Using Write, WriteLine

Melanie · **Posted:** March 21st, 2005, 3:21 pm

Hi chaps,

Can someone help me with Write?

I have a text file which has 4 lines:

ONE=Apples
TWO=Cucumbers
THREE=
FOUR=

I want to find and append to line 3 so that it reads:

ONE=Apples
TWO=Cucumbers
THREE=A lone moose
FOUR=

I have script like this:

Code:

function updatethings()
{
var filestr = "C:\\things.txt"
var myfile = OpenFile(filestr)

if (myfile == null)
   {
   Debug.trace("Unable to open file" + filestr)
   return;
   }
else
   {
   Debug.trace(filestr + " is open" + "\n")
   }
   
while (myfile.EndOfFile() == false)
{
   var myrec = myfile.ReadLine();
   Debug.trace("Reading record: " + myrec + "\n")
   if (String.contains(myrec,"THREE="))
      {
      Debug.trace("Found THREE!" + "\n")
      myfile.Write("A lone moose")//is appending to end of file
      //myfile.WriteLine("A lone moose")//is appending to end of file
      Debug.trace("Updated: " + myrec + "\n")
      }
   else
      {
      Debug.trace("Not THREE" + "\n")
      }
   wait();
   }
}

Both Write and WriteLine are appending to the file.

How do I append to the line?

I'd appreciate any pointers...

Thanks

Melanie

Robin Garrett · **Posted:** March 21st, 2005, 4:41 pm

Hi,

Thank you for your enquiry.

The main problem is that your OpenFile() action does not contain the overwrite parameter, so it is not possible to insert values into the existing text, and all information written to the file will be appended to the end. However, if you use the overwrite parameter in your current OpenFile() action, the entire contents of the file will be deleted before you can check each line.

One solution is to use a normal OpenFile() action to read from the file and store each of the lines of text into an array. Whilst the lines are being stored to the array, you can check for any particular strings (such as 'THREE=') and append information to the current index of the array.

Once all of the lines from the text file have been stored into the array and any matching search values have been modified to include the appended text, you can then close the original file and reopen it with an OpenFile() action set to Overwrite. This will clear the contents of the text file, but you can now use WriteLine() actions to write each index of the array back to the file.

I have attached a sample publication which demonstrates this.

Kind regards,

Melanie · **Posted:** March 21st, 2005, 6:17 pm

Thanks so much, Robin, that's great

Just one more question (but a crucial one, wish I'd thought of it earlier) - how can I embed quotation marks so that I can produce (using same example):

ONE=Apples
TWO=Cukes
THREE="A lone moose"
FOUR=

Can anyone help? :?:

Thanks again,

Melanie

Paul · **Posted:** March 21st, 2005, 7:54 pm

Hi Melanie

You have to escape quote marks with a forward slash so Opus knows the quotemarks are part of a string and not the start or finish of one.

THREE="\"A lone moose\""

cheers
Paul

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Using Write, WriteLine

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