Output specific values from a textbox to multiple textboxes in VB - mysql

Question

I am using VB with VS2015, and I have a textbox which receives about 40 lines of input from a microprocessor. What I ultimately need to do is display some of the input in multiple textboxes, as well as save those values into a mySQL database. For example, let's say I have:
SensorTypeA_Test
SensorA1_Output: 5.00
SensorA2_Output: 0
SensorA_Test: FAIL
SensorTypeB_Test
SensorB1_Output: 3.50
SensorB2_Output: 3.50
Sensor_Test: Pass
In this case, what I would like to do is basically have 6 textboxes (each with a pre-made label such as Sensor A1) fill with 5.00, 0, FAIL, 3.50, 3.50 and Pass.
As I see it, there are two ways to approach this. First, I could just figure out how to send the values straight to the mySQL database and then pull the needed values into the multiple textboxes. This would be fairly straight forward, but I don't know of a way to send these values directly to the database since they don't have variable names.
The other way is to either parse through the textbox itself or save the input to a file and parse through that. If I did it this way, I would prefer to have each textbox look for the value corresponding to its label, as opposed to filling all of the text boxes sequentially. What I mean by that is if there is a textbox labeled "Sensor A1", it would have its own variable name, say tbSensorA1 and it would look for "SensorA1_Output" and then show the value that comes after the colon, and if there is no value, then just display "N/A" in the textbox. This would also make it really easy to store the values in the database.
So basically, I'm wondering if there are any other ways to do this besides what I proposed, and if not, how can I search a textbox or a text file for a specific phrase and output the values which follow the colon in their corresponding textboxes? Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

Well - lots of ways to do this. I wouldn't recommend trying to do this in the database as databases are not great for parsing, and this feels like logic you should have in your middle or front end anyway. It might be totally front end if this is just really a way to display data you already have.
Here is one approach - create your text boxes that you desire, and in each text boxe's tag property - store a "Prefix" value that can be used to identify if a given sensor data value is appropriate for that text box.
Then you simply loop through each of the text boxes, and sensor data lines, do the comparison, then add the value to the text box if its a match.
Here is sample code:
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
txtSensor.Text = "SensorTypeA_Test()" & vbCrLf & _
"SensorA1_Output: 5.00" & vbCrLf & _
"SensorA2_Output: 0" & vbCrLf & _
"SensorA_Test: FAIL()" & vbCrLf & _
"SensorTypeB_Test()" & vbCrLf & _
"SensorB1_Output: 3.50" & vbCrLf & _
"SensorB2_Output: 3.50" & vbCrLf & _
"Sensor_Test: Pass()"
End Sub
Private Sub btnPopulate_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnPopulate.Click
txtSensorA.Tag = "SensorA"
txtSensorB.Tag = "SensorB"
Dim lstOutputs As New List(Of TextBox)
lstOutputs.Add(txtSensorA)
lstOutputs.Add(txtSensorB)
Dim sensorData() As String = txtSensor.Text.Trim.Split(vbCrLf)
For Each tb In lstOutputs
For Each sline In sensorData
If sline.TrimStart.StartsWith(tb.Tag) Then
UpdateOutputTextBox(tb, sline.Trim)
End If
Next
Next
End Sub
Private Sub UpdateOutputTextBox(tb As TextBox, sLine As String)
Dim sParts() As String = sLine.Split(":")
Dim sData As String = String.Empty
If sParts.Count = 2 Then
sData = sParts(1)
If tb.Text.Length > 0 Then
tb.Text &= (", " & sData.Trim)
Else
tb.Text = sData.Trim
End If
End If
End Sub
And the result...
So you should be able to do something very similar. Hope this helps.