How to filter text out of a textbox in VB.NET

Question

I have a problem while making my skype resolver, when it resolves an ip the text comes out like this ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,SERVER 1: 124.169.179.116 - Skype4Resolver.com" (btw the "," are spaces... stackoverflow doesn't show them.) when this happeneds it makes the text go unseen and out of the textbox. can anyone help? i want to filter out the spaces and anything that isnt part of the ip. here is my code:

Imports System.Net

Public Class Form2


Private Sub Label1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Label1.Click

End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    WebRequest.Create("http://api.skype4resolver.com/api.php?key=free&username=" + TextBox1.Text     + "&server=1")
    TextBox2.Text = New    System.Net.WebClient().DownloadString("http://api.skype4resolver.com/api.php?key=free&username=" + TextBox1.Text + "&server=1")
End Sub

Private Sub TextBox2_TextChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TextBox2.TextChanged

End Sub
End Class

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 22 '14 at 22:51

2

Use a trim function on the returned string!

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string.trimstart(v=vs.110).aspx

edited Dec 22 '14 at 22:51

Hans Passant

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answered Dec 22 '14 at 22:13

Peter Healy

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thanks but i am very amature in programing and i dont understand any of that – pstefa Stefa Dec 22 '14 at 23:03
1

@pstefaStefa TextBox2.Text = TextBox2.Text.LTrim() – Peter Healy Dec 22 '14 at 23:14

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

Depending on what you want, try a regular expression (regexp based on RegEx for an IP Address) or split on the colon (as per http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/tabh47cf%28v=vs.110%29.aspx)

Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Module Module1

 Sub Main()
    Dim Input As String = "                                       SERVER 1: 124.169.179.116 - Skype4Resolver.com"

    Dim ResultSplit As String = Input.Split(":")(1)
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Split token [{0}]", ResultSplit)) ' Split token [124.169.179.116 - Skype4Resolver.com]

    Dim IpRegex As Regex = New Regex("\b\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\b")
    If (IpRegex.IsMatch(Input)) Then
        Dim ResultRegex As MatchCollection = IpRegex.Matches(Input)
        Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Regexp match [{0}]", ResultRegex(0))) ' Regexp match [124.169.179.116]
    End If

    Console.WriteLine()

 End Sub

End Module

which in your specific use case becomes

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    Dim Input As String = TextBox1.Text
    Dim IpRegex As Regex = New Regex("\b\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\b")
    If (IpRegex.IsMatch(Input)) Then
        Dim ResultRegex As MatchCollection = IpRegex.Matches(Input)

        WebRequest.Create("http://api.skype4resolver.com/api.php?key=free&username=" + ResultRegex(0) + "&server=1")

        TextBox2.Text = ResultRegex(0)
    End If
End Sub

Regular expressions are very powerful for text processing. Make a point of learning them eventually. You want to discard the part that you don't want, but instead I go find the part that I do want. So it won't matter if the spaces are commas or if the server name is in a foreign language: this regular expression will find the first thing that looks like an IP address and match it.

but the ip changes every time you use it depending on who you resolve? — pstefa Stefa, Dec 22 '14 at 22:50
is there any way just to say Deleate ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,SERVER 1: & - Skype4Resolver.com ? so then the ip is the only thing there? btw the ,,, are spaces — pstefa Stefa, Dec 22 '14 at 22:58
Thanks heaps! looks like it would work but i imported System.Text.RegularExpressions and when i try to run it throws 2 errors.... This one 'Error 2 Value of type 'System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match' cannot be converted to 'String'. C:\Users\owner\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\WindowsApplication2\WindowsApplication2\Form2.vb 20 29 WindowsApplication2 ' and 'Error 1 Operator '+' is not defined for types 'String' and 'System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match'. C:\Users\owner\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\WindowsApplication2\WindowsApplication2\Form2.vb 18 31 WindowsApplication2 ' — pstefa Stefa, Dec 24 '14 at 03:06
The first version compiled and ran for me. The second version was adapted to what I saw in your procedure, but I didn't test it. Try replacing any reference to `ResultRegex(0)` to `ResultRegex(0).ToString()` or `ResultRegex(0).Value` as per http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.text.regularexpressions.match%28v=vs.110%29.aspx — woodvi, Dec 26 '14 at 15:21

How to filter text out of a textbox in VB.NET

2 Answers2