We Keep Coding

C# creating an HTML line with escaping

I'm creating a loop in which each line is a pretty long HTML line on the page. I've tried various combinations of # and """ but I just can't seem to get the hang of it
This is what I've got now, but the single quotes are giving me problems on the page, so I want to change all the single quotes to double quotes, just like a normal HTML line would use them for properties in the elements:
sOutput += "<div class='item link-item " + starOrBullet + "'><a href='" + appSet + linkID + "&TabID=" + tabID + "' target=’_blank’>" + linkText + "</a></div>";
variables are:
starOrBullet
appSet
LinkID
tabID (NOT $TabID=)
linkText
BTW, appSet="http://linktracker.swmed.org:8020/LinkTracker/Default.aspx?LinkID="
Can someone help me here?

You have to escape the double quotes (") with \"
For your case:
sOutput += "<div class=\"item link-item " + starOrBullet + "\"><a href=\"" + appSet + linkID + "&TabID=" + tabID + "\" target=’_blank’>" + linkText + "</a></div>";
If you concat many strings, you should use StringBuilder for performance reasons.

You can use a verbatim string and escape a double quote with a double quote. So it will be a double double quote.
tring mystring = #"This is \t a ""verbatim"" string";
You can also make your string shorter by doing the following:
Method 1
string mystring = #"First Line
Second Line
Third Line";
Method 2
string mystring = "First Line \n" +
"Second Line \n" +
"Third Line \n";
Method 3
var mystring = String.Join(
Environment.NewLine,
"First Line",
"Second Line",
"Third Line");

You must make habit to use C# class to generate Html instead concatenation. Please find below code to generate Html using C#.
Check this link for more information
https://dejanstojanovic.net/aspnet/2014/june/generating-html-string-in-c/
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.web.ui.htmltextwriter
Find below code for your question
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string starOrBullet = "star-link";
string appSet = "http://linktracker.swmed.org:8020/LinkTracker/Default.aspx?LinkID=";
string LinkID = "2";
string tabID = "1";
string linkText = "linkText_Here";
string sOutput = string.Empty;
StringBuilder sbControlHtml = new StringBuilder();
using (StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter())
{
using (HtmlTextWriter htmlWriter = new HtmlTextWriter(stringWriter))
{
//Generate container div control
HtmlGenericControl divControl = new HtmlGenericControl("div");
divControl.Attributes.Add("class", string.Format("item link-item {0}",starOrBullet));
//Generate link control
HtmlGenericControl linkControl = new HtmlGenericControl("a");
linkControl.Attributes.Add("href", string.Format("{0}{1}&TabID={2}",appSet,LinkID,tabID));
linkControl.Attributes.Add("target", "_blank");
linkControl.InnerText = linkText;
//Add linkControl to container div
divControl.Controls.Add(linkControl);
//Generate HTML string and dispose object
divControl.RenderControl(htmlWriter);
sbControlHtml.Append(stringWriter.ToString());
divControl.Dispose();
}
}
sOutput = sbControlHtml.ToString();
}

accessing data from database and displaying it in textbox

I am using this code for accessing data from database and displaying it in textboxes,but i am getting whole string columns in 1st textbox ,how do i split and display in respective textboxes,i am getting this exception Index was outside the bounds of the array. at this line of code txtOption2.Text = coldata[2];
public EditQuestionMaster(int qid_value)
{
InitializeComponent();
string columns = db.GetEditQuestions(qid_value);
string[] coldata=columns.Split('$');
txtQuestion.Text = coldata[0];
txtOption1.Text = coldata[1];
txtOption2.Text = coldata[2];
txtOption3.Text = coldata[3];
txtOption4.Text = coldata[4];
}
GetEditQuestions(qid_value) Code
public string GetEditQuestions(int qid)
{
string data = "";
try
{
string sql = "select QID,Question,Opt1,Opt2,Opt3,Opt4,AnsOp,Marks from Questions where QID IN(" + qid + ") ";
cmd = new OleDbCommand(sql, acccon);
rs = cmd.ExecuteReader();
if (rs.Read())
{
data = rs[0].ToString() + "~" + rs[1].ToString() + "~" + rs[2].ToString() + "~" + rs[3].ToString() + "~" + rs[4].ToString() + "~" + rs[5].ToString() + "~" + rs[6].ToString() + "~" + rs[7].ToString() + "$";
}
}
catch (Exception err)
{
}
return data;
}
thank you in advance for any help

