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PORead binary file into a struct
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copied!<p>I'm trying to read binary data using C#. I have all the information about the layout of the data in the files I want to read. I'm able to read the data "chunk by chunk", i.e. getting the first 40 bytes of data converting it to a string, get the next 40 bytes.</p> <p>Since there are at least three slightly different version of the data, I would like to read the data directly into a struct. It just feels so much more right than by reading it "line by line".</p> <p><strong>I have tried the following approach but to no avail:</strong></p> <pre><code>StructType aStruct; int count = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(StructType)); byte[] readBuffer = new byte[count]; BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(stream); readBuffer = reader.ReadBytes(count); GCHandle handle = GCHandle.Alloc(readBuffer, GCHandleType.Pinned); aStruct = (StructType) Marshal.PtrToStructure(handle.AddrOfPinnedObject(), typeof(StructType)); handle.Free(); </code></pre> <p>The stream is an opened FileStream from which I have began to read from. I get an <code>AccessViolationExceptio</code>n when using <code>Marshal.PtrToStructure</code>.</p> <p>The stream contains more information than I'm trying to read since I'm not interested in data at the end of the file.</p> <p><strong>The struct is defined like:</strong></p> <pre><code>[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)] struct StructType { [FieldOffset(0)] public string FileDate; [FieldOffset(8)] public string FileTime; [FieldOffset(16)] public int Id1; [FieldOffset(20)] public string Id2; } </code></pre> <p>The examples code is changed from original to make this question shorter.</p> <p>How would I read binary data from a file into a struct?</p>

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