loading Data in VBA from a text file - file

Question

I am not very familiar with VBA but need to use it for a new software program I am using (not Microsoft related)
I have a text file that has columns of data I would like to read into VBA.
Specifically the text file has 4 entries per row. Thus I would like to load in the column vectors (N by 1).
The text file is separated by a space between each entry.
So for example I want to load in column one and save it as array A, then column two and save as array B, then column three and save as array C, and then column four and save as array D.
This code snippet found below from http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=482 is something I found that can load in text to an array, but I need to adapt it to be able to save the columns as different arrays as specified above...
Open "MyFile.txt" For Input As #1
ReDim Txt$(0)
Do While Not EOF(1)
ReDim Preserve Txt$(UBound(Txt$) + 1)
Input #1, Txt$(UBound(Txt$))
Loop
Close #1

Answer 1

For this example, you will need a file called schema.ini in the same directory as the text file. It should contain:
[Import.txt]
Format=Delimited( )
Where Import.txt is the name of the file (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms709353(VS.85).aspx).
You can then use this, which should work in VBScript or VBA with very little tampering:
Set cn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
'Note HDR=Yes, that is, first row contains field names '
'and FMT delimted, ie CSV '
strCon="Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=c:\Docs\;" _
& "Extended Properties=""text;HDR=Yes;FMT=Delimited"";"
cn.Open strcon
strSQL="SELECT * FROM Import.txt" _
set rs = createobject("adodb.recordset")
rs.open strSQL,cn
MsgBox rs(2)
MsgBox rs.GetString
The first message box should return the third column of the first row, it is a test that it works.
The second message box should return the whole file, so don't use it with a large set. The recordset can be manipulated, or you can use .GetRows to create an array of values (http://www.w3schools.com/ado/met_rs_getrows.asp)

Answer 2

Seems the remaining problem is to convert from an array of lines to four arrays of columns.
Maybe this snippet helps
Option Explicit
Option Base 0
Sub import()
Dim sTxt() As String
Dim sLine As Variant
Dim iCountLines As Long
Dim iRowIterator As Long
Dim i As Long
Dim sRow() As String
Dim sColumnA() As String
Dim sColumnB() As String
Dim sColumnC() As String
Dim sColumnD() As String
' read in file '
Open "MyFile.txt" For Input As #1
ReDim sTxt(0)
Do While Not EOF(1)
Input #1, sTxt(UBound(sTxt))
ReDim Preserve sTxt(UBound(sTxt) + 1)
Loop
Close #1
' dim array for each columns '
iCountLines = UBound(sTxt)
Debug.Print "working with ", iCountLines, "lines"
ReDim sColumnA(iCountLines)
ReDim sColumnB(iCountLines)
ReDim sColumnC(iCountLines)
ReDim sColumnD(iCountLines)
' "transpose" sTxt '
iRowIterator = 0
For Each sLine In sTxt
sRow = Split(sLine, " ")
If UBound(sRow) = 3 Then
sColumnA(iRowIterator) = sRow(0)
sColumnB(iRowIterator) = sRow(1)
sColumnC(iRowIterator) = sRow(2)
sColumnD(iRowIterator) = sRow(3)
iRowIterator = iRowIterator + 1
End If
Next sLine
' now work with sColumnX '
Debug.Print "Column A"
For i = 0 To iCountLines
Debug.Print sColumnA(i)
Next i
End Sub

Answer 3

There is few detais in your question, but i would suggest using "Text to column"
If you're not very familiar with VBA programming try recording macro with this steps:
Import file to Excel
select column A
select "Text to columns" form tools menu
choose delimited by space
This way you'll get array of data you asked for, now assigning to any variables you want shouldn't be a problem.
EDIT (Without using Excel):
Take a look on that FSO method.
by replacing
MsgBox strLing
with some kind of split function, like
strTemp = Split(strLine, " ")
You'll be able to loop through all the values in your source file, would that work?