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Using C#, How do I read from a binary file into a struct using a file created by a VB6 application?

I am trying to use C# to read the contents of a binary file written by a VB6 application. I have used the article "Fast Binary Reading" at http://www.codeproject.com/cs/files/fastbinaryfileinput.asp as a guide, opting to use the BinaryReader to do a ReadString(), ReadInt64(), etc into the members of a struct patterned after the User Defined Types created in the VB6 application.

When I step through the program, I see a truncated version of, say, the invoice number 0071383. The VS 2005 express shows me " \0007138" when I place the pointer over the struct member to see what value it is holding. However, when I test the output in a messagebox, I get a blank. Not even the literal strings I put in MessageBox show. The value in the invoice date shows as: "\b\020071002\b\0H ýýýý\0\0ýý\0\0\0\0ýh\0\0\0\0\0ýh\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0" when I work in debug mode. Iit is a concat of the date and an employee code ('H'). But, like I say, nothing shows up on the message box.

Code snippet:
fs = new FileStream(FullPath, FileMode.Open,FileAccess.Read,FileShare.Read );
br = new BinaryReader(fs);
/* Snippet from article */
try
{
while (br.PeekChar() != -1)
{
i06.InvoiceNumber = br.ReadString();
i06.InvoiceDate = br.ReadString();
MessageBox.Show(i06.InvoiceNumber + " The invoice date: " + i06.InvoiceDate , "Invoice Number and Date"); // I come up with blanks here
break; // i'm just trying to get one or two successful reads before reading whole file
} // end while
...
}
The VB6 Get method will read a binary file's contents into a user defined type quite easily, even if one of the elements is s UDT. I'm not really finding a C# equivalent to this.

I am trying just to get these two tiny members to fill the struct elements before I go on. What do I need to know about C# data types and VB6 data types in order to bring the data in ? I tried changing the binary reader encoding property, but that did not render any helpful results. I got either gibberish or blanks. What might I be missing?

Jens Fiederer

You only want to use
br.ReadString()
for fields that are actually STRINGS, which these probably are not.

If invoice number is, for example, and Int16, you need to do
br.ReadInt16()
If InvoiceDate is, as seems likely, a Date, you need to understand the VB6 date formats and convert the bytes into a Date (I dont know if they are the same as VB.NET, if they are it is easier).

So you need to know EVERYTHING about the data types you are using in VB6 and .NET for this, and you need to know (or discover) the EXACT layout of your datafile. Using a hex editor can help with the discovery part.

hdkelly

'\0' is called the null terminator and it represents the end of a string. The MessageBox class will only display characters up to the first null terminator it encounters. You might remove the null terminators with something like this:

MessageBox.Show(i06.InvoiceNumber.Replace("\0", "") + " The invoice date: " + i06.InvoiceDate.Replace("\0", "") , "Invoice Number and Date");

Jens Fiederer

i06 is NOT going to have anything meaningful INSIDE it to display if he tries to read into it with his current methods.

ventriculor

ASKER

The User Defined Type in the VB6 code defines the Invoice number and invoice dates as strings:
Public Type Transaction Info
InvoiceNumber As String
InvoiceDate As String
' The Rest of the Type is defined . . .
End Type
By using the Replace() method, I was able to get the following info to show:
InvoiceDate: \b20071002\bH ýýýýýýýhýh
InvoiceNumber: 007138
The Invoice number is still incomplete, a 3 belongs after the 8. The date value is there in the InvoiceDate element, but the Employee code is concatenated onto it with other characters.

The Hex editor shows this for the relevant section:
00000000h: 07 00 30 30 37 31 33 38 33 08 00 32 30 30 37 31 ; ..0071383..20071
00000010h: 30 30 32 08 00 48 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 FF FF FF ; 002..H ÿÿÿ
00000020h: FF 00 00 FF FF 00 00 00 00 A0 68 06 00 00 00 00 ; ÿ..ÿÿ.... h.....

