File Not Found Error

Question

Hi ,

Im a complete newbie to vb 2005 express

Im creating a lil program that when i click a button it will read a text file on the hard drive and stream it to a text box

I keep getting FileNotFoundExceptionWasNotHandled

Trouble shooting tips

verify that the file exists in the specified location

when using relative paths make sure the current directory is correct

im trying to avoid using a openfiledialog control

Heres my code

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

Dim mystream As System.IO.StreamReader

 

mystream = System.IO.File.OpenText("C:\A\A.txt")

Dim mystring As String

mystring = mystream.ReadToEnd

mystream.Close()

TextBox1.Text = mystring

End Sub

 

 

Any Help would sure be appreciated Thanks

Answer 1

It's pretty simple, just like what the error message said. The file you are trying to access does not exist, therefore an error is thrown. Are you sure the file exists as you have entered the path in the OpenText() method?

 

Best practice is to make sure you check for the file if it exists before performing an operation. Example:

 

if System.IO.File.Exists("path\file.txt") then

 

   'code to read file

else

   MessageBox.Show("The file path entered does not exist")

end if

 

 

be sure that the path you are giving to the file, exists, that it is the correct path. As always, there are more than one way to write the same code. Just for your information and curiosity, here is a shorter way:

 

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

 

using mystream As System.IO.StreamReader = System.IO.File.OpenText("C:\A\A.txt")

 

Me.textBox1.Text = mystream.ReadToEnd()

mystream.Close()

 

end using

 

End Sub

 

 

the "using" statement is to dispose of the object correctly, so that it frees system resources and releases the memory back to the OS and makes your application more memory friendly, and is best practice to do this.

 

Hope this helps in some way.

Please DO keep asking questions, we will help and its the only way to learn as you are :-)

Answer 2

Thank You ahmedilyas.

I'm still having the same problem (same error) I changed the code  as you suggested ,and I know the path is correct.

I even went so far as to use the openfiledialog control (to which I wish to avoid) and i can manually point to the file, and stream to my text box. My code now looks like this.

 

 

Imports System.IO

Public Class Form1

 

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

If System.IO.File.Exists("C:\A\A.txt") Then

Using mystream As System.IO.StreamReader = System.IO.File.OpenText("C:\A\A.txt")

Me.TextBox1.Text = mystream.ReadToEnd

mystream.Close()

End Using

Else

MessageBox.Show("The file path entered does not exist")

End If

End Sub

End Class

 

Could this have to do with current directory and relative paths? Thanks for any help .

Answer 3

Very odd. I see no problem at all, and naturally tested the code and works fine here.

 

if you are giving a path to the file as you are, then i see no reason why it should say it hasnt found the file. Are you sure that is the EXACT code you are using and not just editing the filepath when you are posting here on the forums?

Answer 4

Hi,

I'm not sure what was going wrong. I recreated the file. And everything works great. Thanks for your help.

Answer 5

great :-)

 

glad you got it working