How do get VB to start text extraction in a certain are?

[Kangol kangoll]

hi, i've been trying to figure out how to make visual basic start
extracting text at a certain line to when i tell it to stop. I am making
trying to make a program where it extracts text from a text file and
inserts it into a database. But right now i'm stuck at finding a way to
code it so the text extraction doesn't start till after the second set
of dashes, here is part of text file. I want to extract ACL ET AL
SNIPELK 8-27-70-18 and so on.... Can someone guide me down the right
path?

DATE: 04 November 2003
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------
WELL NAME LICENCE NUMBER MINERAL RIGHTS GROUND ELEVATION
UNIQUE IDENTIFIER SURFACE CO-ORDINATES BOARD AREA OFFICE PROJECTED
DEPTH
LAHEE CLASSIFICATION FIELD TERMINATING ZONE
DRILLING OPERATION WELL PURPOSE WELL TYPE SUBSTANCE
LICENSEE SURFACE LOCATION

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------

ACL ET AL SNIPELK 8-27-70-18 0024070 ALBERTA CROWN 791.6M
100/08-27-070-18W5/02 S 647.7M W 595.1M GRANDE PRAIRIE 3164.0M
DEV (NC) SNIPE LAKE SWAN HILLS MBR
HORIZONTAL RESUMPTIONPRODU CTION CRUDE OIL
APACHE CANADA LTD. 10-27-070-18W5

much appriciated thanks

[Larry Serflaten]

"Kangol kangoll" <ka****@whoever .com> wrote in message

hi, i've been trying to figure out how to make visual basic start
extracting text at a certain line to when i tell it to stop. I am making
trying to make a program where it extracts text from a text file and
inserts it into a database. But right now i'm stuck at finding a way to
code it so the text extraction doesn't start till after the second set
of dashes, here is part of text file. I want to extract ACL ET AL
SNIPELK 8-27-70-18 and so on.... Can someone guide me down the right
path?

If what you want is near the start of the file, read the file line by line
and when you get a line full of dashes, increment a counter. When
that counter is at 2, you know you need to start keeping the data you
are reading in. I presume, when the counter gets to 3, you're done.

See Line Input in VB Help for an example....

LFS

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[Randy Birch]

You can't tell any non-random access file method to 'begin reading at line
x' ... you have to start from the beginning and loop through the contents.
(And FYI, your file format does not follow a random access file structure so
that method is also not applicable to your data).

--

Randy Birch
MVP Visual Basic
http://www.mvps.org/vbnet/
Please respond only to the newsgroups so all can benefit.
"Kangol kangoll" <ka****@whoever .com> wrote in message
news:Xn******** *************** *******@198.161 .157.145...
: hi, i've been trying to figure out how to make visual basic start
: extracting text at a certain line to when i tell it to stop. I am making
: trying to make a program where it extracts text from a text file and
: inserts it into a database. But right now i'm stuck at finding a way to
: code it so the text extraction doesn't start till after the second set
: of dashes, here is part of text file. I want to extract ACL ET AL
: SNIPELK 8-27-70-18 and so on.... Can someone guide me down the right
: path?
:
: DATE: 04 November 2003
:
:
: ------------------------------------------------------------------------
: --------------------
: WELL NAME LICENCE NUMBER MINERAL RIGHTS GROUND ELEVATION
: UNIQUE IDENTIFIER SURFACE CO-ORDINATES BOARD AREA OFFICE PROJECTED
: DEPTH
: LAHEE CLASSIFICATION FIELD TERMINATING ZONE
: DRILLING OPERATION WELL PURPOSE WELL TYPE SUBSTANCE
: LICENSEE SURFACE LOCATION
:
: ------------------------------------------------------------------------
: --------------------
:
: ACL ET AL SNIPELK 8-27-70-18 0024070 ALBERTA CROWN 791.6M
: 100/08-27-070-18W5/02 S 647.7M W 595.1M GRANDE PRAIRIE 3164.0M
: DEV (NC) SNIPE LAKE SWAN HILLS MBR
: HORIZONTAL RESUMPTIONPRODU CTION CRUDE OIL
: APACHE CANADA LTD. 10-27-070-18W5
:
:
:
: much appriciated thanks

[Stephane Richard]

That key looks familiar to me, maybe it's because I used to work with
something similar back at my Edmonton Alberta Department of Energy contract
;-). Oil Sands right? ;-)

If the header of the file is always the same (which I suspect it probably
is) just open a typical text file with an editor...count the lines until
the line you want to start extract from and loop that number of times....for
instance if your file has a line of dashes, 3 lines of information, and
another line of dashes and then the information you need starts. In this
example I assume it's 56 lines of header including the dash lines: Also what
would trigger you stopping to read the file? the end of file marker? a
specific character or combination of characters at the end of the
extraction? or do you need to paus at each line and make a decision as to
what to do next?

Dim FileNumber as Integer
Dim Counter as Integer
Dim WorkString as String

FileNumber = FreeFile()
Open "Filename.t xt" for input as #FileNumber
For Counter = 1 to 5
Line Input #FileNumber, WorkString
Next Counter

' ----------------------------------------
' Here you start reading the information
' I'm assuming the end of file will exit
' ----------------------------------------
Do While Not EOF(FileNumber)
Line Input #FileNumber, WorkString
' Here you parse and extract your information from WorkString
' and save it to the database
Loop
CLose #FileNumber

And there you have it :-).
--
Stéphane Richard
Software Developer
"Kangol kangoll" <ka****@whoever .com> wrote in message
news:Xn******** *************** *******@198.161 .157.145...

hi, i've been trying to figure out how to make visual basic start
extracting text at a certain line to when i tell it to stop. I am making
trying to make a program where it extracts text from a text file and
inserts it into a database. But right now i'm stuck at finding a way to
code it so the text extraction doesn't start till after the second set
of dashes, here is part of text file. I want to extract ACL ET AL
SNIPELK 8-27-70-18 and so on.... Can someone guide me down the right
path?

DATE: 04 November 2003
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------
WELL NAME LICENCE NUMBER MINERAL RIGHTS GROUND ELEVATION
UNIQUE IDENTIFIER SURFACE CO-ORDINATES BOARD AREA OFFICE PROJECTED
DEPTH
LAHEE CLASSIFICATION FIELD TERMINATING ZONE
DRILLING OPERATION WELL PURPOSE WELL TYPE SUBSTANCE
LICENSEE SURFACE LOCATION

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------

ACL ET AL SNIPELK 8-27-70-18 0024070 ALBERTA CROWN 791.6M
100/08-27-070-18W5/02 S 647.7M W 595.1M GRANDE PRAIRIE 3164.0M
DEV (NC) SNIPE LAKE SWAN HILLS MBR
HORIZONTAL RESUMPTIONPRODU CTION CRUDE OIL
APACHE CANADA LTD. 10-27-070-18W5

much appriciated thanks