Question

I’m new to using datasets in VB and I’ve been unable to find guidance on achieving the following:

Some descriptions in the dataset are too long, is there a way to take the first 10 characters of a description?

I’ve tried using:

dataSet.Tables("statement-data").Rows(0).Item(1) = Left(dataSet.Tables("statement-data").Rows(1).Item(1).ToString)

But I get a “Public Property Left As Integer has no parameters and its return type cannot be indexed” error

Example Data

Dataset Table: statement-data

Date        Description                         Debit/Credit    Amount
01122012    Computer Equipment for North Office D           1000.00
01122012    Coffee                              D           25.68
02122012    Payment for Service                 C           1500.00

If anyone can help, or point me towards any good websites/guidance, that would be awesome.
Thanks
Martyn

Answer 1

The reason you are getting this error is that your code is in a form (or user control). System.Windows.Forms.Form has a Left property, so your Left is referring to Form.Left instead of Microsoft.VisualBasic.Strings.Left. To get past the error, you can:

• Explicitly qualify the use of the Left method with Microsoft.VisualBasic.Strings.Left
• Use the Substring method instead
• Put your code in a separate class or module where Form‘s properties won’t conflict with it