Encode 32 bit value as ANSI, including null (00) bytes?

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I am trying place a 32bit binary value into the clipboard. The user hits a button ("Copy Binary") and I want that button to place the ANSI binary encoded value of the 32 bit value in my code into the clipboard. Here is the code I am trying:

C#

//byte[] bytes contains my 32 bit value as a 4 byte array.

            Clipboard.SetData(System.Windows.DataFormats.Text, Encoding.Default.GetString(bytes));

This works correctly if the values in "bytes" doesn't contain a "00", i.e. 0x12345678.

However, if the value is 0x12005678 it will stop after encoding just 0x12 and I will only have one byte in my clipboard.

How can I make sure that the entire byte array is encoded?

Posted 20-Aug-12 4:31am

Adam7869

Updated 20-Aug-12 5:03am

v3

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2 solutions

Solution 2

You can't convert a binary value to a string and expect it to work as the encoding for ASCII, or any other for that matter, will interpret the byte data differently, thereby altering it on the receiving end.

This is the case in your example as Windows, internally, uses a null (0x00) to terminate "ASCII" strings. So, the string you put on the clipboard is a single character long, not including the terminator.

Posted 20-Aug-12 5:41am

Dave Kreskowiak

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pasztorpisti · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-20T04:56:00

CF_TEXT is a standard gateway between every windows desktop apps to copy paste strings. Putting binary data as CF_TEXT to the clipboard is nonsense. Anyway, the clipboard handles this type specially so its a luck that you havent crashed. If you put some data to the clipboard that isn't standard and is recognized only by your program or a set of your programs then you should register a new clipboard format and copy/paste your data with that format: Here is an article how to do that in C#: Saving and obtaining custom objects to/from Windows Clipboard[^]

Another solution to your problem can be converting your binary value to the string representation of the number like "365" and storing that as CF_TEXT on the clipboard, then you have to convert it back when you paste it in your program. This way you can copy paste a number to your program even from a text file with notepad.