This tip shows how to read from a log file using a specified format. The following code takes all the logs for the date mentioned in the date control. The log file is in the follwing format, each value separated by TAB:

Error	FormName	10-06-2006	15:43:12	1	ErrorMessageDescriptionImports Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIOPublic Shared sbMessage As New System.Text.StringBuilder#Region "Read from Text File"    Private Sub btnTextRead_Click( _       ByVal sender As System.Object, _       ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnTextRead.Click       Dim arrMessage As New ArrayList       Dim intarrMessageCount As Integer       Try          arrMessage = ProcessUsersFile()          If arrMessage.Count > 0 Then             If arrMessage.Count = 1 Then                If InStr(arrMessage(0), "don't exist") Then                   MessageBox.Show(arrMessage(0).ToString, _                      "No File", MessageBoxButtons.OK, _                      MessageBoxIcon.Information, _                      MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1, _                      MessageBoxOptions.DefaultDesktopOnly)                   Exit Sub                End If             End If             For intarrMessageCount = 0 To arrMessage.Count - 1                sbMessage.Append(vbCrLf & arrMessage( _                   intarrMessageCount) & vbCrLf)             Next             Dim f As New frmShowErrorMessage             f.ShowDialog()             sbMessage.Remove(0, sbMessage.Length - 1)          Else             MessageBox.Show("No logs for the specified Date", _                "No Logs", MessageBoxButtons.OK, _                MessageBoxIcon.Information, _                MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1, _                MessageBoxOptions.DefaultDesktopOnly)          End If       Catch ex As Exception          MsgBox(ex.Message)       End Try    End Sub   Private Function ProcessUsersFile() As ArrayList      Dim currentrow(5) As String      Dim strErrorType, strFormName, strDate, _         strTime, strThreadId, strErrorMessage As String      Dim strFileName As String = _          System.Windows.Forms.Application.StartupPath + _          "Error Log.txt"      Dim boolFileExists As Boolean      Dim dtEventDate As DateTime      Dim arrMessage As New ArrayList      boolFileExists = My.Computer.FileSystem.FileExists(strFileName)      If boolFileExists = False Then         arrMessage.Add("File " + strFileName + " don't exist")         Return arrMessage         Exit Function      End If      Using MyReader As New _         Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser(strFileName)         MyReader.TextFieldType = FileIO.FieldType.Delimited         MyReader.SetDelimiters(vbTab)         Dim index As Integer = 0         While Not MyReader.EndOfData            Try               currentrow = MyReader.ReadFields()               strErrorType = currentrow(0)               strFormName = currentrow(1)               strDate = currentrow(2)               strTime = currentrow(3)               strThreadId = currentrow(4)               strErrorMessage = currentrow(5)               dtEventDate = Convert.ToDateTime(strDate)               If dtEventDate = dtEventFromDt.Value Then                  arrMessage.Add(strErrorType & vbCrLf & _                     strFormName & vbCrLf & strDate & vbCrLf & _                     strTime & vbCrLf & strThreadId & vbCrLf & _                     strErrorMessage)               End If            Catch ex As Exception               Throw ex            End Try         End While      End Using      Return arrMessage   End Function#End Region