How to get all data from NetworkStream

Question

I am trying to read all data present in the buffer of the Machine connected through TCP/IP but i don't know why i am not getting all data ,some data is getting Missed. Here is the code that i am using ..

using (NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream())
{
    byte[] data = new byte[1024];
    int numBytesRead = stream.Read(data, 0, data.Length);
    if (numBytesRead > 0)
    {
       string str= Encoding.ASCII.GetString(data, 0, numBytesRead);
    }
}

Please tell me what i am missing to get all the data from the machine. Thanks in advance..

Answer 1

The problem with your code is that you will not get all the data if the data size is bigger than the buffer size (1024 bytes in your case) so you have to Read the stream inside the loop. Then you can Write all the data inside a MemoryStream until the end of the NetworkStream.

      string str;
      using (NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream())
      {
            byte[] data = new byte[1024];
            using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
            {

                int numBytesRead ;
                while ((numBytesRead = stream.Read(data, 0, data.Length)) > 0)
                {
                    ms.Write(data, 0, numBytesRead);


                }
               str = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(ms.ToArray(), 0, (int)ms.Length);
            }
        }

Answer 2

This example from MSDN: NetworkStream.DataAvailable shows how you can use that property to do so:

// Examples for CanRead, Read, and DataAvailable. 
// Check to see if this NetworkStream is readable. 
if(myNetworkStream.CanRead)
{
    byte[] myReadBuffer = new byte[1024];
    StringBuilder myCompleteMessage = new StringBuilder();
    int numberOfBytesRead = 0;

    // Incoming message may be larger than the buffer size. 
    do{
         numberOfBytesRead = myNetworkStream.Read(myReadBuffer, 0, myReadBuffer.Length);

         myCompleteMessage.AppendFormat("{0}", Encoding.ASCII.GetString(myReadBuffer, 0, numberOfBytesRead));

    }
    while(myNetworkStream.DataAvailable);

    // Print out the received message to the console.
    Console.WriteLine("You received the following message : " +
                                 myCompleteMessage);
}
else
{
     Console.WriteLine("Sorry.  You cannot read from this NetworkStream.");
}