Managing Files

The most basic storage unit of any operating system is a file. Files can contain anything from textual data in this article, a bitmap image of your baby daughter, a MS Excel worksheet containing your finances or a Visual Basic program you are currently working on. Therefore it is very important to know how to manipulate files after they are created. Common actions that are performed on files are copy, rename, move and delete. Each file has properties such as creation date, last date modified, and attributes such as read…

Excel Files

Business Users like to have data in a spreadsheet format. Since Microsoft Office is installed world-wide, it will be a common request for data in a XLS format. Let’s make believe that we have the business problem to write information about the first five presidents to an XLS format. The Cliché, there are many ways to skin a cat, does apply to technical solutions. I have abstracted the details behind reading and writing files by encapsulating the logic into two classes for your use.  These classes can be implemented in…