Problems uploading a binary serialized file

Question

The idea of my program is to allow the user to save his data in a cloud. The data is stored in binary serialized files.

Serialization Code looks like so:

FileStream Stream = new FileStream(..., FileMode.Create); // create stream
BinaryFormatter Formatter = new BinaryFormatter(); // create formatter
Formatter.Serialize(Stream, ObjectToSerialize); // serialize
Stream.Close();

The Problem is that when I upload the serialized file, with the following code:

FtpWebRequest Request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(new Uri(...));
Request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.UploadFile;

Request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(..., ...);
string Path = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(...;
StreamReader SourceStream = new StreamReader(Path);
Request.UseBinary = true;
byte[] FileContents = Encoding.Default.GetBytes(SourceStream.ReadToEnd());
SourceStream.Close();
Request.ContentLength = FileContents.Length;

Stream RequestStream = Request.GetRequestStream();
RequestStream.Write(FileContents, 0, FileContents.Length);
RequestStream.Close();

FtpWebResponse Response = (FtpWebResponse)Request.GetResponse();

Response.Close(); 

the file encoding changes (I am not sure about that.. if the encoding is the problem but I think so) and I am not able to deserialize the file anymore, exceptions occure. Do you have a idea how to do not damage the file?

Best Regards!

Answer 1

Encoding only applies to text, and you're dealing with a binary file here. You should not attempt to read it as a string. The "encoding changed" because you are using Encoding.Default which depends on the current configuration of your operating system.

Just change the code to:

string Path = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(...);
// StreamReader SourceStream = new StreamReader(Path);
// Request.UseBinary = true;
byte[] FileContents = File.ReadAllBytes(Path);
// SourceStream.Close();

if you want to read an entire binary file in memory.