Write Binary Data

[Noviceatthis]

Hello all, 

So ive been trying to write data to a file:

$bin = "Test"
$hFile = FileOpen("test.bin", 17)
FileWrite($hFile, Binary($bin))
FileClose($hFile)

So the above example does not write the data in binary format, it just seems to write it in plain text

$bin = "Test"
$hFile = FileOpen("test.bin", 17)
FileWrite($hFile, Binary(0))
FileWrite($hFile, Binary($bin))
FileClose($hFile)

However this one does write it in binary format, I was just wondering why this was, and whether the additional line can be avoided.

Thanks in advance

[mLipok]

StringToBinary('Test',....

[Noviceatthis]

@mlipok, thanks for the speedy reply

$bin = StringtoBinary("Test")
$hFile = FileOpen("test.bin", 17)
FileWrite($hFile, $bin)
FileClose($hFile)

that seems to do the same thing as the first example I mentioned before....

[mLipok]

$hFile = FileOpen("test.bin",  $FO_OVERWRITE+ $FO_BINARY)

[Mobius]

where in the string "Test" are you expecting the "Binary" data to come from?

Or more simply what sort of output were you expecting?

A string with a leading or trailing null byte?

Ed: Or perhaps you were hoping for a null delimited interpretation of "Test".

Edited February 26, 2015 by Mobius

[Noviceatthis]

@Mobius, so when I enter the additional line, the string 'Test' is shown as 0000 0000 5465 7374 in the bin file (where the 0000 0000 is the '0' in the additional line and the 5465 7374 is the 'Test' string) but without the additional line, the bin file just shows 'Test' in plain text.

So I was just wondering why the additional line is needed,and how the information in the bin file can result in just the 5465 7374 without the additional line. 

Does that make sense?? Apologies if I'm not being very clear

[Noviceatthis]

@mlipok, 

$hFile = FileOpen("test.bin",  $FO_OVERWRITE+ $FO_BINARY)

That seemed to have the same effect as using 17

[mLipok]

here is SSEE (some self explanatory example)

#include <FileConstants.au3>
#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>


Global $sText = InputBox("Testing", "Enter your text Here", "", " M")
Global $dTextAsBinaryData = StringToBinary($sText)

MsgBox(0,'$dTextAsBinaryData',$dTextAsBinaryData)
Example($dTextAsBinaryData)

ShellExecute(@ScriptDir & '\test.txt')

Func Example($dBINARYDATA)
    Local $hFile = FileOpen('test.txt', $FO_OVERWRITE + $FO_BINARY)
    FileWrite($hFile, $dBINARYDATA)
    FileClose($hFile)
EndFunc   ;==>Example

Edited February 26, 2015 by mlipok

[Mobius]

The additional line is only necessary if you wanted your file to start with 4 nulls.

I am assuming AutoIt did this because Binary(0) is writing a long (4 byte number) with the value of 0.

A file that does not contain null space and you write the hex 54657374 (Test) is going to be treated as a text file because without your line that added nulls that is what it is.

So I have to ask again what were you expecting/wanting when you chose to write a binary file, and more importantly how were you planning on reading and using this data in your program?

[Noviceatthis]

@Mobius, that would explain it, thank you! I havn't decided what I want to do with it yet, I just wanted to figure out what was going on

[Mobius]

@Mobius, that would explain it, thank you! I havn't decided what I want to do with it yet, I just wanted to figure out what was going on

Fair enough dude, I didn't mean to be repetitious with my questioning.

[MisterVSE]

Although this is a very old entry, I think we, sometimes, forget that everything is binary when we write a file (any file, yes)
The difference from text files and binary files, is just that, in text files, we just have binary combination that shows you a character for each byte.

[jchd]

Not exactly.  The visual result merely depends on which program you use to "read" the file back: text editor, image viewer, nibble editor, ...