Question

I am writing code for a windows application using vb.net. I want to open a text file under c:\. If the file already exists I want to delete that file.

my code
-------
 Dim file As String = "C:\test.txt"
    If System.IO.File.Exists(file) Then
        file.Remove(file)
    Else

        System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(file)

  End If 

I am getting the following error when I try to open that file.

error
-----
The system cannot find the file specified  

Answer 1

Apart from Konrad’s point about trying to execute a file that you have just checked does not exist:

1) It’s not a good idea to name your variable file as it could get confused with System.IO.File.

2) It’s File.Delete, not file.Remove – you’re calling the String.Remove method because file is a string. You should use Option Strict On because it would have caught that error for you.

3) On Windows Vista and later, you may not have write/delete access to C:.

Assuming you have write access to the directory C:\temp then this works:

Dim fyle As String = "C:\temp\test.txt"

If System.IO.File.Exists(fyle) Then
    IO.File.Delete(fyle)
End If

IO.File.Create(fyle)
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(fyle)