Code getting skipped

[msufreeman]

Hello all,

I am pretty frustrated right now. I've been dealing with this problem for a few hours now and have no clue what the problem is.

I have a function that is written in one solution. I have reference to that solution in another project. I made no changes to the function but it is now going crazy. I am sending it an array, cycling through it and building a string out of the array, and concatenating a comma after each value in the array.

When it gets to the last entry in the array, it adds the entry but does not add the comma to the end.

After it breaks out of the loop that cycles out of the array there are 2 commands that as I watch in debug get hit by the program but are then ignored. I can F10 through each one, the debugger stops on each one, but by watching the string it is building, the commands are not doing anything.

Here is the code I wrote, perhaps that will make things a little more clear:

  Public Function SetAccountTelNums(ByRef SConnection As Socket, ByVal Account As String, ByVal telNums() As String) As Boolean
        Dim sResult As String
        Dim phoneNums() As String = telNums
        Dim apiCommand As String = "setaccounttelnums " & Account & " ("

        Dim i As Integer = 0

        For i = 0 To phoneNums.Length - 1
            apiCommand &= phoneNums(i) & ","
        Next

        apiCommand = apiCommand.Trim(",")
        apiCommand &= ")"

        Dim buff As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(apiCommand & vbCrLf)

When it gets to the part to where it attempts to run the api command I have built, the command does not work because the line where it should take off the last comma and then add a close parentheses are not doing anything.

A few notes of interest:

-I wrote this function (there is more to it, I just showed the most relevant part) last week and tested it through a windows app. The function works fine and if I go in and manually add that ) at the end of apiCommand, it works.

-This function is called from 2 different places in my web app, one place is only sending one value in the array and it works fine. The other one is sending an array with multiple values, this is the one that causes the issue. I suppose it is possible that the multi valued array could be an issue, but when I tested the function last week it worked fine with arrays of 1 and any size beyond one that I tested.

-The two lines where they are now are getting skipped over by the debugger now (previously they were getting hit but ignored) and if i add any code in those 2 lines it gets ignored. Just on a whim I added a bunch of empty lines and put the two commands further down (see below), and they went back to being hit by the debugger but being ignored.

Here is what I mean by moving them down:

 Public Function SetAccountTelNums(ByRef SConnection As Socket, ByVal Account As String, ByVal telNums() As String) As Boolean
        Dim sResult As String
        Dim phoneNums() As String = telNums
        Dim apiCommand As String = "setaccounttelnums " & Account & " ("

        Dim i As Integer = 0

        For i = 0 To phoneNums.Length - 1
            apiCommand &= phoneNums(i) & ","
        Next











        apiCommand = apiCommand.Trim(",")
        apiCommand &= ")"

        Dim buff As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(apiCommand & vbCrLf)

Sorry for the long winded post, but I was trying to include as much relevant info as possible.

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[cjard]

Here is a rewritten version of how we should build strings. We do not use concatenation:

Public Function SetAccountTelNums(ByRef SConnection As Socket, ByVal Account As String, ByVal telNums() As String) As Boolean
        Dim sResult As String
        Dim phoneNums() As String = telNums
        'bit of error checking!
        If telNums.Length = 0 Then Throw New Exception("There are no phone numbers")

        Dim apiCommand As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()

        'If the concept of String.Format is new to you, look it up
        apiCommand.AppendFormat("setaccounttelnums {0} ([B]{1}[/B]", Account, [B]phoneNums(0)[/B])

        'we already put phonenums 0 in, now add all the rest. THis way no need to remove last comma
        For i = [B]1[/B] To phoneNums.Length - 1
            apiCommand.AppendFormat(",{0}", phoneNums(i))
        Next

        'appendline saves using the & vbCrLf in the getbytes call
        apiCommand.AppendLine(")")

        Dim buff As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(apiCommand.ToString())

Thats how we build strings.. A good rule of thumb, if you have to use ampersand (&) more than twice, building a string, use some combination of String.Format, and/or StringBuilder

 

[msufreeman]

Thank you for the input. I had never used stringbuilder before, it is something I will look into more for the future.

Unfortunately, I'm still having my problem.

I tried the following code:

Public Function SetAccountTelNums(ByRef SConnection As Socket, ByVal Account As String, ByVal telNums() As String) As Boolean
        Dim sResult As String
        Dim phoneNums() As String = telNums
        'error checking
        If telNums.Length = 0 Then Throw New Exception("There are no phone numbers.")

        Dim apiCommand As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder

        apiCommand.AppendFormat("setaccounttelnums {0} ({1}", Account, phoneNums(0))

        'we already put phonenums - in, now add all the rest
        Dim i As Integer
        For i = 1 To phoneNums.Length - 1
            apiCommand.AppendFormat(",{0}", phoneNums(i))
        Next

        apiCommand.Append(")")
        'appendline saves using the vbCrLf in the getbytes call

In debug, when it gets to:

apiCommand.Append(")")

It steps into it, and I have a watch set on apiCommand.ToString, and does nothing as it passes through it.

This is the same thing it was doing with the previous code. The command I am building works perfectly, only it has to have the closing ) to work.

I just can't imagine why it refuses to run this line of code or the code from the earlier version:

apiCommand &= ")"

 

[JohnH]

I also like the String.Join method, example:

        Dim Account As String = "account" ' method parameter
        Dim telNums() As String = {"a", "b", "c"} ' method parameter

        Dim apiCommand As New StringBuilder
        apiCommand.AppendFormat("setaccounttelnums {0} ({1})", Account, String.Join(",", telNums))
        MsgBox(apiCommand.ToString)

 

[msufreeman]

Thank you for the reply John, I will try that method out as well. I think I have narrowed down the problem though. It apparently has something to do with the array itself.

I went back to the code where I build the array and call the function and as a quick fix I was attempting to add the ) to the last number in the array.

I stepped through it and the logic is correct, but once it gets to where it would add the ) using:

If i = teleArray.Length - 2 Then
                    newTeleArray(i) = teleArray(i) & ")"
End If

And as before, the & ")" gets ignored.

 

[msufreeman]

Thanks for all the help folks. I figured out the problem. The code wasn't necessarily getting ignored, it actually had to do with how I was building my array. For some reason it couldn't be added onto after I was done manipulating it. Anyway, I ended up just sending a string formatted the way I needed it to be and it works fine now.