You appear to split the string by $ but you build the string up using ~ as the separator. You need to split the string by ~ to get the appropriate number of columns i.e.
string[] coldata = columns.Split("~")

You are seeing that error because you only have 2 items in coldata. Try debugging and view the length of the coldata array to see how many items it contains.
Change your code to use this split instead:
string[] coldata=columns.Split('~');

Looking at your code sample you just need to change:
string[] coldata=columns.Split('$');
To
string[] coldata=columns.Split('~');
As your columns are delimited by the ~ character.

Returning 2-dimensional array via C#

I'm getting content from a database and returning it for Ajax processing via Javascript. Pretty simple stuff. The issue here is that I can't seem to find a good way to loop through the data and the MSDN documentation is obscenely poor for its odbcreader methods.
using (OdbcCommand com = new OdbcCommand("SELECT * FROM pie_data WHERE Pie_ID = ?",
con)) {
if (Request.Form["reference_id"] == "") {
returnError();
} else {
com.Parameters.AddWithValue("", Request.Form["reference_id"]);
com.ExecuteNonQuery();
using (OdbcDataReader reader = com.ExecuteReader()) {
string finalstring = "";
while (reader.Read()) {
if(reader.HasRows) {
finalstring = reader.GetString(9) + ",";
for (int i = 0; i <= 8; i = i + 1) {
finalstring = finalstring + reader.GetValue(i).ToString() + ",";
}
finalstring = finalstring + "|";
reader.NextResult();
}
}
if (finalstring != "") {
finalstring = finalstring.Remove(finalstring.Length -1, 1);
Response.Write(finalstring);
}
}
noredirect = 1;
}
}
However, here is the sample output:
00001,0,Pie Johnson,piesaregreat#yum.com,,,10/7/2010 12:00:00 AM,Bakery,N/A,N/A,
As you can see, the second deliminator is not appearing at all, when it really should. Also, this query, when run in heidisql, returns a good number of rows, not just this one result. Once I have it passed to the Javascript, I can figure it out since I have much more experience with that and I've actually done this before via PHP.

I would use a DataTable and a DataAdapter:
String finalString;
var tblPieData = new DataTable();
using(var con = new OdbcConnection(connectionString))
using (OdbcDataAdapter da = new OdbcDataAdapter("SELECT * FROM pie_data WHERE Pie_ID = ?", con))
{
da.SelectCommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("Pie_ID", reference_id);
da.Fill(tblPieData);
var rowFields = tblPieData.AsEnumerable()
.Select(r => string.Join(",", r.ItemArray));
finalString = string.Join("|", rowFields);
}

You are replacing the value of finalstring in every iteration of the loop. This will cause only the values for a single row to be returned:
finalstring = reader.GetString(9) + ",";
as well as removing the last character at the end of each iteration through the columns in the rows (the pipe, not the trailing comma as I'm expecting you want):
finalstring = finalstring.Remove(finalstring.Length -1, 1);
EDIT:
It also looks like you are skipping over every other record by both looping on reader.Read() as well as calling reader.NextResult()

This line:
finalstring = finalstring.Remove(finalstring.Length -1, 1);
is going to remove the last instance of your pipe-delimiter, so if there is only one record (which there appears to be,) you shouldn't see one.
Unless I am missing something...
EDIT
Actually, if you are looking for two records, you are probably missing the second one because you start your loop with while(reader.Read()) and end it with reader.NextResult();. These will both advance the reader, causing you to miss every other record.
EDIT 2
You are also overwriting finalstring on each iteration; you probably want to append to this (making it a StringBuilder would make the most sense for efficiency's sake, if you don't know how many records to expect.)

