
        }
        fStream.Flush();
        fStream.Close();
        
      }
      catch(IOException ex)
      {
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
      }

                                              
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by: needo_jeePosted on 2009-01-24 at 23:51:40ID: 23460016

CuteBug seems accurate.. i did not see the comments while posting mine..
I believe that is better way .

Thanks

 

by: DropZonePosted on 2009-01-25 at 06:17:53ID: 23460991

CuteBug: That requires reading the entire file into memory every time.
needo_jee: Your solution will overwrite the text at the top of the file (it won't insert).

I personally suggest that the best and most efficient way is to follow these steps:
  1. Open a new temporary file for writing (OUT).
  2. Write the new text to OUT.
  3. Open old file for reading (IN).
  4. Iterate through all lines in IN and write them to OUT.
  5. Close OUT, close IN.
  6. Rename OUT to IN.

Alternatively:
  1. Open a new temporary file for writing (OUT).
  2. Write the new text to OUT.
  3. Close OUT.
  4. Append the IN stream to OUT.
  5. Rename OUT to IN.

To append IN to OUT (step #4), you could use the File.AppendAllText() method, if the file is a text file.

See below for a sample implementation.  It may seem like more code, but ultimately, if the file grows very big, you do not need to load the entire thing into memory first.

     -dZ.

    string oldPath = 'old.txt';
    string tmpPath = 'temp.txt';
    string newText = 'This is the new text.';
 
    // Write the new text in a temporary file:
    File.WriteAllText(tmpPath, newText);
 
    // Open the temporary file to append and the
    // old file for reading.
    StreamWriter tmpFile = File.AppendText(tmpPath);
    StreamReader oldFile = File.OpenText(oldPath);
    try
        {
            // Write all lines of oldFile to tmpFile.
            string line = "";
            while ((line = oldFile.ReadLine()) != null)
            {
                tmpFile.WriteLine(line);
            }
        }
    finally
        {
        oldFile.Dispose();
        tmpFile.Dispose();
        }
 
    // Rename the temporary file to overwrite the old one
    File.Move(tmpFile, oldFile);
                                              
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by: DropZonePosted on 2009-01-25 at 06:24:30ID: 23461012

Sorry, I just noticed that the initial WriteAllText() call is unnecessary and will open and close the file, wasting resources.  I also realized that I left some typos when I changed the name of the variables.

The attached code is corrected.  Please note that this is from the top of my head, so I can't guarantee that it will compile, but it should illustrate the technique just the same.

     -dZ.

    // Obviously, these will come from other parts of your program:
    string oldFile = 'old.txt';
    string tmpFile = 'temp.txt';
    string newText = 'This is the new text.';
 
    // Open the tmpFile for appending and the oldFile for reading.
    // If tmpFile does not exist (and it shouldn't!), it is
    // created.  Alternatively, you may want to call File.Delete()
    // first to make sure the tmpFile does not exist.
    StreamWriter tmpFile = File.AppendText(tmpFile);
    StreamReader oldFile = File.OpenText(oldFile);
    try
        {
            // Write the new text to tmpFile.
            File.WriteLine(newText);
 
            // Write all lines of oldFile to tmpFile.
            string line = "";
            while ((line = oldFile.ReadLine()) != null)
            {
                tmpFile.WriteLine(line);
            }
        }
    finally
        {
        oldFile.Dispose();
        tmpFile.Dispose();
        }
 
    // Rename the temporary file to overwrite the old one
    File.Move(tmpFile, oldFile);
                                              
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by: ragi0017Posted on 2009-01-25 at 07:22:07ID: 23461307

i will discuss a totally alternative approach here... i am going the alternative approach route because if you are going to use a flat file to save comments then how will the demarcation between comments done i.e. when was the comment added and where one comment ends and where the next one begins

the approach that i am going to take is that instead of adding the comments to a flat file add them in an XML file by adding a new comment node and when the comment has been added just publish the comments in the reverse order from the XML

 

by: DropZonePosted on 2009-01-25 at 07:46:45ID: 23461454

ragi0017, although your approach is sound, I believe that the intention of the author is to have the program work like the old "guestbook" scripts used in the Web of yore; whereas the guestbook content is just a large html block (e.g. a table or a set of div blocks) and every time a new one is added, it is constructed completely and written to the top of the file.  Then this file is just rendered verbatim into the output stream.  Sort of like a cheap pre-render mechanism.

Of course, this is conjecture on my part, we'll need to hear from the author.  There are certainly better approaches to this, but they would probably require more labor in changing the program to support them.

If indeed the author is looking for the best way to store incremental data and display it in LIFO (Last In, First Out) order, then we can certainly offer better alternatives, of which ragi0017's is one.

     -dZ.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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