how to convert bool array in one byte and later convert back in bool array

Question

I would like to pack bool array with max length 8 in one byte, send it over network and then unpack it back to bool array. Tried some solutions here already but it didn't work. I'm using Mono.

I made BitArray and then tried to convert it in byte

public static byte[] BitArrayToByteArray(BitArray bits)
    {
      byte[] ret = new byte[Math.Max(1, bits.Length / 8)];
      bits.CopyTo(ret, 0);
      return ret;
    }

but I'm getting errors telling only int and long type can be used. Tried int instead of byte but same problem. I would like to avoid BitArray and use simple conversion from bool array to byte if possible

Answer 1

Other static functions version

/// <summary>
/// Convert Byte Array To Bool Array
/// </summary>
/// <param name="bytes"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static bool[] ConvertByteArrayToBoolArray(byte[] bytes)
{
    System.Collections.BitArray b = new System.Collections.BitArray(bytes);
    bool[] bitValues = new bool[b.Count];
    b.CopyTo(bitValues, 0);
    Array.Reverse(bitValues);
    return bitValues;
}

/// <summary>
/// Packs a bit array into bytes, most significant bit first
/// </summary>
/// <param name="boolArr"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static byte[] ConvertBoolArrayToByteArray(bool[] boolArr)
{
    byte[] byteArr = new byte[(boolArr.Length + 7) / 8];
    for (int i = 0; i < byteArr.Length; i++)
    {
        byteArr[i] = ReadByte(boolArr, 8 * i);
    }
    return byteArr;
}