Develop Reference

Setting Buffer Size in GZipStream

I was writing a light-weight proxy in c#. When I was decoding the gzip contentEncoding I noted that if I use a small buffer-size(4096) the stream is decoded partially depending the size of the input. Is it a bug in my code or something which is needed to make it work? I set the buffer to 10 MB, and it works okay but defeats my purpose of writing a light-weight proxy.
response = webEx.Response as HttpWebResponse;
Stream input = response.GetResponseStream();
//some other operations on response header
//calling DecompressGzip here
private static string DecompressGzip(Stream input, Encoding e)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
using (Ionic.Zlib.GZipStream decompressor = new Ionic.Zlib.GZipStream(input, Ionic.Zlib.CompressionMode.Decompress))
{
// works okay for [1024*1024*8];
byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
int n = 0;
do
{
n = decompressor.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
if (n > 0)
{
sb.Append(e.GetString(buffer));
}
} while (n > 0);
}
return sb.ToString();
}

Actually, I figured it out. I guess using the string builder causes the problem; instead, I used a memory stream and it works well.
private static string DecompressGzip(Stream input, Encoding e)
{
using (Ionic.Zlib.GZipStream decompressor = new Ionic.Zlib.GZipStream(input, Ionic.Zlib.CompressionMode.Decompress))
{
int read = 0;
var buffer = new byte[4096];
using (MemoryStream output = new MemoryStream())
{
while ((read = decompressor.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
{
output.Write(buffer, 0, read);
}
return e.GetString(output.ToArray());
}
}
}

Can't download complete image file from skydrive using REST API

I'm working on a quick wrapper for the skydrive API in C#, but running into issues with downloading a file. For the first part of the file, everything comes through fine, but then there start to be differences in the file and shortly thereafter everything becomes null. I'm fairly sure that it's just me not reading the stream correctly.
This is the code I'm using to download the file:
public const string ApiVersion = "v5.0";
public const string BaseUrl = "https://apis.live.net/" + ApiVersion + "/";
public SkyDriveFile DownloadFile(SkyDriveFile file)
{
string uri = BaseUrl + file.ID + "/content";
byte[] contents = GetResponse(uri);
file.Contents = contents;
return file;
}
public byte[] GetResponse(string url)
{
checkToken();
Uri requestUri = new Uri(url + "?access_token=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(token.AccessToken));
HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(requestUri);
request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Http.Get;
WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
Stream responseStream = response.GetResponseStream();
byte[] contents = new byte[response.ContentLength];
responseStream.Read(contents, 0, (int)response.ContentLength);
return contents;
}
This is the image file I'm trying to download
And this is the image I am getting
These two images lead me to believe that I'm not waiting for the response to finish coming through, because the content-length is the same as the size of the image I'm expecting, but I'm not sure how to make my code wait for the entire response to come through or even really if that's the approach I need to take.
Here's my test code in case it's helpful
[TestMethod]
public void CanUploadAndDownloadFile()
{
var api = GetApi();
SkyDriveFolder folder = api.CreateFolder(null, "TestFolder", "Test Folder");
SkyDriveFile file = api.UploadFile(folder, TestImageFile, "TestImage.png");
file = api.DownloadFile(file);
api.DeleteFolder(folder);
byte[] contents = new byte[new FileInfo(TestImageFile).Length];
using (FileStream fstream = new FileStream(TestImageFile, FileMode.Open))
{
fstream.Read(contents, 0, contents.Length);
}
using (FileStream fstream = new FileStream(TestImageFile + "2", FileMode.CreateNew))
{
fstream.Write(file.Contents, 0, file.Contents.Length);
}
Assert.AreEqual(contents.Length, file.Contents.Length);
bool sameData = true;
for (int i = 0; i < contents.Length && sameData; i++)
{
sameData = contents[i] == file.Contents[i];
}
Assert.IsTrue(sameData);
}
It fails at Assert.IsTrue(sameData);

This is because you don't check the return value of responseStream.Read(contents, 0, (int)response.ContentLength);. Read doesn't ensure that it will read response.ContentLength bytes. Instead it returns the number of bytes read. You can use a loop or stream.CopyTo there.
Something like this:
WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
MemoryStream m = new MemoryStream();
response.GetResponseStream().CopyTo(m);
byte[] contents = m.ToArray();

As LB already said, you need to continue to call Read() until you have read the entire stream.
Although Stream.CopyTo will copy the entire stream it does not ensure that read the number of bytes expected. The following method will solve this and raise an IOException if it does not read the length specified...
public static void Copy(Stream input, Stream output, long length)
{
byte[] bytes = new byte[65536];
long bytesRead = 0;
int len = 0;
while (0 != (len = input.Read(bytes, 0, Math.Min(bytes.Length, (int)Math.Min(int.MaxValue, length - bytesRead)))))
{
output.Write(bytes, 0, len);
bytesRead = bytesRead + len;
}
output.Flush();
if (bytesRead != length)
throw new IOException();
}

Partially download and serialize big file in C#?

