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System.OutOfMemory exception when trying to read large files

public static byte[] ReadMemoryMappedFile(string fileName)
{
long length = new FileInfo(fileName).Length;
using (var stream = File.Open(fileName, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite))
{
using (var mmf = MemoryMappedFile.CreateFromFile(stream, null, length, MemoryMappedFileAccess.Read, null, HandleInheritability.Inheritable, false))
{
using (var viewStream = mmf.CreateViewStream(0, length, MemoryMappedFileAccess.Read))
{
using (BinaryReader binReader = new BinaryReader(viewStream))
{
var result = binReader.ReadBytes((int)length);
return result;
}
}
}
}
}
OpenFileDialog openfile = new OpenFileDialog();
openfile.Filter = "All Files (*.*)|*.*";
openfile.ShowDialog();
byte[] buff = ReadMemoryMappedFile(openfile.FileName);
texteditor.Text = BitConverter.ToString(buff).Replace("-"," "); <----A first chance exception of type 'System.OutOfMemoryException' occurred in mscorlib.dll
I get a System.OutOfMemory exception when trying to read large files.
I've read a lot for 4 weeks in all the web... and tried a lot!!! But still, I can't seem to find a good solution to my problem.
Please help me..
Update
public byte[] FileToByteArray(string fileName)
{
byte[] buff = null;
FileStream fs = new FileStream(fileName,
FileMode.Open,
FileAccess.Read);
BinaryReader br = new BinaryReader(fs);
long numBytes = new FileInfo(fileName).Length;
buff = br.ReadBytes((int)numBytes);
//return buff;
return File.ReadAllBytes(fileName);
}
OR
public static byte[] FileToByteArray(FileStream stream, int initialLength)
{
// If we've been passed an unhelpful initial length, just
// use 32K.
if (initialLength < 1)
{
initialLength = 32768;
}
BinaryReader br = new BinaryReader(stream);
byte[] buffer = new byte[initialLength];
int read = 0;
int chunk;
while ((chunk = br.Read(buffer, read, buffer.Length - read)) > 0)
{
read += chunk;
// If we've reached the end of our buffer, check to see if there's
// any more information
if (read == buffer.Length)
{
int nextByte = br.ReadByte();
// End of stream? If so, we're done
if (nextByte == -1)
{
return buffer;
}
// Nope. Resize the buffer, put in the byte we've just
// read, and continue
byte[] newBuffer = new byte[buffer.Length * 2];
Array.Copy(buffer, newBuffer, buffer.Length);
newBuffer[read] = (byte)nextByte;
buffer = newBuffer;
read++;
}
}
// Buffer is now too big. Shrink it.
byte[] ret = new byte[read];
Array.Copy(buffer, ret, read);
return ret;
}
I still get a System.OutOfMemory exception when trying to read large files.

If your file is 4GB, then BitConverter will turn each byte into XX- string, each char in string is 2 bytes * 3 chars per byte * 4 294 967 295 bytes = 25 769 803 770. You need +25Gb of free memory to fit entire string, plus you already have your file in memory as byte array.
Besides, no single object in a .Net program may be over 2GB. Theoretical limit for a string length would be 1,073,741,823 chars, but you also need to have a 64-bit process.
So solution in your case - open FileStream. Read first 16384 bytes (or how much can fit on your screen), convert to hex and display, and remember file offset. When user wants to navigate to next or previous page - seek to that position in file on disk, read and display again, etc.

You need to read the file in chunks, keep track of where you are in the file, page the contents on screen and use seek and position to move up and down in the file stream.

You will not be able to display 4Gb file reading all of it in memory first by any approach.
The approach is to virtualize the data, reading only the visible lines when user scrolls. If you need to do a read-only text viewer then you can use WPF ItemsControl with virtulizing stack panel and bind to custom IList collection which will lazily fetch lines from the file calculating file offset by for the line index.

Append byte[] to MemoryStream

I am trying to read the byte[] for each file and adding it to MemoryStream. Below is the code which throws error. What I am missing in appending?
byte[] ba = null;
List<string> fileNames = new List<string>();
int startPosition = 0;
using (MemoryStream allFrameStream = new MemoryStream())
{
foreach (string jpegFileName in fileNames)
{
ba = GetFileAsPDF(jpegFileName);
allFrameStream.Write(ba, startPosition, ba.Length); //Error here
startPosition = ba.Length - 1;
}
allFrameStream.Position = 0;
ba = allFrameStream.GetBuffer();
Response.ClearContent();
Response.AppendHeader("content-length", ba.Length.ToString());
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.BinaryWrite(ba);
Response.End();
Response.Close();
}
Error:
Offset and length were out of bounds for the array or count is greater
than the number of elements from index to the end of the source
collection

startPosition is not offset to MemoryStream, instead to ba. Change it as
allFrameStream.Write(ba, 0, ba.Length);
All byte arrays will be appended to allFrameStream
BTW: Don't use ba = allFrameStream.GetBuffer(); instead use ba = allFrameStream.ToArray(); (You actually don't want internal buffer of MemoryStream).

