Forum ‹ C# ‹ Best way to parse Byte Arrays?

[whitershores]

Hiya, in Flash it is easy and convenient to parse a Byte array of a complex datastructure like a World state:

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myVar1 = stateDataByteArray.readShort()
myVar2 = stateDataByteArray.readDouble();
myVar3 = stateDataByteArray.readInt();

However in C# it seems a bit more complicated, I've found 2 ways to extract the data:

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myVar1 = BitConverter.ToInt32(stateDataByteArray, position);
myVar2 = BitConverter.ToInt32(stateDataByteArray, position +2);

- this one seems especially tedious, having to keep track of the position, and iterate it with irregular intervals(ie Bytes are position +1 but Integers are +4 shorts +2 etc ), which for complex data structures where there are more than one data type seems especially bothersome?

And this one, which has a more similar feel to Flash:

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using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(stateDataByteArray))  {
    using (BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(stream))  {
        Console.WriteLine("myDouble: " + reader.ReadByte());
        Console.WriteLine("myDouble: " + reader.ReadByte());
}}

any other suggestions or ideas? Whats your preferred way?

[Henrik]

Yes, BinaryReader is the way to go. However, as you've undoubtedly noticed when you tried it, it's not on the whitelist for serverside code. I'll try to get it added as soon as possible.

In the meantime, you can make your own super-simple wrapper that acts like it, like this:

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public class SimpleBinaryReader {
    private byte[] data;
    private int position;

    public SimpleBinaryReader(byte[] data) {
        this.data = data;
    }

    public double ReadDouble() {
        var result = BitConverter.ToDouble(data, position);
        position += 8;
        return result;
    }

    public int ReadInt32() {
        var result = BitConverter.ToInt32(data, position);
        position += 4;
        return result;
    }

    //...and so on, for each datatype you actually need.
}

[whitershores]

Thanks for the tip Henrik, do let me know when its Whitelisted!

(Btw when I've compiled the debug server, it didn't complain that I've done anthing illegal??, where as usually the debug server says if I've used something that is not allowed ?)