BinaryReader.BaseStream Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.IO

Assemblies:

netstandard.dll, System.Runtime.dll

Source:

BinaryReader.cs

Exposes access to the underlying stream of the BinaryReader.

C#

public virtual System.IO.Stream BaseStream { get; }

Property Value

Stream

The underlying stream associated with the BinaryReader.

Examples

The following code example shows how to read and write Double data to memory by using the BinaryReader and BinaryWriter classes on top of the MemoryStream class. MemoryStream only reads and writes Byte data.

C#

using System;
using System.IO;

class BinaryRW
{
    static void Main()
    {
        int i;
        const int arrayLength = 1000;

        // Create random data to write to the stream.
        Random randomGenerator = new Random();
        double[] dataArray = new double[arrayLength];
        for(i = 0; i < arrayLength; i++)
        {
            dataArray[i] = 100.1 * randomGenerator.NextDouble();
        }

        using(BinaryWriter binWriter =
            new BinaryWriter(new MemoryStream()))
        {
            // Write the data to the stream.
            Console.WriteLine("Writing data to the stream.");
            for(i = 0; i < arrayLength; i++)
            {
                binWriter.Write(dataArray[i]);
            }

            // Create a reader using the stream from the writer.
            using(BinaryReader binReader =
                new BinaryReader(binWriter.BaseStream))
            {
                try
                {
                    // Return to the beginning of the stream.
                    binReader.BaseStream.Position = 0;

                    // Read and verify the data.
                    Console.WriteLine("Verifying the written data.");
                    for(i = 0; i < arrayLength; i++)
                    {
                        if(binReader.ReadDouble() != dataArray[i])
                        {
                            Console.WriteLine("Error writing data.");
                            break;
                        }
                    }
                    Console.WriteLine("The data was written " +
                        "and verified.");
                }
                catch(EndOfStreamException e)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Error writing data: {0}.",
                        e.GetType().Name);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Remarks

Caution

Using the underlying stream while reading or while using the BinaryReader can cause data loss and corruption. For example, the same bytes might be read more than once, bytes might be skipped, or character reading might become unpredictable.

For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.

Applies to

See also

• File and Stream I/O
• How to: Read Text from a File
• How to: Write Text to a File