Chapter 23. Disk Data Files

In this chapter, you will learn the following:

• Introduction to Data Files

• Sequential Disk Data Files

• Writing a Text File

• Ramdom Access Data Files

• The frmRandom Class Code

In this chapter, we'll explore how you can save data to files stored on your computer's disk drive. We'll also discuss the various types of data files that you can use and some of the available file options. Further, I'll show you just how easy reading and writing Visual Basic .NET disk data files can be, especially in light of all the ready-to-use tools (for example, SaveFileDialog ) that Visual Basic .NET makes available to you. Finally, I'll also use this chapter as an opportunity to introduce you to creating menus with Visual Basic .NET. Before we do these things, however, we need to get under the hood and make sure that we understand what disk data files are all about.