Understanding Text Files and Streams in Delphi

In this video taken from the recently concluded Coding Boot Camp 2022, Dejon Weyers will help us better understand the text files and streams in programming and their respective roles in Windows program development. As the term connotes, a text file is a character file that contains texts with no formatting such as bold, underline, tables, styles, and more. Since the text file has no formatting, it can be used by different programs. In this talk, we will take a deeper look at text files and the algorithms used to read and write from text files or stream

How to work with text files and streams?

Generally, Text files provide a simple, convenient, and permanent way of storing textual data. If you are working with a large volume of data, it can be very time-consuming to enter the data manually. We can, instead, use the information stored in text files as input. Interestingly, you can easily create your own text file using a text editor like notepad. If you are using Delphi, you can also take advantage of the Delphi Code Editor. The Code editor in Delphi is a full-featured, customizable UTF8 editor that provides syntax highlighting, multiple undo capability and context-sensitive help for language elements.

There are a few methods and procedures in Delphi that we associate with text files. These include AssignFile, Reset, CloseFile, ReadIn, Append, and Rewrite. Aside from text files, the video will also highlight streams. As the term suggests, a stream is a river of data that can be accessed sequentially from beginning to end. Streams are just ways of reading and writing data. It is interesting to note that the support for streaming is a core area of the Delphi class library. Dejon will also demonstrate the steps for writing and reading a text file and stream algorithms.

To know more about text files and streams, feel free to watch this video below.