Reading a line from a streamreader without consuming?

Question

Is there a way to read ahead one line to test if the next line contains specific tag data?

I'm dealing with a format that has a start tag but no end tag.

I would like to read a line add it to a structure then test the line below to make sure it not a new "node" and if it isn't keep adding if it is close off that struct and make a new one

the only solution i can think of is to have two stream readers going at the same time kinda suffling there way along lock step but that seems wastefull (if it will even work)

i need something like peek but peekline

Answer 1

You could store the position accessing StreamReader.BaseStream.Position, then read the line next line, do your test, then seek to the position before you read the line:

            // Peek at the next line
            long peekPos = reader.BaseStream.Position;
            string line = reader.ReadLine();

            if (line.StartsWith("<tag start>"))
            {
                // This is a new tag, so we reset the position
                reader.BaseStream.Seek(pos);    

            }
            else
            {
                // This is part of the same node.
            }

This is a lot of seeking and re-reading the same lines. Using some logic, you may be able to avoid this altogether - for instance, when you see a new tag start, close out the existing structure and start a new one - here's a basic algorithm:

        SomeStructure myStructure = null;
        while (!reader.EndOfStream)
        {
            string currentLine = reader.ReadLine();
            if (currentLine.StartsWith("<tag start>"))
            {
                // Close out existing structure.
                if (myStructure != null)
                {
                    // Close out the existing structure.
                }

                // Create a new structure and add this line.
                myStructure = new Structure();                   
                // Append to myStructure.
            }
            else
            {
                // Add to the existing structure.
                if (myStructure != null)
                {
                    // Append to existing myStructure
                }
                else
                {
                    // This means the first line was not part of a structure.
                    // Either handle this case, or throw an exception.
                }
            }
        }

Answer 2

The problem is the underlying stream may not even be seekable. If you take a look at the stream reader implementation it uses a buffer so it can implement TextReader.Peek() even if the stream is not seekable.

You could write a simple adapter that reads the next line and buffers it internally, something like this:

 public class PeekableStreamReaderAdapter
    {
        private StreamReader Underlying;
        private Queue<string> BufferedLines;

        public PeekableStreamReaderAdapter(StreamReader underlying)
        {
            Underlying = underlying;
            BufferedLines = new Queue<string>();
        }

        public string PeekLine()
        {
            string line = Underlying.ReadLine();
            if (line == null)
                return null;
            BufferedLines.Enqueue(line);
            return line;
        }


        public string ReadLine()
        {
            if (BufferedLines.Count > 0)
                return BufferedLines.Dequeue();
            return Underlying.ReadLine();
        }
    }

Answer 3

Why the difficulty? Return the next line, regardless. Check if it is a new node, if not, add it to the struct. If it is, create a new struct.

// Not exactly C# but close enough
Collection structs = new Collection();
Struct struct;
while ((line = readline()) != null)) {
    if (IsNode(line)) {
        if (struct != null) structs.add(struct);
        struct = new Struct();
        continue;
    }
    // Whatever processing you need to do
    struct.addLine(line);
}
structs.add(struct); // Add the last one to the collection

// Use your structures here
foreach s in structs {

}

Answer 4

Here is what i go so far. I went more of the split route than the streamreader line by line route.

I'm sure there are a few places that are dieing to be more elegant but for right now it seems to be working.

Please let me know what you think

struct INDI
    {
        public string ID;
        public string Name;
        public string Sex;
        public string BirthDay;
        public bool Dead;


    }
    struct FAM
    {
        public string FamID;
        public string type;
        public string IndiID;
    }
    List<INDI> Individuals = new List<INDI>();
    List<FAM> Family = new List<FAM>();
    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string path = @"C:\mostrecent.ged";
        ParseGedcom(path);
    }

    private void ParseGedcom(string path)
    {
        //Open path to GED file
        StreamReader SR = new StreamReader(path);

        //Read entire block and then plit on 0 @ for individuals and familys (no other info is needed for this instance)
        string[] Holder = SR.ReadToEnd().Replace("0 @", "\u0646").Split('\u0646');

        //For each new cell in the holder array look for Individuals and familys
        foreach (string Node in Holder)
        {

            //Sub Split the string on the returns to get a true block of info
            string[] SubNode = Node.Replace("\r\n", "\r").Split('\r');
            //If a individual is found
            if (SubNode[0].Contains("INDI"))
            {
                //Create new Structure
                INDI I = new INDI();
                //Add the ID number and remove extra formating
                I.ID = SubNode[0].Replace("@", "").Replace(" INDI", "").Trim();
                //Find the name remove extra formating for last name
                I.Name = SubNode[FindIndexinArray(SubNode, "NAME")].Replace("1 NAME", "").Replace("/", "").Trim(); 
                //Find Sex and remove extra formating
                I.Sex = SubNode[FindIndexinArray(SubNode, "SEX")].Replace("1 SEX ", "").Trim();

                //Deterine if there is a brithday -1 means no
                if (FindIndexinArray(SubNode, "1 BIRT ") != -1)
                {
                    // add birthday to Struct 
                    I.BirthDay = SubNode[FindIndexinArray(SubNode, "1 BIRT ") + 1].Replace("2 DATE ", "").Trim();
                }

                // deterimin if there is a death tag will return -1 if not found
                if (FindIndexinArray(SubNode, "1 DEAT ") != -1)
                {
                    //convert Y or N to true or false ( defaults to False so no need to change unless Y is found.
                    if (SubNode[FindIndexinArray(SubNode, "1 DEAT ")].Replace("1 DEAT ", "").Trim() == "Y")
                    {
                        //set death
                        I.Dead = true;
                    }
                }
                //add the Struct to the list for later use
                Individuals.Add(I);
            }

            // Start Family section
            else if (SubNode[0].Contains("FAM"))
            {
                //grab Fam id from node early on to keep from doing it over and over
                string FamID = SubNode[0].Replace("@ FAM", "");

                // Multiple children can exist for each family so this section had to be a bit more dynaimic

                // Look at each line of node
                foreach (string Line in SubNode)
                {
                    // If node is HUSB
                    if (Line.Contains("1 HUSB "))
                    {

                        FAM F = new FAM();
                        F.FamID = FamID;
                        F.type = "PAR";
                        F.IndiID = Line.Replace("1 HUSB ", "").Replace("@","").Trim();
                        Family.Add(F);
                    }
                        //If node for Wife
                    else if (Line.Contains("1 WIFE "))
                    {
                        FAM F = new FAM();
                        F.FamID = FamID;
                        F.type = "PAR";
                        F.IndiID = Line.Replace("1 WIFE ", "").Replace("@", "").Trim();
                        Family.Add(F);
                    }
                        //if node for multi children
                    else if (Line.Contains("1 CHIL "))
                    {
                        FAM F = new FAM();
                         F.FamID = FamID;
                        F.type = "CHIL";
                        F.IndiID = Line.Replace("1 CHIL ", "").Replace("@", "");
                        Family.Add(F);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    private int FindIndexinArray(string[] Arr, string search)
    {
        int Val = -1;
        for (int i = 0; i < Arr.Length; i++)
        {
            if (Arr[i].Contains(search))
            {
                Val = i;
            }
        }
        return Val;
    }