can you access audio resources by using a variable name instead of the resource name?

Mike Benton 96 Reputation points
2021-02-11T18:57:06.27+00:00

I am just starting to code a program that will read a text file one character at a time and play a wav
file from My.Resources. The resources wav files are the morse code dots and dashes for each letter.
The resource items are named a,b,c etc. Is there a way to access the resource items using a variable
name instead of the name given to each resource? I hope this makes sense.'

Here is my code so far:
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim text As String = "abcdefgh"
Dim car As String
Dim i As Integer
Dim j As Integer
Dim acode As String
Dim ltr As String
For i = 1 To Len(text)
car = Mid$(text, i, 1)
For j = 97 To 122
acode = Asc(car)
If j = Val(acode) Then
ltr = Chr(acode) 'I want to use a variable like car or ltr in place of the resource name a 

                My.Computer.Audio.Play(My.Resources.a, AudioPlayMode.WaitToComplete)  
            End If  

        Next  
    Next

here is the solution explorer:
67181-image.png

VB
VB
An object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft that is implemented on the .NET Framework. Previously known as Visual Basic .NET.
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Accepted answer
  1. Mike Benton 96 Reputation points
    2021-02-16T17:58:34.713+00:00

    I did make two wave files, one for the space between dot and dashes and one for the space between words. That is working just fine. I just need to work out some logic
    for the numbers and punctuation and then all characters will be working. Thanks so much for you input. It is exactly what I needed.

    0 comments

4 additional answers

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  1. Adrian Bowles 86 Reputation points
    2021-02-15T20:44:16.737+00:00

    You are doing lots of conversions that I don't think are needed and can be much simpler. I've split it down into two methods one which is what you have tried to do - which I assume is play something like morse code wav's for each letter in the textbox and a 2nd function to simply verify the character is a alphabet character. 

        Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Clickr
        For Each c In TextBox1.Text.ToUpper.Trim
            If IsAlpha(c) Then
                Try
                    Dim resource = My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject(c)
                    My.Computer.Audio.Play(resource, AudioPlayMode.WaitToComplete)
                Catch ex As Exception
                    'In case theres a problem playing resources
                End Try
            End If
        Next
    End Sub

    Public Function IsAlpha(strValue As Char) As Boolean
        'Verifys the character is an alphabet character only.   All characters are converted to uppercase
        Select Case Asc(strValue.ToString.ToUpper)
            Case 65 To 90
                IsAlpha = True
            Case Else
                IsAlpha = False

        End Select
        Return IsAlpha
    End Function
    1 person found this answer helpful.
  2. Adrian Bowles 86 Reputation points
    2021-02-14T21:19:43.927+00:00

    So the following code has two wav files loaded as resource called 1 and 2 . When this code runs it will play each in the sequence. I think this should demonstrate dynamically getting the wave resoruces. 

        Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click

        '//Just Get Each letter from the string

        For Each i In "1211"
            Dim resource = My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject(i)
            My.Computer.Audio.Play(resource, AudioPlayMode.WaitToComplete)
        Next

    End Sub
  3. Adrian Bowles 86 Reputation points
    2021-02-15T19:29:13.82+00:00

    So what is happening here - there are 4 versions of the play function. It doesn't know which to use (Overload resolution)

    In my original example - I simply added the 1.wav and 2.wav resources. So the names were 1 and 2 in the resources. If I added two files A.wav and B.wav the names would be A and B.

    Stick a breakpoint in your code and see what the runtime type of resource is. It should probably be System.IO.UnManagedStream or something like that if you hover over it at runtime. If it's not, then you are not setting resource correctly

    Examples To show using letters 

    For Each i In "ABAA"  
    Dim resource = My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject(i)  
    My.Computer.Audio.Play(resource, AudioPlayMode.WaitToComplete)  
Next

    Examples showing exception similar to yours 

    For Each i In "ABAA"  
    Dim resource = nothing   'Not set to a value  
    My.Computer.Audio.Play(resource, AudioPlayMode.WaitToComplete)  
Next
  4. Adrian Bowles 86 Reputation points
    2021-02-16T21:14:02.71+00:00

    Well thats pretty straightforward - adding more wav file resources for numbers and whitespace and then have methods to detect and play the appropriate sources. These will have different names than the character itself because it has to be a valid identifier. But the code for numbers and pauses between words should be something similar to 

        Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        For Each c In TextBox1.Text.ToUpper.Trim
            If IsAlpha(c) Then
                Try
                    Dim resource = My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject(c)
                    My.Computer.Audio.Play(resource, AudioPlayMode.WaitToComplete)
                Catch ex As Exception
                    '//In case theres a problem playing resources
                End Try
            ElseIf IsWhitespace(c) Then
                Try
                    My.Computer.Audio.Play(My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject("BetweenWords"), AudioPlayMode.WaitToComplete)
                Catch ex As Exception
                    'In case theres a problem playing resources
                End Try
            ElseIf IsNumber(c) Then
                Try
                    My.Computer.Audio.Play(My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject(GetNumberResourceString(c)), AudioPlayMode.WaitToComplete)
                Catch ex As Exception
                    'In case theres a problem playing resources
                End Try
            Else
                ' Punctuation Character
            End If

            My.Computer.Audio.Play(My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject("Pause"), AudioPlayMode.WaitToComplete)

        Next
    End Sub

    Public Function IsAlpha(strValue As Char) As Boolean
        Dim bResult As Boolean = False
        '//Verifys the character is an alphabet character only.   All characters are converted to uppercase
        Select Case Asc(strValue.ToString.ToUpper)
            Case 65 To 90
                IsAlpha = True
            Case Else
                IsAlpha = False

        End Select
        Return bResult
    End Function

    Public Function IsNumber(strValue As Char) As Boolean
        Dim bResult As Boolean = False

        'Verifys the character is an alphabet character only.   All characters are converted to uppercase
        Select Case Asc(strValue.ToString.ToUpper)
            Case 48 To 57
                bResult = True
            Case Else
                bResult = False
        End Select
        Return bResult
    End Function

    Public Function IsWhiteSpace(strValue As Char) As Boolean
        Dim bResult As Boolean = False

        'Verifys the character is an alphabet character only.   All characters are converted to uppercase
        Select Case Asc(strValue.ToString.ToUpper)
            Case 32
                bResult = True
            Case Else
                bResult = False
        End Select
        Return bResult
    End Function
    Public Function GetNumberResourceString(strValue As Char) As Boolean
        Dim ResourceString = "Number_" & strValue
        Return ResourceString
    End Function
End Class

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