File Handling in Silverlight

In real time programming I haven't seen any application which do not need to work with files in one or the other way and every programming Language and techniques gives a way to handle files. So do our Silverlight. Here we are going to discuss about the techniques or I must say the methods we can follow for handling files.

In My Previous Article we saw how we can increase our application's Isolated Area. How can we handle the files in the Isolated storage area. By File Handling I mean The Following :

1. Creating Files
2. Reading Files
3. Getting List of Files
4. Uploading The Existing Files to the Isolated Area.
5. Deleing Files

Steps :

1. Create a new Silverlight Application I am naming it as "FileUploadSLApp". And leave the other settings as it is.
2. We can use MainPage.xaml or can create our own silverlight user control (.xaml). For this example I am going with the MainPage.xaml. The Usercontrol of the Mainpage.xaml will look like:
   <UserControl x:Class="FileUploadSLApp.MainPage"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="640" d:DesignHeight="480"
Width="400" Height="300">
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<Canvas Canvas.Left="10" Canvas.Top="10">
<Button Content="Upload" Height="20" Click="Button_Click_1" Margin="10,60,162,54" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" d:LayoutOverrides="Width, Height" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Background="#FF2770AF"></Button>
<TextBox Text="Write File Name with Extention" Margin="10,10,0,0" x:Name="txtFileName"></TextBox>
<Button Content="Read Eile" Height="20" Click="Button_Click" Margin="65,60,162,54" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" d:LayoutOverrides="Width, Height" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Background="#FF2770AF"></Button>
<Button Content="Get List" Height="20" Click="Button_Click_2" Margin="130,60,162,54" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" d:LayoutOverrides="Width, Height" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Background="#FF2770AF"></Button>
<Button x:Name="btnDelete" Height="20" Margin="190,60,251,8" Content="Delete File" Click="btnDelete_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="btnWrite" Height="20" Margin="270,60,36,8" Content="Write" Click="btnWrite_Click" />
<TextBlock Height="20" Margin="10,100,126,79" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Text="Select File to uload" TextWrapping="Wrap" FontSize="16" x:Name="txtStatus"/>
<TextBox Text="Enter The File Contents here......" Margin="10,140,0,0" x:Name="txtContent"></TextBox>
</Canvas>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
The Page will Look like Create File
3. In this section we will create a text file in the isolated storage area with the name as given by the user in te textbox.First will check whether the file exist in the isolated storage area or not. If it does exist then we will create a new file with the name and if it exists then we will append the contents at the start of the file which user inputs in the textbox.Now let us create the event handler for the button and navigate to the event.private void btnWrite_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
using (var MyAppStore = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
{
if (!(MyAppStore.FileExists(txtFileName.Text)))
{
MessageBox.Show("File does not exist , we are creating one for you ");
IsolatedStorageFileStream file = MyAppStore.CreateFile(txtFileName.Text);
file.Close();
}
using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(MyAppStore.OpenFile(txtFileName.Text, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Write)))
{
sw.WriteLine(txtContent.Text);
}
txtContent.Text = "";
txtFileName.Text = "";
MessageBox.Show("File Writen");
}
}

Reading Files

4. This section of the article shows that how can we read a text file from the Isolated storage area of the application. We have Already created a button and the event handler for this in the .xaml file so let us navigate to the event and code thereprivate void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//craeing a new link to the Application store for reading file in IsolatedStorage
using (var MyAppStore = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
{
//checking the existance of the file
if (!(MyAppStore.FileExists(txtFileName.Text)))
{
//if doesnot exist prompt the user
MessageBox.Show("File does not exist ");
//Clear the text from the textbox
txtFileName.Text = string.Empty;
}
//if file does exist
else
{
//create a stream reader to read the file
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(MyAppStore.OpenFile(txtFileName.Text, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite)))
{
//read file till end and post the contenst in hte textblock
txtStatus.Text = sr.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
}

Getting List of Files from the Isolated Storage

5. In this section we will get the list file in the isolated storage area and Display it in the TextBlock. for Directory Handling please read next article Now navigating to the event handlerprivate void Button_Click_2(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//clearing the textblockstatus to ensure that it is not having any text
txtStatus.Text = string.Empty;
//getting the handler for the isolated store
using (var MyAppStore = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
{
//holding the array (list) of file names into a string array
string[] str = MyAppStore.GetFileNames();
//creating a foreach loop to go through each elemen of the array
foreach (string s in str)
{
//printing the filename in the textblock with a new line.
txtStatus.Text = txtStatus.Text + Environment.NewLine + s;
}
}
}

Uploading File

6. In this section we will upload any file in the isolated storage area. and then access it from there for future use.private void Button_Click_1(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//creating the refrence for the dialog
OpenFileDialog dlg = new OpenFileDialog();
//creating the filter for the dialog
dlg.Filter = "All files (*.*)|*.*";
//Displaying the Dialog box remeber this should be user itnitated.
if (dlg.ShowDialog() == true)
{
txtStatus.Text = "Uploading Files ";
// Save all selected files into application's isolated storage
IsolatedStorageFile iso = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication();
//holding the file name into a string variable for later use
string strname = dlg.File.Name;
//creating a filestream and reading the contents of the selected file
using (Stream fileStream = dlg.File.OpenRead())
{
//craeing a new IsolatedStorageFileStream for certaing new file in IsolatedStorage
using (IsolatedStorageFileStream isoStream =
new IsolatedStorageFileStream(strname, FileMode.Create, iso))
{
// Read and write the data block by block until finish
while (true)
{
//get the bytes to write in the file.
byte[] buffer = new byte[fileStream.Length];
// byte[] buffer = new byte[100001];
int count = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
if (count > 0)
{
isoStream.Write(buffer, 0, count);
}
else
{
break;
}
}
}
txtStatus.Text = "Files Uploaded";
}
}
}

Delete File

7. In this section we will delete any file from the isolated storage area with the name as given by the user in te textbox. Moving towards the event Handlerprivate void btnDelete_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//getting the handler for the store
using (var MyAppStore = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())
{
//Checking if file doesnot exist
if (!(MyAppStore.FileExists(txtFileName.Text)))
{
//prompt the user that file does not exist
MessageBox.Show("File does not exist ");
}
//if file does exist
else
{
//delete it from the store
MyAppStore.DeleteFile(txtFileName.Text);
//prompt the user that the file is deleted
MessageBox.Show("Deleted");
}
//clear the textbox containg the file name
txtFileName.Text = string.Empty;
}
}

The Code Is Attached you can Download the files and enjoy file handling

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Thanks and Regards
Meetu Choudhary
MVP.
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