Question

I wrote the below method to archive files into one file using binary mode:

        // Compile archive
        public void CompileArchive(string FilePath, ListView FilesList, Label Status, ProgressBar Progress)
        {
            FileTemplate TempFile = new FileTemplate();
            if (FilesList.Items.Count > 0)
            {
                BinaryWriter Writer = new BinaryWriter(File.Open(FilePath, FileMode.Create), System.Text.Encoding.ASCII);
                Progress.Maximum = FilesList.Items.Count - 1;
                Writer.Write((long)FilesList.Items.Count);
                for (int i = 0; i <= FilesList.Items.Count - 1; i++)
                {
                    TempFile.Name = FilesList.Items[i].SubItems[1].Text;
                    TempFile.Path = "%ARCHIVE%";
                    TempFile.Data = this.ReadFileData(FilesList.Items[i].SubItems[2].Text + "\\" + TempFile.Name);
                    Writer.Write(TempFile.Name);
                    Writer.Write(TempFile.Path);
                    Writer.Write(TempFile.Data);
                    Status.Text = "Status: Writing '" + TempFile.Name + "'";
                    Progress.Value = i;
                }
                Writer.Close();
                Status.Text = "Status: None";
                Progress.Value = 0;
            }
        }

I read files data using ReadFileData which is in the above method method which return a string of data. (StreamReader) Next up I extract my archive. Everything is done great but the data which will being stored in the extraction method doesn’t give me a right data so the extracted files have not right data to show their original functionality.

Extract method:

    // Extract archive
    public void ExtractArchive(string ArchivePath, string ExtractPath, ListView FilesList, Label Status, ProgressBar Progress)
    {
        FileTemplate TempFile = new FileTemplate();
        BinaryReader Reader = new BinaryReader(File.Open(ArchivePath, FileMode.Open), System.Text.Encoding.ASCII);
        long Count = Reader.ReadInt64();
        if (Count > 0)
        {
            Progress.Maximum = (int)Count - 1;
            FilesList.Items.Clear();
            for (int i = 0; i <= Count - 1; i++)
            {
                TempFile.Name = Reader.ReadString();
                TempFile.Path = Reader.ReadString();
                TempFile.Data = Reader.ReadString();
                Status.Text = "Status: Reading '" + TempFile.Name + "'";
                Progress.Value = i;
                if (!Directory.Exists(ExtractPath))
                {
                    Directory.CreateDirectory(ExtractPath);
                }
                BinaryWriter Writer = new BinaryWriter(File.Open(ExtractPath + "\\" + TempFile.Name, FileMode.Create), System.Text.Encoding.ASCII);
                Writer.Write(TempFile.Data);
                Writer.Close();
                string[] ItemArr = new string[] { i.ToString(), TempFile.Name, TempFile.Path };
                ListViewItem ListItem = new ListViewItem(ItemArr);
                FilesList.Items.Add(ListItem);
            }
            Reader.Close();
            Status.Text = "Status: None";
            Progress.Value = 0;
        }
    }

The structure:

struct FileTemplate
        {
            public string Name, Path, Data;
        }

Thanks.

Answer 1

Consider using byte arrays for write and safe the data.

Byte array( write )

Byte[] bytes = File.ReadAllBytes(..);
// Write it into your stream
myStream.Write(bytes.Count);
myStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Count);

Byte array ( read )

Int32 byteCount = myStream.ReadInt32();
Byte[] bytes = new Byte[byteCount];
myStream.Read(bytes, 0, byteCount);