So, my question remains, what must I do read the values in the VB6 created binary files with C#?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Jens Fiederer

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Jens Fiederer

You can do the same thing with the date, after that, since it is represented as an 8 character string....of course, to get the .NET Datetime, you'll have to parse that out.

ventriculor

ASKER

Thank you very much! That works for the string values. Youv'e certainly given me somewhere to go with this.
The User Defined type in VB contains an assortment of Bookean, string, currenct and integer types.
Here is an expanded excerpt from the User Defined Type in VB6 with some question about VB6 data compared to C#:
Public Type TransactionInfo
InvoiceNumber As String
InvoiceDate As String
EmpCode As String
InProgress As Boolean ' will I be able to use br.ReadBoolean() to extract these values?
Completed As Boolean
Cancelled As Boolean
Pullup As Boolean
Find As Boolean
ARCode As String
SubTotal As Currency ' In VB6 an 8 byte value, would ReadDouble() do the job? Or ReadInt64()?
Total As Currency
TotalTax As Currency
TotalDiscount As Currency
ChangeDue As Currency
OnAccountAmount As Currency
ItemCount As Integer ' in VB6, a two byte value, so I take it br.ReadInt16() will do the trick?
' More elements follow
End Type
How closely do these match their respective types in C#?

Here is the hex code from a recovery file with just one record in it:
00000000h: 07 00 30 30 30 30 30 30 33 08 00 32 30 30 37 31 ; ..0000003..20071
00000010h: 30 30 35 08 00 48 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 FF FF FF ; 005..H ÿÿÿ
00000020h: FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 1A 06 00 00 00 00 ; ÿ........¬......
00000030h: 00 68 9B 06 00 00 00 00 00 E8 80 00 00 00 00 00 ; .h:......è¬.....
00000040h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000050h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000060h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000070h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 31 32 30 39 00 00 00 ; .........1209...
00000080h: 00 00 00 01 00 01 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000090h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
000000a0h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
000000b0h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
000000c0h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 68 9B 06 00 00 00 00 00 ; ........h:......
000000d0h: 32 34 36 38 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ; 2468
000000e0h: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ;
000000f0h: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ........
00000100h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ; .......
00000110h: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ;
00000120h: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 ; .
00000130h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000140h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000150h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000160h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000170h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000180h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000190h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
000001a0h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
000001b0h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
000001c0h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
000001d0h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 04 41 80 ; ..............A¬
000001e0h: 1A 06 00 00 00 00 00 E8 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; .......è¬.......
000001f0h: 00 80 BF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; .¬¿.............
00000200h: 00 00 00 00 00 80 BF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; .....¬¿.........
00000210h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 BF 00 00 00 00 00 ; .........¬¿.....
00000220h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 BF 00 ; .............¬¿.
00000230h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000240h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000250h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000260h: 00 00 00 80 3F 00 00 80 3F 00 00 00 00 80 1A 06 ; ...¬?..¬?....¬..
00000270h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 20 20 20 37 36 ; ........... 76
00000280h: 31 38 20 0F 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ; 18 ..
00000290h: 37 36 31 38 1E 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 34 20 46 ; 7618.. 4 F
000002a0h: 4F 4F 54 50 52 49 4E 54 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ; OOTPRINT
000002b0h: 20 20 20 20 E8 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 41 01 ; è¬........A.
000002c0h: 00 41 80 1A 06 00 00 00 00 00 0B 00 31 31 37 2E ; .A¬.........117.
000002d0h: 30 30 30 2E 30 30 30 0F 00 30 38 31 41 20 20 20 ; 000.000..081A
000002e0h: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 01 00 4E 90 59 02 00 00 ; ..NY...
000002f0h: 00 00 00 80 1A 06 00 00 00 00 00 14 00 20 20 20 ; ...¬.........
00000300h: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ;
00000310h: 20 01 00 4E 01 00 4E 08 00 48 20 20 20 20 20 20 ; ..N..N..H
00000320h: 20 00 00 E8 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ..è¬...........
00000330h: 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000340h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; ................
00000350h: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 20 00 00 ; ............. ..
00000360h: 00 00 01 00 4E 00 00 01 00 30 00 00 00 00 05 00 ; ....N....0......
00000370h: 20 20 20 20 20 ;

SOLUTION

Jens Fiederer

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ventriculor

ASKER

It's working much better now. I'm able to produce discernable values. Thanks.
I think I will be able to produce the utility I need now.