CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#serializationxml-serializationarraysencode
mathinvalidnik
mathinvalidnik

Reputation: 1600

How to convert serialized byte array back to its text form

I have a text that is a property of an object.The object gets XmlSerialized and after that there is an element in the XML call Text that represents the text from the object.I am wondering how to turn it back to string.

THE TYPE OF SERIALIZATION: XmlSerializer serizlizer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Act));

THE PROPERTY IN THE CLASS : 

[System.Runtime.Serialization.OptionalFieldAttribute()]
private byte[] ActTextField;

In the xml file it looks something like that:

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

I can not even suppose what is its encoding and how to decode it.I tried to read it into byte array but it didn't actualy work after applying few decodings Encode.UTF8 , Encode.ASCII,

Upvotes: 1

Views: 672

Answers (1)

Jon Skeet
Jon Skeet

Reputation: 1503489

That looks like Base64 to me - just use

byte[] data = Convert.FromBase64String(base64Text);

It's odd that it's using base64 at all if this is really a text property though. I'd expect just the text.

To convert that binary data back to text you would need to know which encoding was used to convert it to the binary data to start with - and UTF-8 is the most likely - but all the repeated AAAAA... parts in there make this look pretty unlike text, to be honest.

EDIT: Now that we've seen the field declaration, we can see that it was a byte[] to start with, so that makes sense for it to be encoded in this way. Judging by comments, it sounds like it's actually a Word file - at which point extracting the text is a very separate problem.

Upvotes: 3

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