For each loop string

Question

I'm getting a file content from my website:

    Dim client As WebClient = New WebClient()
    Dim text = client.DownloadString("http://myurl.com/raw.php")

The text is following:

Line
Another Line
Test1
Test2

Now, how can I run a loop through the text variable, to have a text from each line ?

I have tried this:

    Dim str As String() = text.Split(":::")
    For Each line As String In str
        MsgBox(line)
    Next

And I was finishing each line with the :::, but this method seems ugly and I hope there are better solutions?

Have you thought of returning an XML string rather than plain text? — bendataclear
– bendataclear, Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 16:55
text is not a Dim but a variable. Dim is the statement used to declare local variables and class members. — Olivier Jacot-Descombes
– Olivier Jacot-Descombes, Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 17:00
XML might be a good solution but it depends on exactly what data you're returning via the php file. — bendataclear
– bendataclear, Commented Nov 22, 2012 at 17:02

Dennis Traub · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-22 17:15:03Z

6

Dim lines As String() = text.Split(Environment.NewLine)
For Each line As String In lines
    MsgBox(line)
Next

This maybe doesn't work because the newline character in the original string is different from Environment.Newline. This can happen if the string comes from a Unix-based source.

An alternative approach could be:

Dim reader = new StringReader(text)
While True
    Dim line = reader.ReadLine()
    If line is Nothing
        Exit While
    Else
        MsgBox(line)
    End If
End While

edited Nov 22, 2012 at 17:15

answered Nov 22, 2012 at 16:48

Dennis Traub

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9 Comments

Mark Hall Over a year ago

You may want to change text.Split(Environment.NewLine) to text.Split(CChar(Environment.NewLine)) the former gives me an error of course I have Option Strict On

Scott Over a year ago

I dont know why, but it doesn't really works for me since for the Hello<newline>World (<newline> is just a new line in the text, as the comments here doesn't allow to place new lines) it does return just one MsgBox containing Hello<newline>World instead of two MsgBoxe's - one with Hello and second World. Hope you understand it.

Mark Hall Over a year ago

@Scott are you saying that you have an XML Style document that you are parsing, with <newline> being your delineator?

Scott Over a year ago

@MarkHall No, I said that <newline> is just a "sign" that new line is placed there, since I can not place new line here, in comments. I mean this: pastebin.com/raw.php?i=Q4v8bHrH

Heinzi Over a year ago

@MarkHall: Since Environment.NewLine returns the two-character sequence CRLF on Windows systems, CChar(Environment.NewLine) returns just CR, the first character. If the source of the data is from a unix system, it is likely separated by LFs.

|

bendataclear · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-22 17:23:53Z

2

An example of the vb.net side if useing XML:

Dim doc As New System.Xml.XmlDocument
doc.Load("http://myurl.com/raw.php")

Dim list = doc.GetElementsByTagName("article")

For Each item As System.Xml.XmlElement In list
    MsgBox(item.InnerText)
Next

Edit:

Example XML schema:

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!-- File generated at 22/11/2012 17:22 -->
<articleList>
  <article>Hello</article>
  <article>World</article>
  <article>Fish</article>
</articleList>

Another advantage of switching to XML now will mean it will be easier to add more details in the future (like article header, date/time, auther etc).

edited Nov 22, 2012 at 17:23

answered Nov 22, 2012 at 17:09

bendataclear

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4 Comments

Scott Over a year ago

Could you post the XML schema, that PHP should return? Something like... <xml><article>Hello</article><article>World</article></xml> ?

Scott Over a year ago

Also, how can I display (and get them inside of the loop) additional data such as date or article author as you said?

bendataclear Over a year ago

Great place to start is here: beansoftware.com/ASP.NET-Tutorials/XML-Programming-VB.NET.aspx

Scott Over a year ago

Yea, nevermind I have fixed all my questions/problems on my own :).

Heinzi · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-22 21:05:40Z

1

Using text.Split(CChar(Environment.NewLine)), as suggested in another answer, is not optimal: Environment.NewLine returns the two-character sequence CR LF on Windows systems. Thus, CChar(Environment.NewLine) returns just CR, the first character of the string. If the source of the data is from a unix system, it is likely separated by LFs.

If you are unsure about the exact line endings, you could use the following:

Dim lines As String() = text.Split(new String() {vbCrLf, vbCr, vbLf}, 
                                   StringSplitOptions.None)

That should cover all cases, since it splits on CR alone, on LF alone and on a combination of both.

answered Nov 22, 2012 at 21:05

Heinzi

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Comments

ElGavilan · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-26 13:21:55Z

-1

Sorry to bring this up years later... I just found a easier way to do it:

dim lin() as string
lin() = TextBox1.Text.Split(vbCrLf)

edited Feb 26, 2015 at 13:21

ElGavilan

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answered Feb 26, 2015 at 12:02

Jordi Selva Serrano

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