The document discusses reading files in programs to access and reuse data stored externally. It shows how to use Visual Basic to read the contents of a text file into a variable and then present the file contents in a message box. Reading files allows programs to store and retrieve data that persists after the program closes, rather than having all data disappear when the program ends.

1. READING IN FILES
REUSEABLE!

2. Sometimes programs need access to
other files . . .
Hey! That file
has stuff I
need!
FILE PROGRAM

3. Using VB to read the contents of a
text file
The variable fileReader now has the contents of the file called
config.txt
Dim fileReader As String
fileReader = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText("Y:config.txt")

4. Presenting the contents of a text file
Dim fileReader As String
fileReader = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText("Y:config.txt")
MsgBox(fileReader)

5. Why could we want to read files in!
• We can use text files to store data that we
want to return to.
• You may not have noticed but when you close
your program, all the data it was using goes.