' Ch. 9 Demo Program #8
' Mr. Minich
' Purpose - Comparing the use of sequential and random access files

Option Explicit

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Open "Z:\Temp\Info.txt" For Input As #1

    ' sequential access files need to be opened in Input, Output, or Append type of access
	'	Mr. Minich prefers to use the .txt extension for sequential access files
    
    Dim J As Integer            	' loop variable
    Dim strInfo(1 To 10) As String 	' info from sequential access file
    
    For J = 1 To 9          		' reading info from sequential access file
        Input #1, strInfo(J)       	' using the Input command
    Next J
    
    ' there is no easy way to write a single piece of information to
    '    a specific position within a sequential access file
    
    Open "Z:\Temp\Info.dat" For Random Access Read As #2 Len = 15

    ' random access files need to be opened in Read or Write mode
    '   and you must specify the length of each record in characters
    '   Mr. Minich prefers to use the .dat extension with random access files
    
    Dim X As Integer                	' loop variable
    Dim strMoreInfo(1 To 10) As String 	' info from random access file
    
    For X = 1 To 9          			' reading info from random access file
        Get #2, J, strMoreInfo(X)  		' using the Get command
    Next X
    
    Dim strName As String      			' piece of info to write to a file
    strName = "Bill"
    Put #2, 7, strName         			' writing a piece of info ("Bill") to the 7th
End Sub                     			'   record of the random access file

' In summary, there are two common types of access with which to open each type of file with:
'
' There are two file modes that you can work in: sequential or random access
'
' There are three types of access with each mode:

' sequential access files - Input, Output & Append
' random access files - Read, Write, & Read Write

' There are two operations used with each file mode as well:

' sequential access files - Input & Print
' random access files - Get & Put

' In sequential access files, individual pieces of information are usually stored on
'   on separate lines or separated by commas.

' In random access files, individual pieces of information are stored in records with
'	each record being the same size.

' We often use NotePad to view or edit sequential access files. But random access files
'   cannot and should not be viewed and editted.