Question

I am trying to make a program that writes the binary code of a file in a separate text file.

When I use this program on a text file, it doesn’t write anything in the new file. I then tested this for .jpg and .mp3 files and the program seems to write most of the binary code but leaves out the last couple of bytes. Here is my code:

Sub Main()
    Console.Write("Filename:  ")
    Dim Filename As String = Console.ReadLine()
    Console.Write("Extension: ")
    Dim Extension As String = Console.ReadLine()
    Console.WriteLine()

    Dim Stream_1 As FileStream = New FileStream(Filename & "." & Extension, FileMode.Open)
    Dim Stream_2 As FileStream = New FileStream(Filename & "_b.txt", FileMode.Create)

    Dim Reader_1 As BinaryReader = New BinaryReader(Stream_1)
    Dim Writer_2 As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter(Stream_2)

    Dim File_Bytes() As Byte = Reader_1.ReadBytes(Convert.ToInt32(Stream_1.Length))

    Dim Binary_String As String = ""

    'These are used to a add line break after every 8 bytes
    Dim Binary_String_Collection As String = ""
    Dim Counter As Integer

    For Each File_Byte In File_Bytes
        Counter += 1

        Binary_String = Convert.ToString(File_Byte, 2)

        For I = 1 To 8 - Binary_String.Length
            Binary_String = "0" & Binary_String
        Next

        Binary_String_Collection = Binary_String_Collection & Binary_String & " "

        If Counter = 8 Then
            Writer_2.WriteLine(Binary_String_Collection)

            Counter = 0
            Binary_String_Collection = ""
        End If
    Next

    If Binary_String_Collection <> "" Then
        Writer_2.WriteLine(Binary_String_Collection)
    End If

    Console.ReadLine()
End Sub

At first I thought that my program wasn’t reading the binary code properly so I added console outputs at locations where it writes to the file. The program displayed correct output so I’m confused why it isn’t writing properly.

Answer 1

Make sure you close the file and Dispose of the streams correctly.