The MSDN documentation on Stream.Write might help clarify the problem.
Streams are modelled as a continuous sequence of bytes. Reading or writing to a stream moves your position in the stream by the number of bytes read or written.
The second argument to Write is the index in the source array at which to start copying bytes from. In your case this is 0, since you want to read from the start of the array.

Maybe this is a simple solution, not the best but is easy
List<byte> list = new List<byte>();
list.AddRange(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("aaaaaaaaaaaaa"));
list.AddRange(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"));
list.AddRange(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("cccccccc"));
byte[] c = list.ToArray();

The specified argument is outside the range of valid values - C#

I keep getting this error:
The specified argument is outside the range of valid values.
When I run this code in C#:
string sourceURL = "http://192.168.1.253/nphMotionJpeg?Resolution=320x240&Quality=Standard";
byte[] buffer = new byte[200000];
int read, total = 0;
// create HTTP request
HttpWebRequest req = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(sourceURL);
req.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("username", "password");
// get response
WebResponse resp = req.GetResponse();
// get response stream
// Make sure the stream gets closed once we're done with it
using (Stream stream = resp.GetResponseStream())
{
// A larger buffer size would be benefitial, but it's not going
// to make a significant difference.
while ((read = stream.Read(buffer, total, 1000)) != 0)
{
total += read;
}
}
// get bitmap
Bitmap bmp = (Bitmap)Bitmap.FromStream(new MemoryStream(buffer, 0, total));
pictureBox1.Image = bmp;
This line:
while ((read = stream.Read(buffer, total, 1000)) != 0)
Does anybody know what could cause this error or how to fix it?
Thanks in advance

Does anybody know what could cause this error?
I suspect total (or rather, total + 1000) has gone outside the range of the array - you'll get this error if you try to read more than 200K of data.
Personally I'd approach it differently - I'd create a MemoryStream to write to, and a much smaller buffer to read into, always reading as much data as you can, at the start of the buffer - and then copying that many bytes into the stream. Then just rewind the stream (set Position to 0) before loading it as a bitmap.
Or just use Stream.CopyTo if you're using .NET 4 or higher:
Stream output = new MemoryStream();
using (Stream input = resp.GetResponseStream())
{
input.CopyTo(output);
}
output.Position = 0;
Bitmap bmp = (Bitmap) Bitmap.FromStream(output);

data is not fully transferred on LAN using TcpClient

I send the serialized data over LAN network but sometimes the information is lost! Process is the following:
Sender:
string mydata is being serialized
string mydata is converted to byte[] bytes_of_mydata
int size_of_mydata is the length of byte[] bytes_of_mydata
int size_of_mydata itself is turned into byte[] bytes_size_of_mydata
byte[] bytes_of_mydata and byte[] bytes_size_of_mydata are sent
Receiver:
i first receive byte[] bytes_size_of_mydata
retrieve length int size_of_mydata of the second message from byte[] bytes_size_of_mydata
i then receive byte[] bytes_of_mydata, knowing exact length!
i then convert byte[] bytes_of_mydata to string mydata
deserialize string mydata
This approach usually works in most situations, but sometimes my data is not transmitted fully, so the string can't be deserialized.
I've debugged the received byte[] on the "receiver" and here is what happens:
I get the size of second message:
int size_of_second_message = BitConverter.ToInt32(dataByteSize, 0); // 55185
I start to receive the second message to byte array:
Byte[] dataByte = new Byte[55185];
But starting from position 5840 I start to receive 0 (nulls), so the part "5840 - 55185" are all "0":
byte[5836] = 53;
byte[5837] = 57;
byte[5838] = 54;
byte[5839] = 49;
byte[5840] = 0; // information ends to flow
byte[5841] = 0;
byte[5842] = 0;
byte[5843] = 0;
//....
byte[55185] = 0;
The example from the above is taken from an actual debugger!
So what's the problem? It's like the connection is being lost during transmission!! Why is it happening and how do I counter this problem? It doesn't happen on "every-time" basis.
And here comes the code
Send:
//text_message - my original message
//Nw - network stream
MemoryStream Fs = new MemoryStream(ASCIIEncoding.Default.GetBytes(text_message));
Byte[] buffer = Fs.ToArray(); // total 55185 bytes (as in example)
Byte[] bufferSize = BitConverter.GetBytes(Fs.Length); // 32 bytes represent size
bufferSize = GetNewByteSize(bufferSize);
Nw.Write(bufferSize, 0, bufferSize.Length); // send size
Nw.Flush();
Nw.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length); // send message
Nw.Flush();
Receive:
//get first(SIZE) bytes:
int ReadSize = 0; int maxSize = 32; // 32 - constant!
Byte[] dataByteSize = new Byte[maxSize];
int origsize;
using (var strm = new MemoryStream())
{
ReadSize = Nw.Read(dataByteSize, 0, maxSize);
strm.Write(dataByteSize, 0, ReadSize);
strm.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
origsize = BitConverter.ToInt32(dataByteSize, 0); // origsize = 55185
}
Nw.Flush();
//get next(MESSAGE) bytes:
string message = ""; int thisRead = 0;
int max = Convert.ToInt32(origsize); // origsize = 55185
Byte[] dataByte = new Byte[max];
using (var strm = new MemoryStream())
{
thisRead = Nw.Read(dataByte, 0, max);
strm.Write(dataByte, 0, thisRead);
strm.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(strm))
{
message = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
}
Nw.Flush();
// message - the message that is being transmitted partly (sometimes)!
I didn't want to post the code but you guys usually ask "show us what you've done", so here it is!
Edit
Temporary fix is to switch to StreamWriter, reader.
Receive + send (server):
NetworkStream Nw = new NetworkStream(handlerSocket.Client);
string toreceive = "";
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(Nw);
toreceive = reader.ReadLine();
string text_message = "to send back";
StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(Nw);
writer.WriteLine(text_message);
writer.Flush();
Nw.Close();
Send + receive (client):
NetworkStream Nw = new NetworkStream(handlerSocket.Client);
StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(Nw);
writer.WriteLine("to send");
writer.Flush();
string toreceive = new StreamReader(Nw).ReadLine();
writer.Close();
Nw.Close();
I'm looking for a solution regarding original problem, but so far everything is working due to temporary fix.

