Read text file

You said each file is uniquely numbered, but is each line in the files uniquely numbered?  Can there be more than one line with 0008,0022 on it per file?  Could 0008,0022 appear in more than one file?

The numbers appear to be sequential.  Is this always true?  Are the values you are looking for given to you in a sequential order?

The answers to these questions can help us develop a more efficient searching algorithm.

Idle_Mind

Each file will only have ONE 0012,0012 for example, however they may not have one altogether.

LInes numbers are not possible, as not all lines are present.

Is it possible for 0012,0012  to be in say 123textfile.txt and 124textfile.txt at the same time?

I was thinking you could parse each line in each file and add each value to a collection using the number as the key.  Then you can do as many lookups as you want really quickly.

It would take memory to hold the all the data at once but if you are doing a lot of searches I think it would be faster then searching the files themselves each time.

Let me know if you want to see the code to do this.

Idle_Mind

Each file will generally have the same contents (except value is different)

However some may have a line missing altogether

Here is an example of how to store all the value / key combinations in a collection.

Create a new project and add two commandbuttons.

When the first button is pressed the app will process all text files it finds in the hard coded path.

The second button demonstrates how to do a key lookup and iterate throuhg all the returned values (if any).

Regards,

Idle_Mind

' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Option Explicit

Private files As New Collection

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    ' Read all txt files in path and add their value/key combinations to our collection
   
    Dim matchingFiles As New Collection
    Dim matchedFile As Variant
    Dim path As String, pattern As String
   
    path = "C:\Documents and Settings\Tomlinson\My Documents\1 VB Code\Convert All Files In Directory\"
    pattern = "*.txt"
    Set matchingFiles = getFilesInDirectory(path, pattern)
    For Each matchedFile In matchingFiles
        addFileContents path & matchedFile
    Next matchedFile
End Sub

Private Sub Command2_Click()
    ' demonstrates how to lookup all values for a given key
   
    Dim values As Collection
    Dim value As Variant
    Dim key As String
   
    key = "0008,0022"
    Debug.Print "Key: " & key
    For Each value In getValuesFromKey(key)
        Debug.Print "Value: " & value
       
        ' do something with your value / key combo here
       
    Next value
End Sub

Private Function getFilesInDirectory(targetDirectory As String, filePattern As String) As Collection
    ' generic function to return a collection of filenames in the targetDirectory
    ' that match the filePattern
   
    Dim fileCollection As New Collection
    Dim curFile As String
   
    On Error GoTo noSuchDirectory
    ChDir targetDirectory
   
    On Error GoTo 0
    curFile = Dir(filePattern)
    Do Until curFile = ""
        fileCollection.Add curFile, curFile
        curFile = Dir()
    Loop
    Set getFilesInDirectory = fileCollection
    Exit Function
   
noSuchDirectory:
    MsgBox "Invalid Directory: " & targetDirectory
    Set getFilesInDirectory = fileCollection
End Function

Private Sub addFileContents(fileName As String)
    ' read fileName and add value/key combinations to a collection
    ' when done, add the collection to our global files collection
   
    On Error Resume Next ' possible duplicate key errors
   
    Dim fileContents As New Collection
    Dim ff As Integer
    Dim inputLine As String
    Dim key As String
    Dim value As String
    Dim leftParen As Integer
    Dim rightParen As Integer
    Dim leftBracket As Integer
    Dim rightBracket As Integer
       
    If Dir(fileName) <> "" Then
        Debug.Print "Reading " & fileName
        ff = FreeFile
        Open fileName For Input As #ff
        Do While Not EOF(ff)
            Line Input #ff, inputLine
' | (0008,0022) : DA   Len: 8      AcquisitionDate                Value: [20020121]
            leftParen = InStr(inputLine, "(")
            rightParen = InStr(inputLine, ")")
            leftBracket = InStr(inputLine, "[")
            rightBracket = InStr(inputLine, "]")
            key = Mid(inputLine, leftParen + 1, rightParen - leftParen - 1)
            value = Mid(inputLine, leftBracket + 1, rightBracket - leftBracket - 1)
            Debug.Print "Added " & key & " = " & value
            fileContents.Add value, key
        Loop
        Close #ff
    End If
    If fileContents.Count > 0 Then
        files.Add fileContents
    End If
    Set fileContents = Nothing
End Sub

Private Function getValuesFromKey(keyValue As String) As Collection
    ' search all the stored value/key combinations and
    ' return a collection containing all values matching that given key
   
    On Error GoTo noSuchLine
   
    Dim valuesCollection As New Collection
    Dim file As Variant
    Dim value As Variant
   
    For Each file In files
        value = file.Item(keyValue)
        valuesCollection.Add value
skipLine:
    Next file
    Set getValuesFromKey = valuesCollection
    Exit Function

noSuchLine:
    Resume skipLine
End Function

OK, i have reduced the task by use of the following code:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        ListBox2.Items.Clear()


        If TextBox1.Text <> "" Then

            Dim oDirectory As New IO.DirectoryInfo(TextBox1.Text)
            Dim oListing As IO.FileInfo() = oDirectory.GetFiles("*.dmp")
            Dim oFileName As IO.FileInfo
            Dim Text, FoundEnd, FullPath, Search As String
            Dim TotalFiles, FilesOpened, Found, linecount As Integer
            TotalFiles = oListing.Length()



            Search = "1"

            ProgressBar1.Maximum = Int(TotalFiles)


            For Each oFileName In oListing

                'Add 1 block to the Progress Bar
                FilesOpened = FilesOpened + 1
                ProgressBar1.Value = FilesOpened

                FullPath = oDirectory.FullName & "\" & oFileName.Name

                Dim oRead As IO.TextReader = IO.File.OpenText(FullPath)

                Do

                    If InStr(oRead.ReadLine, "(0010,0010)", CompareMethod.Binary) > 0 Then
                        ListBox2.Items.Add(oFileName.Name & "-" & FilesOpened & "----" & oRead.ReadLine)
                    End If


                    FoundEnd = InStr(1, "END-OF-DATASET", oRead.ReadLine, CompareMethod.Text)

                Loop Until FoundEnd > 0
            Next
            MessageBox.Show(FilesOpened & " Files opened")
        Else
            MessageBox.Show("Directory not set")
        End If

    End Sub
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When displaying the result it writes out the NEXT line in the text file????
So instead of displaying the line containing 0010,0010 is displays for example 0010,0011

? Please helpsBTW, The points are slowly going up 4 u all.

Thankyou for your help so far