Build Your Own ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site Using C# & VB, Second Edition

upload files from the client to the server

You may want to create an interface that allows staff from the Human Re-

sources department to upload company documentation for reference by em-

ployees.

access directories and directory information

You may want to let the Human Resources department choose the drive to

which staff will upload files. For instance, you may have one drive dedicated

to spreadsheets, and another just for Word documents.

Once you have a firm grasp on the intricacies of working with text files and dir-

ectory information, you’ll learn how to send email in ASP.NET using the Sys-

tem.Net.Mail namespace. We’ll finish the chapter with a quick introduction to

serialization.

Writing and Reading Text Files

The System.IO namespace contains three different groups of classes:

❑

classes for working with files

❑

classes for working with streams

❑

classes for working with directories

As we progress through this chapter, we’ll look at each of these groups. However,

let’s begin by discussing the tasks of writing to and reading from text files with

the aid of the classes that work with files and streams. These classes include:

File

contains methods for working with files

FileStream

represents a stream for reading and writing to files

StreamReader

reads characters from a text file

StreamWriter

writes characters to a text file

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Chapter 14: Working with Files and Email