Making "MaskedTextBox" values return in order...

I written some code (with some help..alright, alot of help) to store the values to a .txt file(s) so that when I re-open the form, the values will return (Hopfully to where they came from), but unfortunately they don't.

What happens is, they start back filling from the bottom of the form (Highest "MaskedTextBox" number to the lowest)

P.S. I'm already using this solution for "TextBoxes" Using FileOpen(1, "FSO.txt", OpenMode.Input) and it works fine (Confused)

I'm saving the values for "TextBoxes" to one file( FSO.txt) and the values for the "MaskedTextBoxes" to another file(FSO2.txt).

I need them to return to their former boxes, Here is the code I'm using for the return:

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

Try

FileOpen(1, "FSO2.txt", OpenMode.Input)

Dim Datepick2 As Windows.Forms.Control

For Each Datepick2 In Me.Controls

If TypeOf Datepick2 Is MaskedTextBox Then

FileSystem.Input(1, Datepick2.Text)

End If

Next

FileClose(1)

Catch ex As Exception

FileClose(1)

End Try

End Sub

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Making "MaskedTextBox" values return in order...

Ryan Lowdermilk
Thanx for all your hard work William, believe me, it is very much appreciated.

It seems to be working fine!

Again, much thanx

Mikeee
Mikener
This is the code that you need (I think).

Be sure to get the corrected CollectMaskedTextBoxes subroutine, which I provide in the last post. The sub will not work in all cases as coded in this post.

Okay, here's all the code for what you need (I think)...

The main methods are:
1. CollectMaskedTextBoxes()
2. FindFirstEmptyMtb()
3. SaveMtbValues()
4. RestoreMtbValues()
Below is the code, you may copy-n-paste....

Public Class Form1

    Private MyMaskedTextBoxes As New List(Of MaskedTextBox)
    Private MyMtbFile as String = "C:\MyMtbValues.txt"

    Sub New()

        ' This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
        InitializeComponent()

        ' Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call.
        Me.CollectMaskedTextBoxes()
    End Sub

    Private Sub CollectMaskedTextBoxes()
        'let's assemble a collection of Mtbs in numerical order

        'First, let's loop through all of the form's controls
        'Control indexes are actually in reverse of what you would think...

        'so, we will loop through them backwards
        For i As Integer = (Me.Controls.Count - 1) to 0 Step -1
            'let's check each control's Name property to see if
            'the current control is a MaskedTextBox
            Dim pos As Integer
            pos = Me.Controls.Item(i).Name.IndexOf("MaskedTextBox")

            If pos <> -1 Then
                'hey, we found a MaskedTextBox control
                'but right now, the computer considers it only a control in general...
                'so, let's convert this general control into a MaskedTextBox control
                Dim mtb As MaskedTextBox
                mtb = CType(Me.Controls.Item(i), MaskedTextBox)

                'finally, let's add this control -- mtb -- to our List of MaskedTextBoxes
                Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Add(mtb)
            End If
        Next i

   End Sub

    Private Sub FindFirstEmptyMtb(ByVal someText As String)
        'let's loop through all the Mtbs in the Mtb collection
        For i As Integer = 0 To Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Count - 1
            'let's check Text property of each current Mtb
            If Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Item(i).Text = String.Empty Then
                'hey, we found the first empty Mtb...
                'so, let's supply the text
                Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Item(i).Text = someText
                'we're done here, so lets exit the for-loop
                Exit For
            End If
        Next
    End Sub

    Private Sub SaveMtbValues()
        'prepare a file stream to write text to the file
        Dim fs As New System.IO.FileStream(Me.MyMtbFile, IO.FileMode.Create)
        Dim sw As New System.IO.StreamWriter(fs)

        'loop through the MTB collection
        For i As Integer = 0 To Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Count - 1
            'for each current MTB's, write the Text value to the file
            sw.WriteLine(Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Item(i).Text)
        Next

        'close and dispose of the stream objects
        sw.Close()
        fs.Close()

        sw.Dispose()
        fs.Dispose()

        'alert user that information has been saved...
        'delete or comment out this code if you do not
        'wish to inform the user of this process
        MsgBox("Mtb values have been saved.")

    End Sub

    Private Sub RestoreMtbValues()
        'prepare file stream
        Dim fs As System.IO.FileStream
        Dim sw As System.IO.StreamReader

        'try...catch...we might not find the file
        Try
            fs = New System.IO.FileStream(Me.MyMtbFile, IO.FileMode.Open)
        Catch ex As Exception
            'probably best to just leave the MTBs blank if an exception
            'is thrown, so we'll just exit the whole subroutine if we get an exception.
            Exit Sub
        End Try

        'if we successfully opened the filestream, we can create the streamreader
        sw = New System.IO.StreamReader(fs)

        'now, we'll loop through the MTB collection
        For i As Integer = 0 To Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Count - 1
            'for each current MTB, we will read a line of text
            Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Item(i).Text = sw.ReadLine()
        Next

        'we're done, so we'll close and dispose the stream objects
        sw.Close()
        fs.Close()

        sw.Dispose()
        fs.Dispose()

    End Sub

    'the next three subs are events for three buttons I had on a test form when I
    'tested the above subroutines
    'most likely, you will have different events call the subroutines
    'so feel free to remove/edit these last three event subs.
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Me.FindFirstEmptyMtb("hello")
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        Me.SaveMtbValues()
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
        Me.RestoreMtbValues()
    End Sub
End Class

Cheers,
--William
Remus Radu
Ignore this post. I provide a more complete code solution in a later post.

