Best way to convert Stream (of unknown length) to byte array, in .NET?

Question

I have the following code to read data from a Stream (in this case, from a named pipe) and into a byte array:

// NPSS is an instance of NamedPipeServerStream

int BytesRead;
byte[] StreamBuffer = new byte[BUFFER_SIZE]; // size defined elsewhere (less than total possible message size, though)
MemoryStream MessageStream = new MemoryStream();

do
{
    BytesRead = NPSS.Read(StreamBuffer, 0, StreamBuffer.Length);
    MessageStream.Write(StreamBuffer, 0, BytesRead);
} while (!NPSS.IsMessageComplete);

byte[] Message = MessageStream.ToArray(); // final data

Could you please take a look and let me know if it can be done more efficiently or neatly? Seems a bit messy as it is, using a MemoryStream. Thanks!

David Neale · Answer 1 · 2020-04-17T07:29:51.473

23

Shamelessly copied from Jon Skeet's article.

public static byte[] ReadFully (Stream stream)
{
   byte[] buffer = new byte[32768];
   using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
   {
       while (true)
       {
           int read = stream.Read (buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
           if (read <= 0)
               return ms.ToArray();
           ms.Write (buffer, 0, read);
       }
   }
}

edited Apr 17 '20 at 07:29

answered Jun 18 '10 at 12:24

David Neale

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This reads to the end of the stream, but the intent is to only read until `IsMessageComplete`. – Stephen Cleary Jun 18 '10 at 12:34
1

Thanks for the link to the article; it looks like I'm doing pretty much the same algorithm but with a different terminating condition on the loop. – Frank Hamming Jun 18 '10 at 12:40

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 30 '13 at 14:18

3

int read = stream.Read (buffer, 0, buffer.Length);

This line will block forever if there is no data Available. Read is a blocking function and it will block the thread until it reads at least one byte but if there is no data then it will block forever.

edited Sep 30 '13 at 14:18

Derek Beattie

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answered Jun 20 '12 at 15:41

Abhinaw Sharma

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@derek-beattie how can I produce this issues? – Ivandro Jao Feb 21 '16 at 23:08
@IvandroIsmael abhinaw answered this one – Derek Beattie Feb 22 '16 at 19:56
Ohw, I'm sorry mate Derek-Beattie. /cc @abhinaw – Ivandro Jao Feb 22 '16 at 20:01

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 18 '10 at 12:34

1

It looks like your current solution is pretty good. You may consider wrapping it up into an extension method if you'd like the code to look cleaner.

answered Jun 18 '10 at 12:34

Stephen Cleary

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Interesting, I'd never heard of extension methods prior to your post. Thanks for the tip and for looking at my code – Frank Hamming Jun 18 '10 at 12:42

Best way to convert Stream (of unknown length) to byte array, in .NET?

3 Answers3