Using the <i class="emphasis">BinaryReader</i> Class

Using the BinaryReader Class

As discussed in the In Depth section of this chapter, you can use the BinaryClass class to read binary data from files once you have a FileStream object; here's this class's hierarchy:

Object
   BinaryReader

You can find the more notable public properties of the BinaryReader class in Table 13.18 and the more notable methods in Table 13.19.

Table 13.18: Noteworthy public properties of *BinaryReader* objects.
Property	Means
BaseStream	Holds the underlying stream of the binary reader, giving you access to that stream's properties and methods.

Table 13.19: Noteworthy public methods of *BinaryReader* objects.
Method	Means
Close	Closes the binary reader as well as the underlying stream.
PeekChar	Peeks ahead and returns the next available character (but does not advance the read/write position).
Read	Reads characters from the underlying stream and advances the current position of the stream.
ReadBoolean	Reads a Boolean from the stream.
ReadByte	Reads the next byte from the stream.
ReadBytes	Reads a number of bytes from the stream into a byte array.
ReadChar	Reads the next character from the stream.
ReadChars	Reads a number of characters from the stream.
ReadDecimal	Reads a decimal value from the stream.
ReadDouble	Reads an 8-byte floating-point value from the stream.
ReadInt16	Reads a 2-byte signed integer from the stream.
ReadInt32	Reads a 4-byte signed integer from the stream.
ReadInt64	Reads an 8-byte signed integer from the stream.
ReadSByte	Reads a signed byte from the stream.
ReadSingle	Reads a 4-byte floating-point value from the stream.
ReadString	Reads a string from the current stream.
ReadUInt16	Reads a 2-byte unsigned integer from the stream.
ReadUInt32	Reads a 4-byte unsigned integer from the stream.
ReadUInt64	Reads an 8-byte unsigned integer from the stream.