Your looping structure with the reader appears to have some problems, not the least of which is the reset of finalAnswer within your loop and giving you only a single result combined with using both .Read() and .NextResult:
Suggested fixes...not tested, so all standard caveats apply :) :
Edited per Mark Averius' comment and OP confirmation of original intent:
using (OdbcDataReader reader = com.ExecuteReader()) {
if (reader.HasRows())
{
string finalstring = "";
while (reader.Read()) {
finalstring = finalstring + reader.GetString(9) + ",";
for (int i = 0; i <= 8; i++) {
finalstring = finalstring + reader.GetValue(i).ToString() + ",";
}
finalstring = finalstring + "|";
}
if (finalstring != "") {
finalstring = finalstring.Remove(finalstring.Length -1, 1);
Response.Write(finalstring);
}
}
}

c# Searching for a string that contains quotes

I am fairly new to c# and am working on a little project but got stuck on this. I have a file that contains some assembly code. I want my program to search this file for a string, actually a value right after my string. One of the strings i am searching for is:
setproperty QName(PackageNamespace(""), "font")
getlocal 4
pushint
My search code is this:
private void searchFile(String searchText)
{
System.IO.StreamReader reader = new System.IO.StreamReader(file);
String text = reader.ReadToEnd();
if (Regex.IsMatch(text, searchText))
{
MessageBox.Show(searchText + " was found in the given file", "Finally!!");
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("Sorry, but " + searchText + " could not be found in the given file", "No Results");
}
}
//when i click a button//
searchFile(#"setproperty QName(PackageNamespace(""""), ""font"")
getlocal 4
pushint ");
I know that the string is in the file but the result comes up with not found. I don't know if it is the quotes or tabs or both that is causing this.
Here is part of the file:
getlocal 4
pushstring "Verdana"
setproperty QName(PackageNamespace(""), "font")
getlocal 4
pushint 16764170
setproperty QName(PackageNamespace(""), "color")
getlocal 4
pushbyte 12
setproperty QName(PackageNamespace(""), "size")
My second question is how can i get the value of the first int after my search result?
Thanks in advance.
-Leen

You should change your method like this:
private static string searchFile(String searchText)
{
System.IO.StreamReader reader = new System.IO.StreamReader("test.txt");
String text = reader.ReadToEnd();
int poz = text.IndexOf(searchText);
if (poz >= 0)
{
int start = poz + searchText.Length;
int end = text.IndexOf("\n", start);
Console.WriteLine(searchText + " was found in the given file", "Finally!!");
return text.Substring(start, end - start);
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Sorry, but " + searchText + " could not be found in the given file", "No Results");
return string.Empty;
}
}
The call:
string val = searchFile("setproperty QName(PackageNamespace(\"\"), \"font\")\r\n\r\n getlocal 4\r\n pushint ");

So I think you may be use to VB.net. C-based languages (like c#) used the backslash character "\" as an escape character.
So in a searching for a double-quote in a string you would need to escape it using \".
I believe what you're looking for is:
searchFile(#"setproperty QName(PackageNamespace(\"\"), \"font\")
getlocal 4
pushint ");
But this isn't really a regular expression, which is what the Regex class is meant for. So I would (well not really, I would clean it up a bit, like not mix my UI and bizlogic) do this:
// Added String as the function type so you can return the matched "Integer" as a string, you could always do a Int32.TryParse(...)
private String searchFile(String file, String searchText)
{
System.IO.StreamReader reader = new System.IO.StreamReader(file);
String text = reader.ReadToEnd();
int32 index = text.IndexOf(searchText);
if (index >= 0) //We could find it at the very beginning
{
MessageBox.Show(searchText + " was found in the given file", "Finally!!");
int32 start = index + searchText.Length;
int32 end = Regex.Match(text, "[\n\r\t]", index).Index; // This will search for whitespace
String value = text.Substring(start, end - start);
// Now you can do something with your value, like...
return value;
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("Sorry, but " + searchText + " could not be found in the given file", "No Results");
return "";
}
}

RegEx -- getting rid of double whitespaces?

