Binary File is text?

[litton1]

Hi all, i am attempting to write some simple data to a binary file, this works but the data is readable here is the code i am using.

char delimiter = '*';
FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(dateFileName, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write);

string[] contents = new string[1] {"24/04/2007 00:00:00"};
BinaryWriter binaryWriter = new BinaryWriter(fileStream);

//put data into file
binaryWriter.Write(delimiter.ToString());
binaryWriter.Write(delimiter.ToString());
binaryWriter.Write(contents[0].ToString());

binaryWriter.Close();
fileStream.Close();

I get:
*
*24/04/2007 00:00:00
But i expected to see unreadable characters. Does any body know why this is? Any help appreciated


Age is a consequence of experience

 

[earthandfire]

It doesn't matter whether it is a binary file or not, if you write string literals to the file, then you will have string literals in the file.

Depending on how you actually want the data to be stored, you would need to cast the strings accordingly.

Hope this helps.

 

[litton1]

hmmm... ok thx

Age is a consequence of experience

 

[Aptitude]

Because you are using a BinaryWriter, what you are getting in the file is the string you wrote, preceded by a byte containing the number of characters in the string.

Try this instead:

            //put data into file
            binaryWriter.Write(delimiter);
            binaryWriter.Write(delimiter);
            binaryWriter.Write(contents[0].ToCharArray());

 

[litton1]

I see... thanks for that, I am at work at the moment but I will have a mess when I get home, unless I get chance to do it here later.
Again thx, I think that was the little push I needed

Age is a consequence of experience

 

[sarithat]

I have tried ToCharArray(), still you see the given string rather the unreadable characters.