Encoding.GetChars Method (array<Byte[])
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When overridden in a derived class, decodes all the bytes in the specified byte array into a set of characters.
Namespace: System.Text
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Syntax
'Declaration
Public Overridable Function GetChars ( _
bytes As Byte() _
) As Char()
public virtual char[] GetChars(
byte[] bytes
)
Parameters
- bytes
Type: array<System.Byte[]
The byte array containing the sequence of bytes to decode.
Return Value
Type: array<System.Char[]
A character array containing the results of decoding the specified sequence of bytes.
Exceptions
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| ArgumentNullException | bytes is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic). |
| DecoderFallbackException | A fallback occurred (see Understanding Encodings for complete explanation). |
Remarks
If the data to be converted is available only in sequential blocks (such as data read from a stream) or if the amount of data is so large that it needs to be divided into smaller blocks, the application should use the Decoder or the Encoder provided by the GetDecoder method or the GetEncoder method, respectively, of a derived class.
For a discussion of programming considerations for use of this method, see the Encoding class description.
Examples
The following code example encodes a string into an array of bytes, and then decodes the bytes into an array of characters.
Imports System.Text
Public Class Example
Public Shared Sub Demo(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock)
' 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(&H306) & ChrW(&H1FD) & ChrW(&H3B2)
' 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.
outputBlock.Text &= "BE array with BE encoding : "
PrintCountsAndChars(outputBlock, barrBE, u32BE)
outputBlock.Text &= "LE array with LE encoding : "
PrintCountsAndChars(outputBlock, barrLE, u32LE)
End Sub
Public Shared Sub PrintCountsAndChars(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock, ByVal bytes() As Byte, ByVal enc As Encoding)
' Display the name of the encoding used.
outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{0,-25} :", enc.ToString())
' Display the exact character count.
Dim iCC As Integer = enc.GetCharCount(bytes)
outputBlock.Text += String.Format(" {0,-3}", iCC)
' Display the maximum character count.
Dim iMCC As Integer = enc.GetMaxCharCount(bytes.Length)
outputBlock.Text += String.Format(" {0,-3} :", iMCC)
' Decode the bytes and display the characters.
Dim chars As Char() = enc.GetChars(bytes)
outputBlock.Text &= chars & vbCrLf
End Sub
End Class
'This code produces the following output.
'
' 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 Example
{
public static void Demo(System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock outputBlock)
{
// 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.
outputBlock.Text += "BE array with BE encoding : ";
PrintCountsAndChars(outputBlock, barrBE, u32BE);
outputBlock.Text += "LE array with LE encoding : ";
PrintCountsAndChars(outputBlock, barrLE, u32LE);
}
public static void PrintCountsAndChars(System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock outputBlock, byte[] bytes, Encoding enc)
{
// Display the name of the encoding used.
outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{0,-25} :", enc.ToString());
// Display the exact character count.
int iCC = enc.GetCharCount(bytes);
outputBlock.Text += String.Format(" {0,-3}", iCC);
// Display the maximum character count.
int iMCC = enc.GetMaxCharCount(bytes.Length);
outputBlock.Text += String.Format(" {0,-3} :", iMCC);
// Decode the bytes and display the characters.
char[] chars = enc.GetChars(bytes);
outputBlock.Text += chars + "\n";
}
}
/*
This code produces the following output.
BE array with BE encoding : System.Text.UTF32Encoding : 5 12 :zăǽβ
LE array with LE encoding : System.Text.UTF32Encoding : 5 12 :zăǽβ
*/
Version Information
Silverlight
Supported in: 5, 4, 3
Silverlight for Windows Phone
Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0
XNA Framework
Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0
Platforms
For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.
See Also