Deserialize text file into datagrid

Question

Guys is it possible to Deserialize a binary text file and read it into a datagridview? My below code does a rough job of trying to display it onto a message box but doesn't format it correctly Ideally it would be nice to read the contents into a datagridview is that possible? FileStream readStream; string msg = null; try { readStream = new FileStream(c:\DB.dat FileMode.Open); BinaryReader readBinary = new BinaryReader(readStream); msg = readBinary.ReadString(); MessageBox.Show(msg); readStream.Close(); }

mike Delvotti · Answer

Thanks Vulpes I think that's pointed me in the right direction :)

Vulpes · Answer

Is that the first time you've used the fileStream since opening it? The error message suggests that the file pointer is not at the beginning of the stream which it needs to be for deserialization to work.

mike Delvotti · Answer

Hi Vulpes I think I'm getting closer with reading the file for now I'm just trying to read it to a message box but I get an error thrown on the below code? Database temp = ( Database )binaryFormatter.Deserialize(fileStream); The error is: System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException was unhandled Message=The input stream is not a valid binary format. The starting contents (in bytes) are: 20-01-20-20-20-FF-FF-FF-FF-01-20-20-20-20-20-20-20 ... Any ideas?

Vulpes · Answer

Well it appears that you just have the two string values here. So you can assign them directly to a couple of cells in the DGV. No need for Datasets or anything like that.

mike Delvotti · Answer

Thanks Vulpes So in theory I should populate that into dataset before filling a datagrid?

Vulpes · Answer

Ah you already have the deserialization code there and the type of object is Database which is assigned to a field called database of the current class. So database.UserName and database.Title should give you the info you need.

mike Delvotti · Answer

I'm not sure on that one but below is the load code which outputs some activity onto a consol: try { FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(c:\DB.datFileMode.Open); BinaryFormatter binaryFormatter = new BinaryFormatter(); Database temp = (Database)binaryFormatter.Deserialize(fileStream); this.database=temp.database; fileStream.Close(); return true; } catch { database = new Hashtable(); offlineMessages=new ArrayList(); return false; }

Vulpes · Answer

Good that makes a life a lot easier :) What class of object does 'this' refer to in the serialization code?

mike Delvotti · Answer

Hi Vulpes Yes and I'm only really interested in getting the Username & Title sections? It save's those details into binary from textfields below is the code that writes the dat file: FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(DB.datFileMode.Create); BinaryFormatter binaryFormatter = new BinaryFormatter(); binaryFormatter.Serialize(fileStreamthis); fileStream.Close(); return true;

Vulpes · Answer

Was the binary file created by serializing some object collection in the first place? If it was then it should be possible to deserialize it and bind to or otherwise populate the DGV with its elements. Otherwise you'd have to try and 'manually' format the string retrieved from the binary file into some sort of collection and populate the DGV from that.