As part of an upcoming project at my university, I need to write a client that downloads a media file from a server and writes it to the local disk. Since these files can be very large, I need to implement partial download and serialization in order to avoid excessive memory use.
What I came up with:
namespace PartialDownloadTester
{
using System;
using System.Diagnostics.Contracts;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using System.Text;
public class DownloadClient
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
var dlc = new DownloadClient(args[0], args[1], args[2]);
dlc.DownloadAndSaveToDisk();
Console.ReadLine();
}
private WebRequest request;
// directory of file
private string dir;
// full file identifier
private string filePath;
public DownloadClient(string uri, string fileName, string fileType)
{
this.request = WebRequest.Create(uri);
this.request.Method = "GET";
var sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append("C:\\testdata\\DownloadedData\\");
this.dir = sb.ToString();
sb.Append(fileName + "." + fileType);
this.filePath = sb.ToString();
}
public void DownloadAndSaveToDisk()
{
// make sure directory exists
this.CreateDir();
var response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
Console.WriteLine("Content length: " + response.ContentLength);
var rStream = response.GetResponseStream();
int bytesRead = -1;
do
{
var buf = new byte[2048];
bytesRead = rStream.Read(buf, 0, buf.Length);
rStream.Flush();
this.SerializeFileChunk(buf);
}
while (bytesRead != 0);
}
private void CreateDir()
{
if (!Directory.Exists(dir))
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(dir);
}
}
private void SerializeFileChunk(byte[] bytes)
{
Contract.Requires(!Object.ReferenceEquals(bytes, null));
FileStream fs = File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Append);
fs.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
fs.Flush();
fs.Close();
}
}
}
For testing purposes, I've used the following parameters:
"http://itu.dk/people/janv/mufc_abc.jpg" "mufc_abc" "jpg"
However, the picture is incomplete (only the first ~10% look right) even though the content length prints 63780 which is the actual size of the image.
So my questions are:
Is this the right way to go for partial download and serialization or is there a better/easier approach?
Is the full content of the response stream stored in client memory? If this is the case, do I need to use HttpWebRequest.AddRange to partially download data from the server in order to conserve my client's memory?
How come the serialization fails and I get a broken image?
Do I introduce a lot of overhead when I use the FileMode.Append? (msdn states that this option "seeks to the end of the file")
Thanks in advance

You could definitely simplify your code using a WebClient:
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
DownloadClient("http://itu.dk/people/janv/mufc_abc.jpg", "mufc_abc.jpg");
}
public static void DownloadClient(string uri, string fileName)
{
using (var client = new WebClient())
{
using (var stream = client.OpenRead(uri))
{
// work with chunks of 2KB => adjust if necessary
const int chunkSize = 2048;
var buffer = new byte[chunkSize];
using (var output = File.OpenWrite(fileName))
{
int bytesRead;
while ((bytesRead = stream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
{
output.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
}
}
}
}
}
}
Notice how I am writing only the number of bytes I have actually read from the socket to the output file and not the entire 2KB buffer.

I don't know if this is the source of the problem, however I would change the loop like this
const int ChunkSize = 2048;
var buf = new byte[ChunkSize];
var rStream = response.GetResponseStream();
do {
int bytesRead = rStream.Read(buf, 0, ChunkSize);
if (bytesRead > 0) {
this.SerializeFileChunk(buf, bytesRead);
}
} while (bytesRead == ChunkSize);
The serialize method would get an additional argument
private void SerializeFileChunk(byte[] bytes, int numBytes)
and then write the right number of bytes
fs.Write(bytes, 0, numBytes);
UPDATE:
I do not see the need for closing and reopening the file each time. I also would use the using statement, which closes the resources, even if an exception should occur. The using statement calls the Dispose() method of the resource at the end, which in turn calls Close() in the case of file streams. using can be applied to all types implementing IDisposable.
var buf = new byte[2048];
using (var rStream = response.GetResponseStream()) {
using (FileStream fs = File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Append)) {
do {
bytesRead = rStream.Read(buf, 0, buf.Length);
fs.Write(bytes, 0, bytesRead);
} while (...);
}
}
The using statement does something like this
{
var rStream = response.GetResponseStream();
try
{
// do some work with rStream here.
} finally {
if (rStream != null) {
rStream.Dispose();
}
}
}

Here is the solution from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/812406
Updated 2021-03-16: seems the original article is not available now. Here is the archived one: https://mskb.pkisolutions.com/kb/812406

How to read from file to stream and display as text?

