Question

I need help figuring out how to convert data that comes in from a SQL Server table column that is set as varBinary(max) into a string in order to display it in a label.

This is in C# and I’m using a DataReader.

I can pull the data in using:

var BinaryString = reader[1];

i know that this column holds text that was previously convert to binary.

Answer 1

It really depends on which encoding was used when you originally converted from string to binary:

 byte[] binaryString = (byte[])reader[1];

 // if the original encoding was ASCII
 string x = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(binaryString);

 // if the original encoding was UTF-8
 string y = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(binaryString);

 // if the original encoding was UTF-16
 string z = Encoding.Unicode.GetString(binaryString);

 // etc