--william

Hi Mikeee,

For the easiest solution to this problem it is best if you use the second technique I gave you on the other thread. You really should sift the MaskedTextBoxes out of the other controls and collect them into a numerically ordered collection -- i.e, a List(of MaskedTextBox).

Below is the code to do that. It has two basic subroutines: (1) CollectMaskedTextBoxes and (2) FindFirstEmptyMtb. The CollectMaskedTextBoxes subroutine gathers the MTBs into a List called MyMaskedTextBoxes. The FindFirstEmptyMtb finds the first empty MTB and places the desired text in it.

'begin code
Public Class Form1

    Private MyMaskedTextBoxes As New List(Of MaskedTextBox)

    Sub New()

        ' This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
        InitializeComponent()

        ' Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call.
        Me.CollectMaskedTextBoxes()

    End Sub

    Private Sub CollectMaskedTextBoxes()
        'we will assemble a collection of Mtbs in numerical order

        Dim myStack As New Stack(Of MaskedTextBox)

        'let's loop through all controls
        'MaskedTextBoxes will be encountered from Highest to Lowest
        'so we will put them on a stack as we find them and
        'then take them from the stack and put them in the List
        For i As Integer = 0 To Me.Controls.Count - 1
            'let's check each control's Name property to see if
            'the current control is a MaskedTextBox
            Dim pos As Integer
            pos = Me.Controls.Item(i).Name.IndexOf("MaskedTextBox")

            If pos <> -1 Then
                'we found a MaskedTextBox control

                'let's convert the general control to a MaskedTextBox
                Dim mtb As MaskedTextBox
                mtb = CType(Me.Controls.Item(i), MaskedTextBox)

                'let's add this control to our STACK of MaskedTextBoxes
                myStack.Push(mtb)

            End If
        Next i

        'let's take the Mtbs from the stack and put them in the List
        For i As Integer = 0 To myStack.Count - 1
            Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Add(myStack.Pop())
        Next

    End Sub

    Private Sub FindFirstEmptyMtb(ByVal someText As String)
        'loop through all the Mtbs in the Mtb collection
        For i As Integer = 0 To Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Count - 1
            'check Text property of current Mtb
            If Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Item(i).Text = String.Empty Then
                'we found the first empty Mtb

                'let's supply the text
                Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Item(i).Text = someText

                'and exit the for loop
                Exit For
            End If
        Next
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Me.FindFirstEmptyMtb("hello")
    End Sub
End Class
'end code

I will make another post that will solve your problem, but my solution will not work unless you use the above code to solve the first problem of finding the first empty text box
vtortola
Here is corrected CollectMaskedTextBoxes subroutine

Sorry for all the blunders...

but the CollectMaskedTextBoxes sub didn't guarantee that you got the MaskedTextBoxes in numerical order (it would be right in most cases...but not all)...plus I discovered a more elegant way of determining the type of the current control (using GetType().Name instead of whatever I did last time).

here is the corrected sub routine:

Private Sub CollectMaskedTextBoxes()

    'let's assemble a collection of Mtbs in numerical order

    'Step 1: let's set up a temporary list to hold the

    'unsorted Mtbs

    Dim tmpList As New List(Of MaskedTextBox)

    'Step 2: let's loop through all of the form's controls

    For i As Integer = 0 To (Me.Controls.Count - 1)

        'let's check each control's type to see if

        'the current control is a MaskedTextBox

        Dim currentControl As Control

        Dim currentControlType As String

        Dim MtbType As String = "MaskedTextBox"

        currentControl = Me.Controls.Item(i)

        currentControlType = currentControl.GetType().Name

        If currentControlType = MtbType Then

            'hey, we found a MaskedTextBox control

            'but right now, the computer considers it only a control in general...

            'so, let's convert this general control into a MaskedTextBox control

            Dim currentMtb As MaskedTextBox

            currentMtb = CType(currentControl, MaskedTextBox)

            'finally, let's add this control to our

            'temporary unsorted List of MaskedTextBoxes

            tmpList.Add(currentMtb)

        End If

    Next i

    'step 3: now let's construct the permanent sorted List

    'first we will need to figure out how many Mtbs there are

    'to give us our counting numbers

    Dim mtbTotal As Integer = tmpList.Count

    'now we will loop through the counting numbers

    For mtbCounter As Integer = 1 To mtbTotal

        'for each counting number, we will loop through all

        'the Mtbs in the unsorted list to find the match

        'first let's determine what we want to match

        'for instance, "MaskedTextBox3" or whatever...

        Dim mtbNameToMatch As String = "MaskedTextBox" & mtbCounter

        'next, let's do the search

        Dim mtb As MaskedTextBox

        For Each mtb In tmpList

            If mtb.Name = mtbNameToMatch Then

                'lets add it to our permanent, sorted List

                  Me.MyMaskedTextBoxes.Add(mtb)

            End If

        Next mtb

    Next mtbCounter

End Sub
Qa Dept
Ignore this post, too...I edited my last post and fixed the problem I'm talking about here.

--william

one more thing...I did something really bad...I hardcoded the filename for the text file when making the filestreams...

it's better to record the file name in a variable at the beginning of the class...

example:
Private MyMtbValuesFileName As String = "C:\MyMtbValues.txt"

then later, in the filestreams you can refer to the variable instead of the actual path name.

example:
Dim fs As System.IO.FileStream
fs = New System.IO.FileStream(Me.MyMtbValuesFileName, IO.FileMode.Create)
Making "MaskedTextBox" values return in order...

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