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📖 Visual Basic 2010 – How to Read Text Files

VB.NET - Reading text files made simple

🔍 Introduction

Reading from a text file in VB.NET is straightforward as long as you know the file's path. It could be stored locally like:

C:\Folder\File.txt

Or it could be located on an external server:

ftp://10.0.0.27/Folder/File.txt

To use these paths in your VB.NET project, simply store them as strings:


Dim LocalFilePath As String = "C:\Folder\File.txt"
Dim WebFilePath As String = "ftp://10.0.0.27/Folder/File.txt"

Note: For remote files, credentials may be required. Unlike local files, which can be read freely, FTP-hosted files often require authentication.

📂 Reading from a Local Text File

Create a new Windows Forms Application project and save it to D:\.
Add a TextBox named TxtFromFile (set Multiline = True).
Create a text file named MyFile.txt and place it in your project folder (e.g., D:\WindowsApplication1\Bin\Debug\).
Add the following content to MyFile.txt:
```
Hello
Visual Basic Online Course
```
Save and close the file.

⚙️ Reading Code Example (Form Load)

' Read a local text file on form load
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    Dim localFilePath As String = Application.StartupPath & "\MyFile.txt"
    Dim fileContent As String

    If IO.File.Exists(localFilePath) Then
        fileContent = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText(localFilePath, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8)
        TxtFromFile.Text = fileContent
    Else
        MessageBox.Show("File not found: " & localFilePath)
    End If
End Sub

🌐 Reading from a Remote Text File (FTP)

If your file is hosted on a remote FTP server, use the following method:

' Reading a remote file from FTP in VB.NET
Imports System.Net
Imports System.IO

Private Sub ReadRemoteFile()
    Dim ftpUrl As String = "ftp://example.com/Folder/File.txt"
    Dim username As String = "yourUsername"
    Dim password As String = "yourPassword"

    Try
        Dim request As FtpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create(ftpUrl), FtpWebRequest)
        request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DownloadFile
        request.Credentials = New NetworkCredential(username, password)

        Using response As FtpWebResponse = CType(request.GetResponse(), FtpWebResponse)
            Using responseStream As Stream = response.GetResponseStream()
                Using reader As New StreamReader(responseStream)
                    Dim fileContent As String = reader.ReadToEnd()
                    TxtFromFile.Text = fileContent
                End Using
            End Using
        End Using
    Catch ex As Exception
        MessageBox.Show("Error reading remote file: " & ex.Message)
    End Try
End Sub

✅ Best Practices

Encoding: Always specify correct encoding like UTF-8 to prevent character corruption.
Error Handling: Handle missing or inaccessible files gracefully with alerts.
Security: Never hardcode sensitive credentials. Use encrypted config files or secure input forms.

📦 Bonus

Check out the full source code example on GitHub:

🔗 View Gist: Read Text File in VB.NET

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