I am reading a text file through a web service. I am getting the data in chunks of byte[] data and reassembling it into a MemoryStream. Now I am trying to figure out how to display the text data in a textarea. Any recommendations on how to do this, I'm stuck?
Update
Here is the final solution that returns the contents of the text file as a string which is then displayed in the textarea.
public string DownloadFile(string filenamepath)
{
int offset = 0;
int chunkSize = 16000;
string filecontents = string.Empty;
using (var wsc = new WebServiceClient())
{
using (var fs = new MemoryStream())
{
while (true)
{
var buffer = wsc.DownloadFile(filenamepath, offset, chunkSize);
int read = buffer.Length;
if (read <= 0)
break;
fs.Seek(offset, SeekOrigin.Begin);
fs.Write(buffer, 0, read);
offset += read;
}
using (var reader = new StreamReader(fs))
{
reader.BaseStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
filecontents = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
return filecontents;
}

Wrap a StreamReader around that MemoryStream and call the reader's ReadToEnd() method.
Make sure to set the reader's encoding accordingly.

Use:
MemoryStream stream = ... //Your memory stream here
using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream))
{
textArea.Text = reader.ReadToEnd();
}

StreamReader ReadToEnd() returns empty string on first attempt

I know this question has been asked before on Stackoverflow, but could not find an explanation.
When I try to read a string from a compressed byte array I get an empty string on the first attempt, on the second I succed and get the string.
Code example:
public static string Decompress(byte[] gzBuffer)
{
if (gzBuffer == null)
return null;
using (var ms = new MemoryStream(gzBuffer))
{
using (var decompress = new GZipStream(ms, CompressionMode.Decompress))
{
using (var sr = new StreamReader(decompress, Encoding.UTF8))
{
string ret = sr.ReadToEnd();
// this is the extra check that is needed !?
if (ret == "")
ret = sr.ReadToEnd();
return ret;
}
}
}
}
All suggestions are appreciated.
- Victor Cassel

I found the bug. It was as Michael suggested in the compression routine. I missed to call Close() on the GZipStream.
public static byte[] Compress(string text)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(text))
return null;
byte[] raw = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(text);
using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
{
using (var compress = new GZipStream (ms, CompressionMode.Compress))
{
compress.Write(raw, 0, raw.Length);
compress.Close();
return ms.ToArray();
}
}
}
What happened was that the data seemed to get saved in a bad state that required two calls to ReadToEnd() in the decompression routine later on to extract the same data. Very odd!

try adding ms.Position = 0 before string ret = sr.ReadToEnd();

Where is gzBuffer coming from? Did you also write the code that is producing the compressed data?
Perhaps the buffer data you have is invalid or somehow incomplete, or perhaps it consists of multiple deflate streams concatenated together.

I hope this helps.
For ByteArray:
static byte[] CompressToByte(string data)
{
MemoryStream outstream = new MemoryStream();
GZipStream compressionStream =
new GZipStream(outstream, CompressionMode.Compress, true);
StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(compressionStream);
writer.Write(data);
writer.Close();
return StreamToByte(outstream);
}
static string Decompress(byte[] data)
{
MemoryStream instream = new MemoryStream(data);
GZipStream compressionStream =
new GZipStream(instream, CompressionMode.Decompress);
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(compressionStream);
string outtext = reader.ReadToEnd();
reader.Close();
return outtext;
}
public static byte[] StreamToByte(Stream stream)
{
stream.Position = 0;
byte[] buffer = new byte[128];
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
while (true)
{
int read = stream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
if (!(read > 0))
return ms.ToArray();
ms.Write(buffer, 0, read);
}
}
}
You can replace if(!(read > 0)) with if(read <= 0).
For some reason if(read <= 0) isn't displayed corret above.
For Stream:
static Stream CompressToStream(string data)
{
MemoryStream outstream = new MemoryStream();
GZipStream compressionStream =
new GZipStream(outstream, CompressionMode.Compress, true);
StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(compressionStream);
writer.Write(data);
writer.Close();
return outstream;
}
static string Decompress(Stream data)
{
data.Position = 0;
GZipStream compressionStream =
new GZipStream(data, CompressionMode.Decompress);
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(compressionStream);
string outtext = reader.ReadToEnd();
reader.Close();
return outtext;
}

The MSDN Page on the function mentions the following:
If the current method throws an OutOfMemoryException, the reader's position in the underlying Stream object is advanced by the number of characters the method was able to read, but the characters already read into the internal ReadLine buffer are discarded. If you manipulate the position of the underlying stream after reading data into the buffer, the position of the underlying stream might not match the position of the internal buffer. To reset the internal buffer, call the DiscardBufferedData method; however, this method slows performance and should be called only when absolutely necessary.
Perhaps try calling DiscardBufferedData() before your ReadToEnd() and see what it does (I know you aren't getting the exception, but it's all I can think of...)?