Out of memory error in VB6 application

Question

Before anyone says it, I know this isn't the way it should be done, but it's the way it was done and I'm trying to support it without rewriting it all.
I can assure you this isn't the worst bit by far.

The problem occurs when the application reads an entire file into a string variable. Normally this work OK because the files are small, but one user created a file of 107MB and that falls over.

intFreeFile = FreeFile
Open strFilename For Binary Access Read As intFreeFile
ReadFile = String(LOF(intFreeFile), " ")
Get intFreeFile, , ReadFile
Close intFreeFile

Now, it doesn't fall over at the line

ReadFile = String(LOF(intFreeFile), " ")

but on the

Get intFreeFile, , ReadFile

So what's going on here, surely the String has done the memory allocation so why would it complain about running out of memory on the Get?

Answer 1

You do not need that "GET" call, just remove it, you are already putting the file into a string, so there is no need to use the GET call.

ReadFile = Input(LOF(intFreeFile), intFreeFile)

Answer 2

Usually reading a file involves some buffering, which takes space. I'm guessing here, but I'd look at the space needed for byte to character conversion. VB6 strings are 16 bit, but (binary) files are 8 bit. You'll need 107MB for the file content, plus 214 MB for the converted results. The string allocation only reserves the 214 MB.