Icomparer and sorting by file dates

[gixxer05]

I'm using Visual Studio .Net 2008 on Vista. The goal of my program is to watch a directory, get file information, then sort them by thier date, and produce a updated text file. I can't seem to get my code to generate a list of files sorted by date. The code does produce a general list of files, however presently ordered in the directory. I also tried an alternate way of sorting the files by date by creating a string, removing the date using substring, then comparing the file dates using datetime.parse but it produces a exception error. My first method using the structure follows:

Public Class Form1

    Private Const outputloc As String = "C:\tickercontent.txt"

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

        Dim dname As String = "M:\"
        ShowFiles(dname, outputloc)

        ' Get the Path to watch
        FileSystemWatcher1.Path = dname
        FileSystemWatcher1.IncludeSubdirectories = False
        FileSystemWatcher1.Filter = "*.*"

        ' Make the FileSystemWatcher.
        FileSystemWatcher1.NotifyFilter = 0
        FileSystemWatcher1.NotifyFilter = FileSystemWatcher1.NotifyFilter Or NotifyFilters.FileName
        FileSystemWatcher1.EnableRaisingEvents = True

    End Sub

    ' Create the structure for the file array
    Structure FilesStruct

        ' Dim startHTML As String
        Dim Text As String
        Dim fsize As String
        Dim Creation As String
        'Dim endHTML As String

    End Structure

    Private Sub WatcherHandler(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
    Handles FileSystemWatcher1.Created, FileSystemWatcher1.Changed

        ShowFiles(FileSystemWatcher1.Path, outputloc)
    End Sub

    ' Sort the files by date in the text file
    Sub SortFiles(ByVal FileList As Array)

    End Sub


    Sub ShowFiles(ByVal selFolder As String, ByVal outputpath As String)
        Dim objWriter As New System.IO.StreamWriter(outputpath)

        Dim Text As String
        Dim files() As String
        Dim FileList As New ArrayList
        Dim file As String
        Dim fsize As String
        Dim totalfiles As Integer = 0
        Dim sumsizefiles As Integer
        Dim creation As String

        Dim DirInfo As String
        Dim FI As IO.FileInfo
        Dim line As String

        

        ' Get the files in the selected folder/directory
        files = IO.Directory.GetFiles(selFolder)


        ' Get sub directories subdirs now contains a list of directories under selFolder
        Dim subdirs As New ArrayList
        GetDirectories(selFolder, subdirs)

        ' Write HTML Dive message start tage
        objWriter.WriteLine("<div class=""message"">")
        RichTextBox1.Text = "<div class=""message"">"


        ' Get Directory Information
        DirInfo = Path.GetDirectoryName(selFolder)

        ' Write the directory information to the selected output file location/objWriter
        objWriter.WriteLine("Directory of " + DirInfo + "</BR>")
        RichTextBox1.Text = "Directory of " + DirInfo + "</BR>"

        For Each file In files

            ' Create new file object with FileStruct's structure
            Dim newfile As New FilesStruct

            ' Create FileInfo object
            FI = New IO.FileInfo(file)

            ' Get the total sum of files found during the loop
            totalfiles = totalfiles + 1

            ' Get the file's length in byte's
            fsize = FI.Length.ToString("#,###")

            ' Get the file's creation time
            creation = FI.CreationTime

            ' Get the file's total size
            sumsizefiles += FI.Length / 1024

            ' Build array with pdf file names
            Text = IO.Path.GetFileName(file)

            ' Write to text file
            RichTextBox1.Text = Text

            line = Text & vbTab & fsize & vbTab & creation + "</BR>"

            objWriter.WriteLine(Text & vbTab & fsize & vbTab & creation + "</BR>")

            RichTextBox1.Text = Text & vbTab & fsize & vbTab & creation + "</BR>"

            ' Assign values to the ArrayList 
            newfile.Text = CStr(Text)
            newfile.fsize = CStr(fsize)
            newfile.Creation = CStr(creation)

            ' Store the collection of items in the ArrayList
            FileList.Add(newfile)

        Next

        ' Sort the array
        Dim sorted As Boolean = True
        Dim DateComparer As New CustomDateComparer

        Try

            FileList.Sort(New CustomDateComparer)

        Catch SortException As InvalidOperationException
            MsgBox("You can't sort an ArrayList whose items " & _
                   "aren't of the same type.")
        Catch GeneralException As Exception
            MsgBox("The following exception occured: " & _
                   vbCrLf & GeneralException.Message)
            sorted = False
        End Try

        If sorted Then

            ' Print the ArrayList by extracting items
            sumsizefiles = sumsizefiles / 1024

            ' Print the summary information
            objWriter.WriteLine(CStr(totalfiles).ToString + " File(s) " + CStr(sumsizefiles) + " KB" + "</BR>")
            RichTextBox1.Text = CStr(totalfiles).ToString + " File(s) " + CStr(sumsizefiles) + " KB" + "</BR>"
            objWriter.WriteLine("Not including " + subdirs.Count.ToString + " Sub Directories" + "</BR>")
            RichTextBox1.Text = "Not including " + subdirs.Count.ToString + " Sub Directories" + "</BR>"
            objWriter.WriteLine("</div>")
            RichTextBox1.Text = "</div>"


        End If


        objWriter.Close()
        ' Clear the ArrayList before the next execution of this program
        FileList.Clear()
    End Sub

    Sub GetDirectories(ByVal StartPath As String, ByRef DirectoryList As ArrayList)

        ' Get all sub directories in the startpath/selFolder
        Dim Dirs() As String = Directory.GetDirectories(StartPath)

        ' Add the new sub directory to the directory list
        DirectoryList.AddRange(Dirs)

        ' Recursively, get the sub directories for each directory in the directory list
        For Each Dir As String In Dirs
            GetDirectories(Dir, DirectoryList)
        Next

    End Sub

End Class


Class CustomDateComparer : Implements IComparer


    Public Function Compare(ByVal x As Object, ByVal y As Object) As Integer Implements System.Collections.IComparer.Compare
        Dim file1, file2 As Form1.FilesStruct

        ' Try to catch errors if the objects are of differing types
        Try
            file1 = CType(x, Form1.FilesStruct)
            file2 = CType(y, Form1.FilesStruct)
        Catch CompareException As System.Exception
            Throw (CompareException)
            Exit Function
        End Try

        ' Begin Comparison 
        If file1.Creation < file2.Creation Then
            Return -1
        Else
            If file1.Creation > file2.Creation Then
                Return 1
            Else
                Return 0
            End If
        End If
    End Function
End Class

The code doesn't generate an error, and I don't know why it's not working. Any clues? Anyone, please help.

[dglienna]

Please use CODE TAGS, so we can read your code.

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