Visual C++ 6.0 for Notepad

[valera1968]

hi,
I have a Visual C++ 6.0 program which automates excel and works with excel files.
Now I need to work with a text file.
I am wondering how I can open a Notepad file as an excel one, using my program.

If anyone can help please do

Thanks
Val

[GCDEF]

hi,
I have a Visual C++ 6.0 program which automates excel and works with excel files.
Now I need to work with a text file.
I am wondering how I can open a Notepad file as an excel one, using my program.

If anyone can help please do

Thanks
Val

Notepad just uses text files. CStdioFile would work. I don't know if you can automate it or not.

[valera1968]

thanks for respond.... what I meant was how can i open text file as excel... if i do right mouse click on text file there is an option "Open With" where i can choose excel and my text file will be open not by Notepad but by Excel. my questing was how to do it using the code.

[VictorN]

Have a look at CWinApp::RegisterShellFileTypes and CWinApp::EnableShellOpen methods.

[valera1968]

hi Victor, thanks for your help
probably i didn’t make it clear.
I have the program that works with excel files, but the originally the file is in text format.
So what i have to do is open text as excel manually and then i place it in specific folder where the program can get it.
What i want to do is to get a code which would open text as excel without the need for user to do it.
The user only places the text file into the needed folder and the rest is done by the program.
I also have the program that works with the text file and if i combine both they should work,
but i prefer the first way.
Thanks for reading
Val

[VictorN]

The easiest way to let text file be opened by excel is change its extension from .txt to .csv.

[valera1968]

hi Victor thanks for your help,
i saved .txt as .csv and my program didn't get any data from the file
in .txt file the tab is used to separate the data .csv does something different.
i will try to change .txt to .xls
Thanks

[Arjay]

hi Victor thanks for your help,
i saved .txt as .csv and my program didn't get any data from the file
in .txt file the tab is used to separate the data .csv does something different.
i will try to change .txt to .xls
Thanks

After saving the .txt to .csv, check to make sure it's valid by manually opening it in excel.

If it doesn't open manually, then fix the .csv format until it does open.

Once it opens manually, then you can open it in Excel. To do this, I would start with a search in bing or google "programatically open a .csv file in excel using automation"

[valera1968]

thanks to all who replied to the post.
I have sorted the problem. first i used CopyFile() witch allows me to convert from .log to .xls. then i used SaveAs(); witch is an excel function and it allows me to save the file as an excel worksheet. now i get another problems because now i have to process more data than at the start. the program will run slower, but at list it works.
thanks to all for the help and have a nice Christmas!!!

[ovidiucucu]

I have sorted the problem. first i used CopyFile() witch allows me to convert from .log to .xls. then [...]

If you are talking about CopyFile function, please note that it simply copy a file and does NOT perform any conversion.

[valera1968]

yes, but if i set .xls extension for the copy, then i am able to open the file in excel and work with this file. then later when i have done all work i use SaveAs() (from _Workbook class) where i can specify the file format according to my excel version. it works..... it could be easier if i can automate notepad and use its Select All and Copy functions, then i create an excel sheet, select a sell and use Paste function. it works when i do it manually so it should be possible to do it inside the program.... i may try it later....

[GCDEF]

yes, but if i set .xls extension for the copy, then i am able to open the file in excel and work with this file. then later when i have done all work i use SaveAs() (from _Workbook class) where i can specify the file format according to my excel version. it works..... it could be easier if i can automate notepad and use its Select All and Copy functions, then i create an excel sheet, select a sell and use Paste function. it works when i do it manually so it should be possible to do it inside the program.... i may try it later....

Why not just rename it?

You could always just read the file and put it into the clipboard yourself. There's no need to automate notepad just to read a text file.

[Arjay]

it works..... it could be easier if i can automate notepad and use its Select All and Copy functions, then i create an excel sheet, select a sell and use Paste function.

Probably not easier and most likely less reliable. In programming, driving an application through UI automation is seldom the answer when there are api alternatives. Because of the problems associated with UI automation, it should generally only be used as a last resort.

[valera1968]

I can't just rename the text file, i have to use Open As option to open the file with the excel application. But this is not the main reason.
I have user interface done with MFC and the user has to have the easy way, which means pressing one button only. the user sees only the final excel file with analysed data.

[valera1968]

i am not very experienced with codding and if i have ability to use the excel functions why not to do this. i guess it should be as much reliable as Microsoft excel and all work is hidden form the user.
what i want is a simple application which will analyze the data originally stored in text file.