Encoding.GetMaxCharCount(Int32) Method

Definition

When overridden in a derived class, calculates the maximum number of characters produced by decoding the specified number of bytes.

public:
 abstract int GetMaxCharCount(int byteCount);
public abstract int GetMaxCharCount (int byteCount);
abstract member GetMaxCharCount : int -> int
Public MustOverride Function GetMaxCharCount (byteCount As Integer) As Integer

Parameters

byteCount
Int32

The number of bytes to decode.

Returns

The maximum number of characters produced by decoding the specified number of bytes.

Exceptions

byteCount is less than zero.

A fallback occurred (for more information, see Character Encoding in .NET)

-and-

DecoderFallback is set to DecoderExceptionFallback.

Examples

The following example encodes a string into an array of bytes, and then decodes the bytes into an array of characters.

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Text;
void PrintCountsAndChars( array<Byte>^bytes, Encoding^ enc );
int main()
{
   
   // Create two instances of UTF32Encoding: one with little-endian byte order and one with big-endian byte order.
   Encoding^ u32LE = Encoding::GetEncoding( "utf-32" );
   Encoding^ u32BE = Encoding::GetEncoding( "utf-32BE" );
   
   // Use a string containing the following characters:
   //    Latin Small Letter Z (U+007A)
   //    Latin Small Letter A (U+0061)
   //    Combining Breve (U+0306)
   //    Latin Small Letter AE With Acute (U+01FD)
   //    Greek Small Letter Beta (U+03B2)
   String^ myStr = "za\u0306\u01FD\u03B2";
   
   // Encode the string using the big-endian byte order.
   array<Byte>^barrBE = gcnew array<Byte>(u32BE->GetByteCount( myStr ));
   u32BE->GetBytes( myStr, 0, myStr->Length, barrBE, 0 );
   
   // Encode the string using the little-endian byte order.
   array<Byte>^barrLE = gcnew array<Byte>(u32LE->GetByteCount( myStr ));
   u32LE->GetBytes( myStr, 0, myStr->Length, barrLE, 0 );
   
   // Get the char counts, and decode the byte arrays.
   Console::Write( "BE array with BE encoding : " );
   PrintCountsAndChars( barrBE, u32BE );
   Console::Write( "LE array with LE encoding : " );
   PrintCountsAndChars( barrLE, u32LE );
}

void PrintCountsAndChars( array<Byte>^bytes, Encoding^ enc )
{
   
   // Display the name of the encoding used.
   Console::Write( "{0,-25} :", enc );
   
   // Display the exact character count.
   int iCC = enc->GetCharCount( bytes );
   Console::Write( " {0,-3}", iCC );
   
   // Display the maximum character count.
   int iMCC = enc->GetMaxCharCount( bytes->Length );
   Console::Write( " {0,-3} :", iMCC );
   
   // Decode the bytes and display the characters.
   array<Char>^chars = enc->GetChars( bytes );
   Console::WriteLine( chars );
}

/* 
This code produces the following output.  The question marks take the place of characters that cannot be displayed at the console.

BE array with BE encoding : System.Text.UTF32Encoding : 5   12  :zăǽβ
LE array with LE encoding : System.Text.UTF32Encoding : 5   12  :zăǽβ

*/
using System;
using System.Text;

public class SamplesEncoding  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // Create two instances of UTF32Encoding: one with little-endian byte order and one with big-endian byte order.
      Encoding u32LE = Encoding.GetEncoding( "utf-32" );
      Encoding u32BE = Encoding.GetEncoding( "utf-32BE" );

      // Use a string containing the following characters:
      //    Latin Small Letter Z (U+007A)
      //    Latin Small Letter A (U+0061)
      //    Combining Breve (U+0306)
      //    Latin Small Letter AE With Acute (U+01FD)
      //    Greek Small Letter Beta (U+03B2)
      String myStr = "za\u0306\u01FD\u03B2";

      // Encode the string using the big-endian byte order.
      byte[] barrBE = new byte[u32BE.GetByteCount( myStr )];
      u32BE.GetBytes( myStr, 0, myStr.Length, barrBE, 0 );

      // Encode the string using the little-endian byte order.
      byte[] barrLE = new byte[u32LE.GetByteCount( myStr )];
      u32LE.GetBytes( myStr, 0, myStr.Length, barrLE, 0 );

      // Get the char counts, and decode the byte arrays.
      Console.Write( "BE array with BE encoding : " );
      PrintCountsAndChars( barrBE, u32BE );
      Console.Write( "LE array with LE encoding : " );
      PrintCountsAndChars( barrLE, u32LE );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndChars( byte[] bytes, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-25} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact character count.
      int iCC  = enc.GetCharCount( bytes );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iCC );

      // Display the maximum character count.
      int iMCC = enc.GetMaxCharCount( bytes.Length );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMCC );

      // Decode the bytes and display the characters.
      char[] chars = enc.GetChars( bytes );
      Console.WriteLine( chars );
   }
}


/* 
This code produces the following output.  The question marks take the place of characters that cannot be displayed at the console.

