Question

I have built a DataTable from my database. Then I am looping through the rows and trying to access a string, however the value is being returned as each character in the string.

    For Each theseRows In DisplayForm.MainTab.Rows
        If theseRows.Item("Last_Name") = userLast And theseRows.Item("First_Name") = userFirst Then
            For Each RGCode As String In theseRows.Item("Trap_Code")
                MessageBox.Show(RGCode)
                                Next
        End If
    Next

The Trap_Code values are two or three letter strings, the returned value is each letter once at a time. The loop seems to cycle through the individual characters of the string as an array rather than display the entire value, which is what I was hoping for. Just looking for some help and advice.

Thank you,
RL.

Answer 1

You’ve specifically asked to loop over the value of Trap_Code:

For Each RGCode As String In theseRows.Item("Trap_Code")

That’s fetching a single value (theseRows is just one row, remember – you may want to change the variable name) which is a string. You’re then iterating over the string in the only way you can – as a sequence of characters.

Given that you’re already looping over the rows, why are you looping at all within your If statement? I suspect you just want:

For Each theseRows In DisplayForm.MainTab.Rows
    If theseRows.Item("Last_Name") = userLast And theseRows.Item("First_Name") = userFirst Then
        MessageBox.Show(theseRows.Item("Trap_Code"))
    End If
Next

Or with a better name for a single row (and less indentation to avoid scrolling):

For Each row In DisplayForm.MainTab.Rows
  If row.Item("Last_Name") = userLast And row.Item("First_Name") = userFirst Then
    MessageBox.Show(row.Item("Trap_Code"))
  End If
Next