I found an issue of a beginner developer on a forum about importing a CSV phonebook file into DataGridView and having some search option.
First of all, I have created 2 forms:
- one for the main form
- one for adding new phonebook entry
The main form has a DataGridView, a MenuStrip, an OpenFileDialog, a SaveFileDialog, a Label, a TextBox and a Button. The MenuStrip has 2 items: File and Phonebook. File menu has 4 elements: Open CSV, Save…, a separator and Exit. The Phonebook menu has only 1 menu: Add…
Now create our Phonebook class and implement the IComparable interface (so the csv file items will be sorted alphabetically. Let’s say we have 6 fields (by request of the guy at the forum):
- Station
- Section
- Infaco
- Location
- DirectDial
- AutoNumber
(if I were him, I would have an ID field too…)
We also need 3 constructors of the class: one empty, one with the 6 arguments mentioned above as fields and one with string array for the CSV import). Also need a public method for CSV export, called ToCsv().
Finally the most interesting part of the class: implementing the interface with the method of public int CompareTo(object obj)
The full class looks like this:
public class Phonebook : IComparable
{
public string Station { get; set; }
public string Section { get; set; }
public string Infaco { get; set; }
public string Location { get; set; }
public string DirectDial { get; set; }
public int AutoNumber { get; set; }
public Phonebook()
{
}
public Phonebook(string station, string section, string infaco, string location, string directDial, int autoNumber)
{
Station = station;
Section = section;
Infaco = infaco;
Location = location;
DirectDial = directDial;
AutoNumber = autoNumber;
}
public static Phonebook FromCsv(string csvLine)
{
string[] values = csvLine.Split(',');
Phonebook phonebook = new Phonebook();
phonebook.Station = values[0];
phonebook.Section = values[1];
phonebook.Infaco = values[2];
phonebook.Location = values[3];
phonebook.DirectDial = values[4];
phonebook.AutoNumber = Convert.ToInt32(values[5]);
return phonebook;
}
public string ToCsv()
{
return Station + "," + Section + "," + Infaco + "," + Location + "," + DirectDial + "," + AutoNumber;
}
public int CompareTo(object obj)
{
string s1 = this.Station as string;
if (s1 == null) return 0;
string s2 = (obj as Phonebook).Station as string;
if (s2 == null) return 0;
int len1 = s1.Length;
int len2 = s2.Length;
int marker1 = 0;
int marker2 = 0;
while (marker1 < len1 && marker2 < len2)
{
char ch1 = s1[marker1];
char ch2 = s2[marker2];
char[] space1 = new char[len1];
int loc1 = 0;
char[] space2 = new char[len2];
int loc2 = 0;
do
{
space1[loc1++] = ch1;
marker1++;
if (marker1 < len1)
{
ch1 = s1[marker1];
}
else
{
break;
}
} while (char.IsDigit(ch1) == char.IsDigit(space1[0]));
do
{
space2[loc2++] = ch2;
marker2++;
if (marker2 < len2)
{
ch2 = s2[marker2];
}
else
{
break;
}
} while (char.IsDigit(ch2) == char.IsDigit(space2[0]));
string str1 = new string(space1);
string str2 = new string(space2);
int result;
if (char.IsDigit(space1[0]) && char.IsDigit(space2[0]))
{
int thisNumericChunk = int.Parse(str1);
int thatNumericChunk = int.Parse(str2);
result = thisNumericChunk.CompareTo(thatNumericChunk);
}
else
{
result = str1.CompareTo(str2);
}
if (result != 0)
{
return result;
}
}
return len1 - len2;
}
}
On the form create a class level List<> variable of our phonebook type:
List<Phonebook> phonebookFromCsv;
This will keep our phonebook entries.
Let’s create the CSV opening event on the form:
private void openCSVToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (ofdCsv.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
if (phonebookFromCsv == null) phonebookFromCsv = File.ReadAllLines(ofdCsv.FileName)
.Skip(1)
.Select(x => Phonebook.FromCsv(x))
//.Where(x => x.Station != "")//optional conditions here
.ToList();
else
{
phonebookFromCsv.AddRange(File.ReadAllLines(ofdCsv.FileName)
.Skip(1)
.Select(x => Phonebook.FromCsv(x))
//.Where(x => x.Station != "")//optional conditions here
.ToList());
}
phonebookFromCsv.Sort();
BindData();
}
}
The BindData() method only sets the datasource of the DataGridView:
private void BindData()
{
dataGridView1.DataSource = null;
dataGridView1.DataSource = phonebookFromCsv;
addToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = true;
dataGridView1.ClearSelection();
}
If we successfully read our CSV file, we should save it:
private void saveToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (sfdCsv.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(sfdCsv.FileName);
writer.WriteLine("Station ,Section,Infaco,Location ,Direct Dial,Auto No.");
for (int i = 0; i < dataGridView1.Rows.Count; i++)
{
Phonebook entry = (Phonebook)dataGridView1.Rows[i].DataBoundItem;
writer.WriteLine(entry.ToCsv());
}
writer.Close();
}
}
Create a TextChanged event for the TextBox. This will select every row where our search condition fits:
private void txbSearch_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
dataGridView1.ClearSelection();
if (txbSearch.Text.Length > 0)
{
foreach (DataGridViewRow row in dataGridView1.Rows)
{
for (int i = 0; i < row.Cells.Count; i++)
{
if (row.Cells[i].Value != null && row.Cells[i].Value.ToString().ToLower().Contains(txbSearch.Text.ToLower()))
{
int rowIndex = row.Index;
dataGridView1.Rows[rowIndex].Selected = true;
break;
}
}
}
}
else
{
dataGridView1.ClearSelection();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
}
Finally create the window opening event for the NewEntry form:
private void addToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
NewEntry dialog = new NewEntry();
if (dialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
if (phonebookFromCsv != null) phonebookFromCsv.Add(dialog.Entry);
else
{
phonebookFromCsv = new List();
phonebookFromCsv.Add(dialog.Entry);
}
BindData();
}
}
The main form should look something similar to this:
The new form should have only 6 labels with 6 textboxes (or 5 textboxes with 1 NumericUpDown for the AutoNumber field), a public field for the new entry and one button. This button should have DialogResult set to OK. The form code looks like this:
public partial class NewEntry : Form
{
public Phonebook Entry { get; set; }
public NewEntry()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void btnOK_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
Entry = new Phonebook(txbStation.Text, txbSection.Text, txbInfaco.Text, txbLocation.Text, txbDirectDial.Text, (int)nudAutoNumber.Value);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
DialogResult = DialogResult.None;
}
}
}
This form design should look like this:
If we start typing something in the search textbox, the row that fits the criteria will be selected. Let’s type: ne
Finally let’s save our new phonebook to a new CSV.