BE array with BE encoding : System.Text.UTF32Encoding : 5   12  :zăǽβ
LE array with LE encoding : System.Text.UTF32Encoding : 5   12  :zăǽβ

*/
Imports System.Text

Public Class SamplesEncoding   

   Public Shared Sub Main()

      ' Create two instances of UTF32Encoding: one with little-endian byte order and one with big-endian byte order.
      Dim u32LE As Encoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("utf-32")
      Dim u32BE As Encoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("utf-32BE")

      ' Use a string containing the following characters:
      '    Latin Small Letter Z (U+007A)
      '    Latin Small Letter A (U+0061)
      '    Combining Breve (U+0306)
      '    Latin Small Letter AE With Acute (U+01FD)
      '    Greek Small Letter Beta (U+03B2)
      Dim myStr As String = "za" & ChrW(&H0306) & ChrW(&H01FD) & ChrW(&H03B2) 

      ' Encode the string using the big-endian byte order.
      ' NOTE: In VB.NET, arrays contain one extra element by default.
      '       The following line creates the array with the exact number of elements required.
      Dim barrBE(u32BE.GetByteCount(myStr) - 1) As Byte
      u32BE.GetBytes(myStr, 0, myStr.Length, barrBE, 0)

      ' Encode the string using the little-endian byte order.
      ' NOTE: In VB.NET, arrays contain one extra element by default.
      '       The following line creates the array with the exact number of elements required.
      Dim barrLE(u32LE.GetByteCount(myStr) - 1) As Byte
      u32LE.GetBytes(myStr, 0, myStr.Length, barrLE, 0)

      ' Get the char counts, and decode the byte arrays.
      Console.Write("BE array with BE encoding : ")
      PrintCountsAndChars(barrBE, u32BE)
      Console.Write("LE array with LE encoding : ")
      PrintCountsAndChars(barrLE, u32LE)

   End Sub


   Public Shared Sub PrintCountsAndChars(bytes() As Byte, enc As Encoding)

      ' Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write("{0,-25} :", enc.ToString())

      ' Display the exact character count.
      Dim iCC As Integer = enc.GetCharCount(bytes)
      Console.Write(" {0,-3}", iCC)

      ' Display the maximum character count.
      Dim iMCC As Integer = enc.GetMaxCharCount(bytes.Length)
      Console.Write(" {0,-3} :", iMCC)

      ' Decode the bytes and display the characters.
      Dim chars As Char() = enc.GetChars(bytes)
      Console.WriteLine(chars)

   End Sub

End Class


'This code produces the following output.  The question marks take the place of characters that cannot be displayed at the console.
'
'BE array with BE encoding : System.Text.UTF32Encoding : 5   12  :zăǽβ
'LE array with LE encoding : System.Text.UTF32Encoding : 5   12  :zăǽβ

Remarks

To calculate the exact array size required by GetChars to store the resulting characters, you should use the GetCharCount method. To calculate the maximum array size, use the GetMaxCharCount method. The GetCharCount method generally allows allocation of less memory, while the GetMaxCharCount method generally executes faster.

GetMaxCharCount retrieves a worst-case number, including the worst case for the currently selected DecoderFallback. If a fallback is chosen with a potentially large string, GetMaxCharCount retrieves large values.

In most cases, this method retrieves reasonable numbers for small strings. For large strings, you might have to choose between using very large buffers and catching errors in the rare case that a more reasonable buffer is too small. You might also want to consider a different approach using GetCharCount or Decoder.Convert.

GetMaxCharCount has no relation to GetBytes. If you needs a similar function to use with GetBytes, you should use GetMaxByteCount.

When using GetMaxCharCount, you should allocate the output buffer based on the maximum size of the input buffer. If the output buffer is constrained in size, you might use the Decoder.Convert method.

Note that GetMaxCharCount considers the worst case for leftover bytes from a previous encoder operation. For most code pages, passing a value of 0 to this method retrieves values greater than or equal to 1.

Note

GetMaxCharCount(N) is not necessarily the same value as N* GetMaxCharCount(1).

Notes to Implementers

All Encoding implementations must guarantee that no buffer overflow exceptions occur if buffers are sized according to the results of this method's calculations.

Applies to

See also