Why is my code causing a I/O 104 error? - delphi

Question

This program raises an I/O 104 error on EoF when first entering the while loop.
The purpose of the program is to look up if a username is already taken. The existing usernames are stored in a text file.
procedure TForm1.btnRegisterClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
sCUser := edtUserName.Text;
AssignFile(tNames, 'Names.txt');
begin
try
Reset(tNames);
except
ShowMessage('File not found');
Exit;
end;
end;
rewrite(tNames);
while not EoF(tNames) do // I get a I/O 104 Error here `
begin
Readln(tNames, sLine);
iPosComme := Pos(',', sLine);
sUser := Copy(sLine, 1, iPosComme - 1);
Delete(sLine, 1, iPosComme - 1);
if sCUser = sUser then begin
ShowMessage('Username taken');
end
else
begin
rewrite(tNames);
Writeln(tNames, sCUser + ',' + '0');
CloseFile(tNames);
end;
end;
end;

Answer 1

Remove the call to Rewrite()before Eof(). Even if you were not getting an IO error, your code would still fail because Rewrite() closes the file you opened with Reset() and then it creates a new bank file, so Eof() would always be True.
Update: error 104 is file not open for input, which means Reset() is not opening the file but is not raising an exception (which sounds like an RTL bug if Eof() is raising an exception, indicating that {I+} is active).
In any case, using AssignFile() and related routines is the old way to do file I/O. You should use newer techniques, like FileOpen() with FileRead(), TFileStream with TStreamReader, TStringList, etc...
Update: your loop logic is wrong. You are comparing only the first line. If it does not match the user, you are wiping out the file, writing the user to a new file, closing the file, and then continuing the loop. EoF() will then fail at that point. You need to rewrite your loop to the following:
procedure TForm1.btnRegisterClick(Sender: TObject
var
SCUser, sUser: String;
tNames: TextFile;
iPosComme: Integer;
Found: Boolean;
begin
sCUser := edtUserName.Text;
AssignFile(tNames,'Names.txt');
try
Reset(tNames);
except
ShowMessage('File not found');
Exit;
end;
try
Found := False;
while not EoF(tNames) do
begin
Readln(tNames,sLine);
iPosComme := Pos(',', sLine);
sUser := Copy(sLine ,1,iPosComme -1);
if sCUser = sUser then
begin
ShowMessage('Username taken') ;
Found := True;
Break;
end;
end;
if not Found then
Writeln(tNames,sCUser + ',0');
finally
CloseFile(tNames);
end;
end;

Answer 2

For the sake of completeness, this Version works for me, but it is hard to guess what the code is intended to do. Especially the while loop seems a bit displaced, since the file will contain exactly one line after the rewrite-case has ben hit once.
program wtf;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
{$I+}
uses
SysUtils;
procedure Sample( sCUser : string);
var sUser, sLine : string;
iPosComme : Integer;
tnames : textfile;
begin
AssignFile(tNames,'Names.txt');
try
Reset(tNames);
except
Writeln('File not found');
Exit;
end;
while not EoF(tNames) do
begin
Readln(tNames,sLine);
iPosComme := Pos(',', sLine);
sUser := Copy(sLine ,1,iPosComme -1);
Delete( sLine,1, iPosComme -1);
if sCuser = sUser then begin
Writeln('Username taken') ;
end
else begin
Rewrite(tNames);
Writeln(tNames,sCUser + ',' + '0');
CloseFile(tNames);
Break; // file has been overwritten and closed
end;
end;
end;
begin
try
Sample('foobar');
except
on E: Exception do Writeln(E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
end;
end.

Answer 3

I wrote a version of this method that uses the newer TStreamReader and TStreamWriter classes.
This won't work with Delphi 7 of course, it's just to show how this could be done in newer versions of Delphi.
The code was heavily inspired by Remys answer.
procedure TForm1.btnRegisterClick(Sender: TObject);
var
Stream: TStream;
Reader: TStreamReader;
Writer: TStreamWriter;
Columns: TStringList;
UserName: string;
Found: Boolean;
FileName: string;
Encoding: TEncoding;
begin
FileName := ExpandFileName('Names.txt'); // An absolute path would be even better
UserName := edtUsername.Text;
Found := False;
Encoding := TEncoding.Default; // or another encoding, e.g. TEncoding.Unicode for Unicode
Stream := TFileStream.Create(FileName, fmOpenRead or fmShareDenyWrite);
try
Reader := TStreamReader.Create(Stream, Encoding);
try
Columns := TStringList.Create;
try
Columns.Delimiter := ',';
Columns.StrictDelimiter := True; // or False, depending on the file format
while not Reader.EndOfStream do
begin
Columns.DelimitedText := Reader.ReadLine;
if Columns.Count > 0 then
begin
if AnsiSameStr(Columns[0], UserName) then // or AnsiSameText if UserName is not case-sensitive
begin
ShowMessage('Username taken') ;
Found := True;
Break;
end;
end;
end;
finally
Columns.Free;
end;
finally
Reader.Free;
end;
finally
Stream.Free;
end;
if not Found then
begin
Writer := TStreamWriter.Create(FileName, True, Encoding);
try
// Warning: This will cause problems when the file does not end with a new line
Writer.WriteLine(UserName + ',0');
finally
Writer.Free;
end;
end;
end;
If performance and memory usage are not a concern:
procedure TForm1.btnRegisterClick(Sender: TObject);
var
Rows: TStringList;
Columns: TStringList;
UserName: string;
Found: Boolean;
FileName: string;
Encoding: TEncoding;
Row: string;
begin
FileName := ExpandFileName('Names.txt'); // An absolute path would be even better
UserName := edtUsername.Text;
Found := False;
Encoding := TEncoding.Default; // or another encoding, e.g. TEncoding.Unicode for Unicode
Rows := TStringList.Create;
try
Rows.LoadFromFile(FileName, Encoding);
Columns := TStringList.Create;
try
Columns.Delimiter := ',';
Columns.StrictDelimiter := True; // or False, depending on the file format
for Row in Rows do
begin
Columns.DelimitedText := Row;
if Columns.Count > 0 then
begin
if AnsiSameStr(Columns[0], UserName) then // or AnsiSameText if UserName is not case-sensitive
begin
ShowMessage('Username taken') ;
Found := True;
Break;
end;
end;
end;
finally
Columns.Free;
end;
if not Found then
begin
Rows.Add(UserName + ',0');
Rows.SaveToFile(FileName, Encoding);
end;
finally
Rows.Free;
end;
end;
This solution can be adapted to Delphi 7 by removing the Encoding variable.
If it's part of a bigger database it should be stored in a real database management system rather than a text file.