How can I open file, whose format doesn´t supported now, in programm on VB?

Question

In my programm i need to open file, whose format isn´t universal and now there is now programm, which supports this format.(format .iwd) Can I open this file in my programm on Visual Basic and read data from it? Unfortunally, standart tools for read don´t help.Maybe i can use programm, which works with this format(i found old one) . But i need read data from file whithout opening this special programm.

Thank you  for any help

Answer 1

The answer is – definitely yes – you can open any file. But how – depending from the format of file: you can open it as text if it’s kind a text format or by XmlDocument in case if it’s an Xml. But if this is binary, you need to know exact structure.

Answer 2

thank you. It is some kind of binary text, but it isn´t in use now. Even developers decline an it. So, i´m afraid, i will never knew it´s structure. But the prodlem still exist

Answer 3

....another way is to use library of the programm, which worked with those files. But i don´t know exactly how....

Answer 4

You can use PInvoke: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa446536.aspx
But you still have to know function name and its params.