I have an app that goes in, replaces "invalid" chars (as defined by my Regex) with a blankspace. I want it so that if there are 2 or more blank spaces in the filename, to trim one. For example:
Deal A & B.txt after my app runs, would be renamed to Deal A   B.txt (3 spaces b/w A and B). What i want is really this: Deal A B.txt (one space between A and B).
I'm trying to determine how to do this--i suppose my app will have to run through all filenames at least once to replace invalid chars and then run through filenames again to get rid of extraneous whitespace.
Can anybody help me with this?
Here is my code currently for replacing the invalid chars:
public partial class CleanNames : Form
{
public CleanNames()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public void Sanitizer(List<string> paths)
{
string regPattern = (#"[~#&$!%+{}]+");
string replacement = " ";
Regex regExPattern = new Regex(regPattern);
StreamWriter errors = new StreamWriter(#"S:\Testing\Errors.txt", true);
var filesCount = new Dictionary<string, int>();
dataGridView1.Rows.Clear();
try
{
foreach (string files2 in paths)
{
string filenameOnly = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(files2);
string pathOnly = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(files2);
string sanitizedFileName = regExPattern.Replace(filenameOnly, replacement);
string sanitized = System.IO.Path.Combine(pathOnly, sanitizedFileName);
if (!System.IO.File.Exists(sanitized))
{
DataGridViewRow clean = new DataGridViewRow();
clean.CreateCells(dataGridView1);
clean.Cells[0].Value = pathOnly;
clean.Cells[1].Value = filenameOnly;
clean.Cells[2].Value = sanitizedFileName;
dataGridView1.Rows.Add(clean);
System.IO.File.Move(files2, sanitized);
}
else
{
if (filesCount.ContainsKey(sanitized))
{
filesCount[sanitized]++;
}
else
{
filesCount.Add(sanitized, 1);
}
string newFileName = String.Format("{0}{1}{2}",
System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(sanitized),
filesCount[sanitized].ToString(),
System.IO.Path.GetExtension(sanitized));
string newFilePath = System.IO.Path.Combine(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(sanitized), newFileName);
System.IO.File.Move(files2, newFilePath);
sanitized = newFileName;
DataGridViewRow clean = new DataGridViewRow();
clean.CreateCells(dataGridView1);
clean.Cells[0].Value = pathOnly;
clean.Cells[1].Value = filenameOnly;
clean.Cells[2].Value = newFileName;
dataGridView1.Rows.Add(clean);
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
errors.Write(e);
}
}
private void SanitizeFileNames_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{ }
private void dataGridView1_CellContentClick(object sender, DataGridViewCellEventArgs e)
{
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Application.Exit();
}
}
The problem is, that not all files after a rename will have the same amount of blankspaces. As in, i could have Deal A&B.txt which after a rename would become Deal A B.txt (1 space b/w A and B--this is fine). But i will also have files that are like: Deal A & B & C.txt which after a rename is: Deal A   B   C.txt (3 spaces between A,B and C--not acceptable).
Does anybody have any ideas/code for how to accomplish this?

Do the local equivalent of:
s/\s+/ /g;

Just add a space to your regPattern. Any collection of invalid characters and spaces will be replaced with a single space. You may waste a little bit of time replacing a space with a space, but on the other hand you won't need a second string manipulation call.

Does this help?
var regex = new System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex("\\s{2,}");
var result = regex.Replace("Some text with a lot of spaces, and 2\t\ttabs.", " ");
Console.WriteLine(result);
output is:
Some text with a lot of spaces, and 2 tabs.
It just replaces any sequence of 2 or more whitespace characters with a single space...
Edit:
To clarify, I would just perform this regex right after your existing one:
public void Sanitizer(List<string> paths)
{
string regPattern = (#"[~#&$!%+{}]+");
string replacement = " ";
Regex regExPattern = new Regex(regPattern);
Regex regExPattern2 = new Regex(#"\s{2,}");
and:
foreach (string files2 in paths)
{
string filenameOnly = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(files2);
string pathOnly = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(files2);
string sanitizedFileName = regExPattern.Replace(filenameOnly, replacement);
sanitizedFileName = regExPattern2.Replace(sanitizedFileName, replacement); // clean up whitespace
string sanitized = System.IO.Path.Combine(pathOnly, sanitizedFileName);
I hope that makes more sense.

you can perform another regex replace after your first one
#" +" -> " "

As Fosco said, with formatting:
while (mystring.Contains(" ")) mystring = mystring.Replace(" "," ");
// || || |

After you're done sanitizing it your way, simply replace 2 spaces with 1 space, while 2 spaces exist in the string.
while (mystring.Contains(" ")) mystring = mystring.Replace(" "," ");
I think that's the right syntax...