Visual Basic Add query to write all lines

Question

I am combining three text files into one text file and in the one final text file, it needed to be sorted by state alphabetically. How do I get my query to work with the writealltext? My code is below:

 Private Sub generatebtn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles generatebtn.Click
        Dim sen = IO.File.ReadLines("C:\temp\Senate113.txt").ToList()
        sen.AddRange(IO.File.ReadLines("C:\temp\RetiredSen.txt"))
        sen.AddRange(IO.File.ReadLines("C:\temp\NewSen.txt"))

        Dim query = From line In sen
                    Let state = Split(","c)(1)
                    Let name = Split(","c)(0)
                    Let party = Split(","c)(2)
                    Order By state Ascending
                    Select name, state, party

        IO.File.WriteAllLines("Senate114.txt", sen)

    End Sub
End Class

Answer 1

Hi @James Carey ,

I am combining three text files into one text file and in the one final text file, it needed to be sorted by state alphabetically

Is the following code helpful?

File.WriteAllLines("Senate114.txt", sen.Distinct().OrderBy(Function(x) x.Split(","c)(1)))  

If I have any misunderstanding, please let me know.

Best Regards,
Xingyu Zhao
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Answer 2

You already have an Order By, but in addition you probably want to separate the values by comma. Then try something like this:

Dim query = From line In sen
            Let s = Split(","c)
            Let state = s(1)
            Let name = s(0)
            Let party = s(2)
            Order By state Ascending
            Select name & "," & state & "," & party

Answer 3

Even though you have an accepted solution that is done with LINQ when dealing with files that may not be in a specific format or something unknown happens the one line solution should be replaced with one that provides exception handling along with utilizing (in this case) an interface for custom sorting, TextFieldParser for reading files into a list via a Sorted set that implements the custom IComparer interface.

In the code sample I take three files, combine into one then export to a new file. A DataGridView provides confirmation the results are correct prior to exporting.

Note sorting is done on product name in this code sample

Implmentation form code

Public Class Form1  
  
    Private Sub CombineFilesButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles CombineFilesButton.Click  
  
        DataGridView1.DataSource = Nothing  
        ExportListButton.Enabled = False  
  
        Dim products = FileOperations.Read()  
  
        If products.Count > 0 Then  
            DataGridView1.DataSource = products  
            ExportListButton.Enabled = True  
        End If  
  
    End Sub  
  
    Private Sub ExportListButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ExportListButton.Click  
  
        If DataGridView1.DataSource IsNot Nothing Then  
            FileOperations.Export(CType(DataGridView1.DataSource, List(Of Product)))  
        End If  
  
    End Sub  
    Private Sub Form1_Shown(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Shown  
        AddHandler FileOperations.ExceptionHandler, AddressOf GeneralExceptionWhileReadingFile  
        AddHandler FileOperations.MalformedLineExceptionHandler, AddressOf MalFormExceptionWhileReadingFile  
  
        ExportListButton.Enabled = False  
    End Sub  
  
    Private Sub MalFormExceptionWhileReadingFile(exception As Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.MalformedLineException, fileName As String)  
        Console.WriteLine($"Read error on line {exception.LineNumber} with file {fileName}")  
    End Sub  
  
    Private Sub GeneralExceptionWhileReadingFile(exception As Exception, fileName As String)  
        Console.WriteLine($"General error: {exception.Message}  with file {fileName}")  
    End Sub  
End Class