In this article I will explain with an example, how to display DAT file data in Windows (WinForms) Application using C# and VB.Net.
Form Design
The following Form consists of:
DataGridView – For displaying DAT file content.
OpenFileDialog – For selecting DAT file.
![Display DAT file data in Windows Application using C# and VB.Net]()
Namespaces
You will need to import the following namespace.
C#
VB.Net
Property class
The Customer class consists of the following properties.
C#
public class Customer
{
public string CustomerId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Country { get; set; }
}
VB.Net
Public Class Customer
Public Property CustomerId As String
Public Property Name As String
Public Property Country As String
End Class
Displaying DAT file data
Inside the Form Load event handler, the ReadDatFile method is called.
ReadDatFile
Inside the ReadDatFile method, the InitialDirectory property is set.
The Filter property is set to Dat files(*.Dat)|*.Dat as file with only .DAT extension is required and RestoreDirectory is set to TRUE.
The RestoreDirctory property of the OpenFileDialog is set to TRUE which stores the previously selected directory that has been set using InitialDirectory.
Then, a check is performed if the file is selected or not.
After that the selected file content is read using ReadAllLines method of File class and stored in an array of string.
A Generic List collection of Customer class is created and a FOR loop is executed over the array of string which has contents read from selected file.
Each line is splits using tab (\t) character and stored in an array using named customer.
A new object of Customer class is created and read values are set to their respective properties.
Finally, a Generic List collection of Customer class object is assigned to the DataSource property of DataGridView and the DataGridView is populated.
C#
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.ReadDatFile();
}
private void ReadDatFile()
{
openFileDialog1.InitialDirectory = @"E:\Files";
openFileDialog1.Filter = "Dat files(*.Dat)|*.Dat";
openFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = true;
if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
string[] lines = File.ReadAllLines(openFileDialog1.FileName);
List<Customer> customers = new List<Customer>();
for (int i = 0; i <= lines.Length - 1; i++)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(lines[i].Trim()))
{
string[] customer = lines[i].Trim().Split('\t');
customers.Add(new Customer
{
CustomerId = customer[0],
Name = customer[1],
Country = customer[2]
});
}
}
dataGridView1.DataSource = customers;
}
}
VB.Net
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
Me.ReadDatFile()
End Sub
Private Sub ReadDatFile()
OpenFileDialog1.InitialDirectory = "E:\Files"
OpenFileDialog1.Filter = "Dat files(*.Dat)|*.Dat"
OpenFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = True
If OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
Dim lines As String() = File.ReadAllLines(OpenFileDialog1.FileName)
Dim customers As List(Of Customer) = New List(Of Customer)()
For i As Integer = 0 To lines.Length - 1
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(lines(i).Trim()) Then
Dim customer As String() = lines(i).Trim().Split(vbTab)
customers.Add(New Customer With {
.CustomerId = customer(0),
.Name = customer(1),
.Country = customer(2)
})
End If
Next
DataGridView1.DataSource = customers
End If
End Sub
Screenshots
DAT File
![Display DAT file data in Windows Application using C# and VB.Net]()
DataGridView
![Display DAT file data in Windows Application using C# and VB.Net]()
Downloads