TCP is a stream based protocol which lets you read as much data has yet been received. Just because you send data in one step, there is no guarantee that the data will be received in the same block. You have to loop on the receiving side until you have received all the data you anticipate.
By the way I think that your protocol with an explicit length field at the start is really good, it makes up for simple client code (as simple as it gets at least).
Some time back I asked a question on built in functionality to wait until X bytes of data is available: .NET blocking socket read until X bytes are available?. The answer is unfortunately no.

Create a Stream without having a physical file to create from

I'm needing to create a zip file containing documents that exist on the server. I am using the .Net Package class to do so, and to create a new Package (which is the zip file) I have to have either a path to a physical file or a stream. I am trying to not create an actual file that would be the zip file, instead just create a stream that would exist in memory or something.
My question is how do you instantiate a new Stream (i.e. FileStream, MemoryStream, etc) without having a physical file to instantiate from.

MemoryStream has several constructor overloads, none of which require a file.

There is an example of how to do this on the MSDN page for MemoryStream:
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
class MemStream
{
static void Main()
{
int count;
byte[] byteArray;
char[] charArray;
UnicodeEncoding uniEncoding = new UnicodeEncoding();
// Create the data to write to the stream.
byte[] firstString = uniEncoding.GetBytes(
"Invalid file path characters are: ");
byte[] secondString = uniEncoding.GetBytes(
Path.GetInvalidPathChars());
using(MemoryStream memStream = new MemoryStream(100))
{
// Write the first string to the stream.
memStream.Write(firstString, 0 , firstString.Length);
// Write the second string to the stream, byte by byte.
count = 0;
while(count < secondString.Length)
{
memStream.WriteByte(secondString[count++]);
}
// Write the stream properties to the console.
Console.WriteLine(
"Capacity = {0}, Length = {1}, Position = {2}\n",
memStream.Capacity.ToString(),
memStream.Length.ToString(),
memStream.Position.ToString());
// Set the position to the beginning of the stream.
memStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
// Read the first 20 bytes from the stream.
byteArray = new byte[memStream.Length];
count = memStream.Read(byteArray, 0, 20);
// Read the remaining bytes, byte by byte.
while(count < memStream.Length)
{
byteArray[count++] =
Convert.ToByte(memStream.ReadByte());
}
// Decode the byte array into a char array
// and write it to the console.
charArray = new char[uniEncoding.GetCharCount(
byteArray, 0, count)];
uniEncoding.GetDecoder().GetChars(
byteArray, 0, count, charArray, 0);
Console.WriteLine(charArray);
}
}
}
Is this what you are looking for?

You can create a new stream and write to it. You don't need a file to construct the object.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.memorystream.aspx
Write Method:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.memorystream.write.aspx
Constructors for Memory Stream:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.memorystream.memorystream.aspx