CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#c#-4.0
Joe
Joe

Reputation: 21

C# - Converting string data to actual string representation

I have a device that sends out string data representing its settings, but the data is encoded in the string as its unicode(?) representation. For example, the device sends the string "00530079007300740065006D" which represents the string "System". Are there function built into C# that will convert the string data sent from the device to the actual string? If not, can someone advise me on how best to perform this conversion?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 207

Answers (3)

Will Dean
Will Dean

Reputation: 39500

This isn't a built-in function, but it is only one line of code:

string input = "00530079007300740065006D";

String output = new String(Enumerable.Range(0, input.Length/4)
     .Select(idx => (char)int.Parse(input.Substring(idx *  4,4),
           NumberStyles.HexNumber)).ToArray());

Here's another one, which is perhaps a little more high-minded in not doing the hacky char/int cast:

string out2 =
   Encoding.BigEndianUnicode.GetString(Enumerable.Range(0, input.Length/2)
     .Select(idx => byte.Parse(input.Substring(idx * 2, 2),
          NumberStyles.HexNumber)).ToArray());

Upvotes: 1

Jamiec
Jamiec

Reputation: 136124

Totally jumping on @Will Dean's solution bandwagon here (so dont mark me as the answer).

If you're using Will's solution alot, I suggest wrapping it into a string extension:

public static class StringExtensions
{
    public static string HexToString(this string input)
    {
        return new String(Enumerable.Range(0, input.Length/4)
                              .Select(idx => (char) int.Parse(input.Substring(idx*4,4),
                                                              NumberStyles.HexNumber)).ToArray());
    }
}

Upvotes: 1

AllenG
AllenG

Reputation: 8190

Yes, .NET has a built in way to move from a given encoding type to another type, say UTF8 -> ASCII or somesuch. The namespace you'll need is System.Text.Encoding.

Upvotes: 0

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