Forcing StreamWriter to change Encoding

Question

I am trying to save a file using DialogResult and StringBuilder. After making the text, I am calling the following code to save the file:

    if (dr == DialogResult.OK)     {          StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(saveFileDialog1.FileName);          sw.Write(sb.ToString());         sw.Close();     } 

I tried to add the second parameter to StreamWriter as Encoding.UTF8 but since the first argument is a string rather than a Stream, it does not compile it.

How can I convert that string to a stream to be able to pass the second parameter as Encoding?

The reason for this, is that somewhere in my text I have µ but when the file is saved it shows like μ so the µ is getting screwd!

Thanks

Answer 1

Just wrap it in a FileStream.

StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(     new FileStream(saveFileDialog1.FileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite),     Encoding.UTF8 ); 

If you want to append, use FileMode.Append instead.

You should also call Dispose() on a try/finally block, or use a using block to dispose the object when it exceeds the using scope:

using(     var sw = new StreamWriter(         new FileStream(saveFileDialog1.FileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite),         Encoding.UTF8     ) ) {     sw.Write(sb.ToString()); } 

This will properly close and dispose the streams across all exception paths.

UPDATE:

As per JinThakur's comment below, there is a constructor overload for StreamWriter that lets you do this directly:

var sw = new StreamWriter(saveFileDialog1.FileName, false, Encoding.UTF8); 

The second parameter specifies whether the StreamWriter should append to the file if it exists, rather than truncating it.

Answer 2

There is a constructor for filename, appendMode, encoding.

With a proper using block it looks like:

if (dr == DialogResult.OK) {     using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(saveFileDialog1.FileName,             false, Encoding.UTF8))     {       sw.Write(sb.ToString());       //sw.Close();     } }