1. Methods of accessing a File
Sequential access
Data is accessed in the same order in which it is physically stored in the file.
Random access
Records are accessed directly from the file in random order.
Qbasic allows you to create two different types of files: sequential and random accesss.

2. Random Access Files
A Random Access file is usually made up of a collection of records.
Records are accessed directly from the file in random order.
Usually is done by using record’s number in the file.
Access method: the way in which the computer transmits data between secondary storage and the primary storage.

3. Example of entering a record into a file:
Private Sub cmdAddCollege_Click()
‘ Write a record into the file COLLEGES.TXT
Dim college As collegeData
college.nom = txtCollege.Text
college.state = txtState.Text
college.yrFounded = Val(txtYear.Text)
recordNum = recordNum + 1
Put #1, recordNum, college
txtCollege.Text = ""
txtState.Text = ""
txtYear.Text = ""
txtCollege.SetFocus
End Sub
Entering a record into a file

4. Example of reading a record from a file:
Private Sub DisplayFile()
Dim recordNum As Integer
‘ Access the random-access file COLLEGES.TXT
Dim college As collegeData
Open "COLLEGES.TXT" For Random As #1 Len = Len(college)
picOutput.Print "College", , "State", "Year founded"
For recordNum = 1 To 3
Get #1, recordNum, college
picOutput.Print college.nom, college.state, college.yrFounded
Next recordNum
Close #1
End Sub
To Read a data from a file

5. Summary of Using Random Access Files:
Do not need to close between placing records into them or reading from them
Do not need to input the records in any specific order
To find out the most recent record number in a file #n, then use the function Loc(n)
Each record should have the same length, which is any number from 1 to 32767