File class

A file inside the IDE’s virtual file system. Extends FileSystemItem with content accessors — raw bytes via Data / DataLen, a decoded text view via Text, a text-with-options accessor via ReadText, plus an IsDirty flag indicating unsaved changes.

A File also inherits the universal FileSystemItem members — Name, Path, Type, Parent. The Type value tells the addin what encoding the file is in and whether the text accessors are applicable; see FileSystemItemType for the list.

' Read every source file's text:
Private Sub WalkAllFiles(ByVal folder As Folder)
    Dim item As FileSystemItem
    For Each item In folder
        If TypeOf item Is Folder Then
            WalkAllFiles item
        Else
            Dim file As File = item
            If file.Type <> FileOTHER Then
                ProcessText file.Path, file.ReadText(ReadTextFlags.CommentsToWhitespace)
            End If
        End If
    Next
End Sub

Note

File content is currently read-only from the addin’s perspective. The interface declares Property Let accessors for Data and Text but they are tagged [Unimplemented]. Use Editor.Save on an active editor pane to persist text changes made through that pane, or CodeEditor.Text / CodeEditor.SelectedText for in-editor edits.

• Properties
• Methods
• ReadTextFlags

Properties

Data

The raw on-disk bytes of the file. Read returns a Byte() of the current content. The Property Let form is declared but marked [Unimplemented] — writes are not currently supported.

Syntax: file.Data As Byte()

DataLen

The length in bytes of the current content — equivalent to UBound(file.Data) + 1 but without copying the array. LongLong, read-only. Useful for size displays and quick file-size comparisons.

IsDirty

True if the file has unsaved changes in the IDE. Boolean, read-only.

Text

The file’s content decoded as a String, with the appropriate UTF-16 conversion for the underlying encoding (FileTWIN → UTF-8 → UTF-16; FileBAS / FileCLS → System-ANSI → UTF-16; FileVIRTUALDOC / FileUIDESIGNER / FileJSON → UTF-8 → UTF-16). Calling on a FileOTHER is not supported.

Read returns the decoded text. The Property Let form is declared but marked [Unimplemented] — writes are not currently supported.

Syntax: file.Text As String

Methods

ReadText

A text-with-options accessor — the Text view, but with optional transforms applied. Currently the only option strips comments and replaces them with whitespace; future versions may add more.

Syntax: file.ReadText( Options ) As String

Options

required A ReadTextFlags value. Pass 0 for raw text equivalent to reading Text; pass CommentsToWhitespace to mask out comments while preserving line and column positions of every non-comment character.

Valid on every text file kind (FileTWIN, FileBAS, FileCLS, FileVIRTUALDOC, FileUIDESIGNER, FileJSON); calling on a FileOTHER is not supported.

The line and column structure of the returned text matches the original file — CommentsToWhitespace only blanks the comment characters, never moves the surrounding code. That makes the option suitable for indexers / search tools that need both “find non-comment occurrences” and “report the position in the original file”.

ReadTextFlags

The option flags consumed by ReadText. A [Flags]-tagged enum — values can be Or‘ed in future versions.

Constant	Value	Description
CommentsToWhitespace	1	Replace every byte that is part of a comment with a space. Line / column positions of every non-comment character are preserved.