[RESOLVED] Read file(binary) to string

been trying to do this for a few days with not much luck, I found some code when I searched but its not reading 900 chars of the file only the first few characters, heres my code:

BTW its supposed to read the first 900 chars

VB Code:

Dim File As String
 
        Dim fs As FileStream
        Dim binRead As BinaryReader
        Dim readbuf(900) As Char
 
        Dim i As Integer
        Dim strData As String = vbNullString
 
        File = "C:\UK Wholesalers.doc"
 
        fs = New FileStream(File, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.None)
        binRead = New BinaryReader(fs)
        readbuf = binRead.ReadChars(900)
        binRead.Close()
 
        'convert the char array to string
        For i = 0 To readbuf.GetUpperBound(0)
            strData = strData & readbuf(i)
        Next
 
        TextBox1.Text = strData

anyone got any ideas? :)

I think this is what you want... You just want to read the binary, not edit it, right?

I included formatting so it's not as hard to follow.

VB Code:

Private bin As IO.BinaryReader
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim intIN As Int32
        Dim strOUT As String = String.Empty
        Dim Rep As Int32
 
        Try
            bin = New IO.BinaryReader(IO.File.OpenRead("C:\Sample.doc"))
            intIN = bin.Read
            Do Until Rep = 900
                If (Rep Mod 8 = 0 And Rep > 0) Then
                    strOUT &= System.Environment.NewLine
                End If
                strOUT &= GetBinary(intIN) & " "
                Rep += 1
                intIN = bin.Read
            Loop
        Catch ex As Exception
            'Handle
        Finally
            Me.TextBox1.Text = strOUT
        End Try
    End Sub
 
    Private Function GetBinary(ByVal inByte As Int32) As String
        Dim dblLoop As Double = 256
        Dim Out As String
 
        While dblLoop >= 1
            If dblLoop > inByte Then
                Out &= "0"
            Else
                Out &= "1"
                inByte -= Convert.ToInt32(dblLoop)
            End If
            dblLoop /= 2
        End While
 
        Return Out

thanks sevenhalo but I meant read binary file as in not a .txt, I want to get the ascii text (not binary code) from the file which isnt a txt

You lost me.

That snippet I gave reads a doc (MS word file, but works with any). If you just want the ASCII characters from it, get rid of the GetBinary part. It's passing the ascii value to the function and returning a string to represent it in binary. If you drop it, you'll get numerical data.

sorry thats my fault for not explaining it well, okay what i want is the same as this....

when you open a .exe file in notepad it gives you the raw data as text for example:

Code:

---

Ÿj°ÛŸjs*jNb¬jÉfŸjÕh¬j'TŸjáKŸjb¬j§fŸjãBŸj,EŸj)/«jÚ«jšb¬j˜EŸjšc¬j2"«j®}ªjd³¬jßHŸj´«j¯DŸjõÀ«jÕcŸjoØžj¤Â«j&ž«jÓi«jæ»*jåi«jÁ'«jx«jŠi¬j%±*j…ãŸj        ´¬j|gªj[NŸjÛœ¬jf¬jNc¬jØc«j*j|i«j¡²¬jҐªj‚XŸj¬Çžj`«jÎb¬jÎc¬jöDŸj        d«j°HŸjc¬j=]¬jDQŸj>ޝjÊ*jŝ*jܝ*jSHŸj6±¬j^GŸjàJŸjq³«jh‘Ÿjê ¬jº´¬j5¬jPZ«j×PŸjþGŸjmÖªj

---

thats what i want to read into a string, and display in textbox, just as notepad does it :D

Chris, you nerd... Your snippet used a .doc :)

I messed with this a little and it turns out Notepad cheats. If the value is EXT (End of Text) or EOT (End of Transmission), it replaces it with a space and continues. Which basically means Notepad turns your executibles into swiss cheese when you're looking at it. If you want to preserve the executible in its original state and read through it, you'll need to use the actual numeric values.

yes I used a doc in my post #1 but by reading the fille for binary access it doesnt matter what file type it is, it should read the raw data, this is how I do it in VB6:

VB Code:

Open strFilename For Binary As #1
    strBuffer = Space(LOF(1))
    Get #1, , strBuffer
Close #1

and that would open up any filetype and put the raw data (like in my last post example data) into the strBuffer so it can be processed or just displayed.

the screenshot is a hex editor, it shows the file data in hex form, and in text form, thats what I want, to display the text like that in a textbox, i dont want to replace any chars, I know this hex editor replaces nothing with ..... but all i want is the original contents :confused:

VB Code:

Dim intIN As Int32
        Dim strOUT As String = String.Empty
        Dim Rep As Int32
        Dim buff() As Byte
 
        Try
            bin = New IO.BinaryReader(IO.File.OpenRead("C:\Client.exe"))
 
            intIN = bin.Read
            While intIN >= 0
                If intIN <= 32 Then
                    strOUT &= "."
                Else
                    strOUT &= Chr(intIN)
                End If
 
                Rep += 1
                If Rep Mod 16 = 0 Then
                    strOUT &= System.Environment.NewLine
                End If
 
                intIN = bin.Read
            End While
        Catch ex As Exception
            '    'Handle
        Finally
            Me.TextBox1.Text = strOUT
        End Try

Change your textbox font to something like Lucinda Console or one of the other fonts that are character fixed width. It should look identical.

sorry to keep annoying you but the code above reads some files, but not all? when it fails what happens is it just reads the first 4 or 5 chars only

VB Code:

Dim strOUT As String = String.Empty
        Dim buff() As Byte
        Dim unibuff() As Byte
        Dim uniByte(1) As Byte
 
        Try
            bin = New IO.BinaryReader(IO.File.OpenRead("C:\NTDETECT.COM"))
            buff = bin.ReadBytes(Convert.ToInt32(bin.BaseStream.Length))
            unibuff = System.Text.Encoding.Convert(System.Text.Encoding.Default, System.Text.Encoding.Unicode, buff)
 
            For intI As Int32 = 0 To unibuff.Length - 1 Step 2
                uniByte(0) = unibuff(intI)
                uniByte(1) = unibuff(intI + 1)
 
                If Asc(System.Text.Encoding.Unicode.GetChars(uniByte)) <= 32 Then
                    'No character representation value, ignore and output "."
                    strOUT &= "."c
                Else
                    strOUT &= System.Text.Encoding.Unicode.GetString(uniByte)
                End If
            Next
        Catch ex As Exception
            '    'Handle
        Finally
            Me.TextBox1.Text = strOUT
        End Try

bloody brilliant mate:thumb: