File Handling for Visual Basic 6.0 Users

Visual Basic 2008 expands file-handling capabilities while providing compatibility with previous versions of Visual Basic file I/O functions.

Visual Basic 6.0

In Visual Basic 6.0, file handling is accomplished using various file I/O functions such as Open, Input, Output, and Append. The FileSystemObject object provides an object-oriented method of working with files.

Visual Basic 2008

In Visual Basic 2008, file handling is accomplished through the My.Computer.FileSystem Object. In addition, the System.IO.File class includes functions that provide compatibility with the older Visual Basic file I/O functions.

The FileStream class provides access to standard input and output files and error devices.

The following table lists members of the My.Computer.FileSystem object available in Visual Basic 2008.

Member	Description
CombinePath	Returns a properly formatted combined path as a String.
CopyDirectory	Copies a directory.
CopyFile	Copies a file.
CurrentDirectory	Gets or sets the current directory.
CreateDirectory	Creates a directory.
DeleteDirectory	Deletes a directory.
DeleteFile	Deletes a file.
DirectoryExists	Returns a Boolean indicating whether a directory exists.
Drives	Returns a read-only collection of all available drive names.
FileExists	Returns a Boolean indicating whether a file exists.
FindInFiles	Returns a read-only collection of strings representing the names of files containing the specified text.
GetDirectories	Returns a String collection representing the path names of subdirectories within a directory.
GetDirectoryInfo	Returns a DirectoryInfo object for the specified path.
GetDriveInfo	Returns a DriveInfo object for the specified path.
GetFileInfo	Returns a FileInfo object for the specified path.
GetFiles	Returns a read-only String collection representing the names of files within a directory.
GetParentPath	Returns a String representing the absolute path of the parent of the provided path.
GetTempFileName	Creates a uniquely named zero-byte temporary file on disk and returns the full path of that file.
MoveDirectory	Moves a directory to the specified location.
MoveFile	Moves a file to the specified location.
OpenTextFieldParser	Opens a TextFieldParser.
OpenTextFileReader	Opens a TextReader.
OpenTextFileWriter	Opens a TextWriter.
ReadAllBytes	Reads from a binary file.
ReadAllText	Reads from a text file.
RenameDirectory	Renames a directory.
RenameFile	Renames a file.
SpecialDirectories	Gets an object that provides properties for accessing commonly referenced directories.
WriteAllBytes	Writes to a binary file.
WriteAllText	Writes to a text file.

See Also

Concepts

Parsing Text Files with the TextFieldParser Object

File Encodings

Programming Element Support Changes Summary

Reference

System.IO

My.Computer.FileSystem Object

My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories Object

Other Resources

Reading from Files in Visual Basic

Writing to Files in Visual Basic

Creating, Deleting, and Moving Files and Directories in Visual Basic

File, Directory, and Drive Properties in Visual Basic