C# Split and Store Strings into Data table — Then Compare 2 Data tables

Question

I have a string that looks like this

"Start Date: 



2015-1-1 



End Date: 

 2017-1-1 



Warranty Type: 

 XXX 



Status: 

 Active 



Serial Number/IMEI: 

 XXXXXXXX









Description:



This product has a three year limited warranty and is entitled to parts, labor and on-site repair service. Service is available Monday-Friday, except holidays, with a next business day response objective. Many parts can also be delivered to you using the Customer Replaceable Unit (CRU) method."

I would like to store "2015-1-1" "2017-1-1" "Active" in my Data table- How is this done?

Once that process is done I want to compare the data I have stored to my original data table and see if the dates and status' match (if they dont I create a report alerting the user there is a date that is wrong).

Edit: I have around 300~ of these strings so I am not sure what the best way to handle that amount of strings is.

Answer 1

You may try something like this:

var parts = s.Split(new string[] { Environment.NewLine }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
var startDate = DateTime.Parse(parts.SkipWhile(p => p != "Start Date:").Skip(1).First().Trim());
var endDate = DateTime.Parse(parts.SkipWhile(p => p != "EndDate:").Skip(1).First().Trim());
var status = parts.SkipWhile(p => p != "Status:").Skip(1).First();

then, having these values, you may insert them into your data table

Answer 2

This is a perfect solution for Regular Expressions.

EDIT: Since OP updated his input string, I updated my code and regular expression pattern to match.

string var1 =
@"Start Date: 



2015 - 1 - 1



End Date: 

 2017 - 1 - 1



Warranty Type: 

 XXX



Status: 

 Active



Serial Number / IMEI: 

 XXXXXXXX









Description:



This product has a three year limited warranty and is entitled to parts, labor and on-site repair service. Service is available Monday - Friday, except holidays, with a next business day response objective. Many parts can also be delivered to you using the Customer Replaceable Unit (CRU)method.";

// Remove all spaces and newlines
var1 = var1.Replace(" ", "").Replace("\r\n", "");

// our regex pattern now that there ar eno spaces or new lines
var regex = new Regex(@"StartDate:(.*)EndDate:(.*)W.*Status:(.*)\/");                   

//assign them
string strStartDate = regex.Match(var1).Groups[1].ToString();
string strEndDate = regex.Match(var1).Groups[2].ToString();
string Status = regex.Match(var1).Groups[3].ToString().Substring(0, 6);

//convert to DateTime from our string versions
DateTime StartDate = DateTime.Parse(strStartDate);
DateTime EndDate = DateTime.Parse(strEndDate);