C# open .txt file with form and display text in richtextbox

Question

when i try to open a textfile with my text editor, drag the textfile onto my program.exe, the editor opens. But there is not text in the richtextbox. How do i get the text in there when i open it with my text editor?

I was thinking like this:

if (When u drag file on top of the .exe)
{
   richTextBox.Text = That file u dragged on top of the .exe;
}

Thank you in advance!

possible duplicate of [How do I drag and drop files into a C# application?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/68598/how-do-i-drag-and-drop-files-into-a-c-sharp-application) — Sayse, Apr 27 '14 at 16:17
I want to to get the text in the file i drop on to the .exe of my program, and paste that text intro my richTextBox! @Sayse — Wiebrend de Haan, Apr 27 '14 at 17:12

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 01 '14 at 14:56

0

you can do it like this:

1) go to your form class and add this constructor:

public Form1(string filename)
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            //get all the text of text file
            string[] readText = System.IO.File.ReadAllLines(filename);
            //insert the string array in your richtextbox
            foreach (string s in readText)
            {
                richTextBox1.Text += s + Environment.NewLine;
            }
        }

2) go to your Program class and change the code from your Main() method to this :

static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);

            if (args[0] != null)
            {
                //args[0] exsists, so a file gets opened
                //args[0] is the file path
                Application.Run(new Form1(args[0]));   
            }
            else
            {
                //args[0] doesn't exsist
                Application.Run(new Form1());
            }
        }

make sure your Main method has the parameter 'string[] args'! if your method doesn't, just add it here

static void Main(string[] args)

3) build your project, go to your .exe file in the bin folder and test it by dropping a text file on top of the .exe (if i understand your question)

edited May 01 '14 at 14:56

Zong

5,701
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answered Apr 27 '14 at 17:18

JoJo

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No, this did not work.. Maybe i did something wrong, but i don't think so.. I did exactly what u said me to do – Wiebrend de Haan Apr 27 '14 at 18:10
@WiebrenddeHaan strange, for me it works perfect. do you get an error or does it just not work ? – JoJo Apr 27 '14 at 18:13
You are not answering his question, although processing a command line is sometimes helpful, too.. He want to __drop__ from outside. – TaW Apr 27 '14 at 18:59
@TaW : yes, i know. for me, dropping from outside works – JoJo Apr 27 '14 at 19:03
It just does not work, no error nothing.. – Wiebrend de Haan Apr 27 '14 at 19:39
@WiebrenddeHaan , wait. Do you mean you want to drag te text file to your exe file when it is not yet opened, so your text file opens with your exe. Or do you mean that you want to start up your exe, and then drag your text file to your richtextbox? – JoJo Apr 28 '14 at 04:50
I want to drag the textfile onto the .exe when it is not opened yet.. – Wiebrend de Haan Apr 28 '14 at 10:05
like this http://i.stack.imgur.com/MTvsh.png it sould work. if that is what you mean. – JoJo Apr 28 '14 at 14:26
Yes, that is what i want! Does your script above do that? (Ben je nederlands want het is nederlandse afbeelding) – Wiebrend de Haan Apr 28 '14 at 15:18
yes it does at my pc (en ja dat ben ik ;) ) @WiebrenddeHaan – JoJo Apr 28 '14 at 15:19
Hahaha nice, dan zal ik er nog even naar kijkem :) – Wiebrend de Haan Apr 28 '14 at 15:21
@WiebrenddeHaan did you build your project? – JoJo Apr 29 '14 at 05:02
Yeah, i edited some of that code, and now it is working perfectly!! Thanks man – Wiebrend de Haan Apr 29 '14 at 08:46
@WiebrenddeHaan what didn't work? (Ik ben soms nieuwsgierig :D) – JoJo Apr 29 '14 at 14:06
There was a problem in the catch function when there was no args[0] value.. And when i added something in there my script craches weird enough.. Did not understand why, the fix was just a simple if statement.. But thank you very much man! – Wiebrend de Haan Apr 29 '14 at 14:16
Ah, okay, no problem ;) – JoJo Apr 29 '14 at 14:18
Why using a try/catch if you could check for the args.Length? Bad design @JoJo – gsharp Apr 30 '14 at 08:42
@gsharp why is this bad? Ok i agree you can also check args.lengt, but why does this make it a bad design??? – JoJo Apr 30 '14 at 12:03
Have a look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/729379/why-not-use-exceptions-as-regular-flow-of-control and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd264997.aspx @JoJo – gsharp Apr 30 '14 at 13:19
Ok ok, you are right ;) i will edit the answer @gsharp – JoJo Apr 30 '14 at 15:55

C# open .txt file with form and display text in richtextbox

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