Naming CreateTextFile using File System Object

[hondabones]

Here's my script:

    VBS Programming

WScript.Echo "You will be asked to enter transaction amounts." & vbCr & vbCr & "Press Cancel at any time to see the running balance."
 
arrVals = Array()
Const ForWriting = 2
Set objFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'Set objFile = objFso.OpenTextFile("C:\testfile.txt", ForWriting, true)
Set objFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile( _ 
        "c:\Documents and Settings\Bones\Desktop\CheckBook\" _ 
        & Month(Date) & "_" & Day(Date) & "_" & Year(Date) _ 
        & ".txt", ForWriting) 
 
' Loop until you get a starting value or Cancel to exit script
Do While True
	strStart = InputBox("Enter starting balance as a decimal. (e.g. 234.56)" & vbCr & vbCr & "Enter debit amounts as negatives. (e.g. -23.40)")
	If strStart = "" Then WScript.Quit ' user pressed Cancel or entered blank info
 
	If IsNumeric(strStart) Then ' checks if the entered text can be interpreted as a number (simple typo check)
	objFile.WriteLine "" & strStart
		Exit Do ' exits loop if the entry is a valid number
	Else
		WScript.Echo "There was an error in your last entry."
	End If
Loop
 
intCount = 0 ' transaction counter
' Loop through transactions
Do While True
	strAmt = InputBox("Enter transaction amount")
	If strAmt = "" Then Exit Do ' user pressed Cancel or enter blank info
	objFile.WriteLine "" & strAmt
	If IsNumeric(strAmt) Then
		ReDim Preserve arrVals(intCount) 'resize array to accomodate current number of values
		arrVals(intCount) = strAmt ' insert current transaction into array
		intCount = intCount + 1 ' increment the counter
		'objFile.WriteLine "" & strAmt
	Else
		WScript.Echo "There was an error in your last entry. Please enter it again."
	End If
Loop
 
' Add the values in the array.
curTotal = CCur(0.00) ' initialize total as currency value of 0
For i = 0 to UBound(arrVals)
	curTotal = curTotal + CCur(arrVals(i))
Next
objFile.WriteBlankLines(3)
objFile.WriteLine "Total:"
objFile.WriteBlankLines(1)
objFile.WriteLine "$" & (CCur(strStart) + curTotal)
objFile.Close
WScript.Echo "Running Total: $" & (CCur(strStart) + curTotal)

The script works fine. I even have it creating a text file named "today's date". If I run the script more than once per day it overwrites the text file created before it. My question is:

How do you get it to name each new text file different than the first while still maintaining the system date?

[Nilpo]

(10-16-2009 04:21 AM)hondabones Wrote:  How do you get it to name each new text file different than the first while still maintaining the system date?

Add the time.

[hondabones]

(10-16-2009 09:43 AM)Nilpo Wrote:  

(10-16-2009 04:21 AM)hondabones Wrote:  How do you get it to name each new text file different than the first while still maintaining the system date?

Add the time.

Yep, That makes sense.

It would be better if the script could read an existing text file then recall the "Running Balance: $"

Use this amount for the strStart

User would then input new amounts

the script would then write these amounts with the new balance to the same text file without overwriting the original text.

How could I do that?

[Nilpo]

Well, you could do that too.

To begin, you'll need to use the constant ForAppending to write to the file without overwriting its existing contents.

    VBS Programming

Const ForAppending = 8

Of course, you'd use that as the second parameter in the OpenTextFile field.

Then you'll want to read in the text file and remember the last line. I can't tell you how to parse out the amount because I don't know what that line looks like for you. But here's how to retrieve the last line of the file.

    VBS Programming

Do Until objFile.AtEndOfStream
	strLine = objFile.ReadLine
Loop

Basically, this will assign each line of the file to strLine. When the loop exits, strLine will contain the last line of the file and the file's pointer will be at the end of the file--exactly where you want to start writing.

If your file has a line something like "Running Balance: $" where the amount is immediately following a dollar sign and running to the end of the line, then you can parse it easily like this:

    VBS Programming

strBal = Right(strLine, Len(strLine) - InStr(strLine, "$"))

[hondabones]

I could just read from the bottom up like this:

    VBS Programming

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFile = objFSO.GetFile("C:\test.txt")
If objFile.Size > 0 Then
   Set objReadFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile("C:\test.txt", 1)
   i = 1
   Do Until objReadFile.AtEndOfStream
       Redim Preserve arrData(i)
       arrData(i) = objReadFile.ReadLine
       i = i + 1
   Loop
   'objFile.Close
   For l = Ubound(arrData) to LBound(arrData) Step -1
       'Wscript.Echo "Record", l, "=", arrData(l)
	   Wscript.Echo arrData(l)
 
   Next
End If

But that reads every line and echoes each line back.

[hondabones]

(10-16-2009 03:54 PM)Nilpo Wrote:  Well, you could do that too.

To begin, you'll need to use the constant ForAppending to write to the file without overwriting its existing contents.

    VBS Programming

Const ForAppending = 8

Of course, you'd use that as the second parameter in the OpenTextFile field.

Then you'll want to read in the text file and remember the last line. I can't tell you how to parse out the amount because I don't know what that line looks like for you. But here's how to retrieve the last line of the file.

    VBS Programming

Do Until objFile.EOF
	strLine = objFile.ReadLine
Loop

Basically, this will assign each line of the file to strLine. When the loop exits, strLine will contain the last line of the file and the file's pointer will be at the end of the file--exactly where you want to start writing.

If your file has a line something like "Running Balance: $" where the amount is immediately following a dollar sign and running to the end of the line, then you can parse it easily like this:

    VBS Programming

strBal = Right(strLine, Len(strLine) - InStr(strLine, "$"))

so i would then enter strBal for the input strStart?

[Nilpo]

(10-16-2009 04:28 PM)hondabones Wrote:  so i would then enter strBal for the input strStart?

Yup.

[Nilpo]

(10-16-2009 04:21 PM)hondabones Wrote:  I could just read from the bottom up like this:

    VBS Programming

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFile = objFSO.GetFile("C:\test.txt")
If objFile.Size > 0 Then
   Set objReadFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile("C:\test.txt", 1)
   i = 1
   Do Until objReadFile.AtEndOfStream
       Redim Preserve arrData(i)
       arrData(i) = objReadFile.ReadLine
       i = i + 1
   Loop
   'objFile.Close
   For l = Ubound(arrData) to LBound(arrData) Step -1
       'Wscript.Echo "Record", l, "=", arrData(l)
	   Wscript.Echo arrData(l)
 
   Next
End If

But that reads every line and echoes each line back.

Big time over kill. Don't make it more complicated than it is. And don't use unnecessary objects/arrays/loops. It will just make your code less efficient.

[hondabones]

(10-16-2009 04:37 PM)Nilpo Wrote:  Big time over kill. Don't make it more complicated than it is. And don't use unnecessary objects/arrays/loops. It will just make your code less efficient.

How do I use your method but read from the bottom select the first line of text and use that for strBal?