Eric, I've had a lot of luck using the ADO Stream object.

I have used this in the past, but I don't know if it works in all locales. I have never had to deal with that.

Function SaveBinaryData(FileName, ByteArray)
Const adTypeBinary = 1
Const adSaveCreateOverWrite = 2

'Create Stream object
Dim BinaryStream
Set BinaryStream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")

'Specify stream type - we want To save binary data.
BinaryStream.Type = adTypeBinary

'Open the stream And write binary data To the object
BinaryStream.Open
BinaryStream.Write ByteArray

'Save binary data To disk
BinaryStream.SaveToFile FileName, adSaveCreateOverWrite
End Function

Google says:
http://www.google.com/search?q=vbscript+binary+file

And those paths generally lead to the Adodb.Stream solution.

I found that text mode works OK like so.
Only for writing, though.
-----------------------------------------

//JScript version

var str = WScript.CreateObject("ADODB.Stream");
str.type = 2; //adTypeText
str.charset = "iso-8859-1";
str.open();

for(var i = 0; i < 0x100; i++){
str.writeText(String.fromCharCode(i));
}
str.saveToFile("c:\\temp\\bin.bin", 2);
str.close();
str = null;

'VBScript version

dim str
set str = WScript.CreateObject("adodb.stream")
str.type = 2
str.charset = "iso-8859-1"
str.open

for i = 0 to &hff
str.writeText(ChrW(i)) 'uses ChrW
next
str.saveToFile "c:\temp\bin.bin", 2
str.close

-----------------------------------------

There still is a problem when you try to read some of the byte values 0x80 - 0x9f: when you read them they turn into completely different values. I guess this also relates to encoding.

I heard you could acquire an array of bytes like this (haven't tried myself):

Set DM = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
Set EL = DM.createElement("tmp")
EL.DataType = "bin.hex"
EL.Text = [some text in hex format]
bin = EL.NodeTypedValue

Further to this, is there a reason why Binary read/write was left out of the File System Object? I would have thought given the number of people that have asked you, that microsoft would have come up with something decent by now :)

Surely it's just a simpler version of the FSO.OpenTextFile code?

You can use SoftArtisans' FileManager. It's like FSO, but can handle binary files.

http://fileup.softartisans.com/fileup-120.aspx

Even though writing binary files is not a 'scripty' scenario, it is something that people will want to do now and then. I don't see any reason why you couldn't have added simple binary read/write functions so you don't have to muck around with ADO stream objects or CreateTextFile.

I've been reading & writing binary data the "ADODB.Stream" object for years without any problems, but then again I haven't been using anything other than the UK codepage. But since it's got native binary handling, surely in this particular case binary is binary is binary?!

ADODB.Recordset is quite popular in... certain communities. Unfortunately it requries that you have created an ADODB.Stream object, and I don't know how you go about populating that with arbitrary content.

JSDB based on spidermonkey
can read/write binary files

see www.jsdb.org

and much more than that: database connection, socket server, E4X etc..

when I feel WSH is limited by something I automatically move to JSDB, both running ECMAScript code, portability made easy :).

I use Perl right now to read files and don't have any problems at all with binary. It doesn't require any special methods or variable types or even library includes. It's native to the language itself. It's unfortunate that the creators of Perl (an ancient scripting language by all comparisons), has always allowed working with binary files even across different platforms, but yet VBScript and JScript script developers are just left without access to any such basic routines as working with binary file data, even through the use of ActiveX controls (because there apparently aren't any).

Keep in mind that ADODB.Stream is not a solution because it's disabled on most Windows machines now due to the security vulnerabilities it's imposed with Internet Explorer. You know, it's always nice when a workaround is suggest, then it's not even really available which I guess defeats the purpose.

--Randall

"However, there are two main factors. First, and most important, we decided that the Script Team wanted to be in the business of building the script engines themselves, not the objects that those engines would script."

Ok, that's reasonable. Add a few functions to the FSO to support binary byte reads and writes and y'all are done. Simple, eh? :-)

"Second, adding binary file reading/writing is not as straightforward as you might think. Exposing a straightforward array of bytes on disk is only the very first step. To do it right and make it usable,... "

Well, that's ONE approach. Another, quite simple approach, is to NOT be the end-all and just support reading and writing a series of bytes. If someone needs to make it more "usable", they can do it themselves - that's the cost of dealing with BLOB data. And that's exactly why y'all won't know whether it's big-endian, Unicode, or dollars. Just let me get at the bytes and I'll do whatever is necessay to interpret/manipulate the data. :-)

As it is now, I seem to be left with a choice of: a) moving to another language, or b) limiting functionality. Neither is a good solution.

Thanks.

Why is this such a big deal MS??   UN*X systems have been doing this from day 1 !!  I guess it all stems from MS (or CP/M) making the decision years ago that text files NEED CR/LF pairs to be called text files rather than the UN*X philisophy that files are a stream of bytes and it's up to the end-user (or script developer) to decide how to interpret the bytes (or words or quadword ...).

How can vb create a byte array? as.

bytes = ChrB(1) & ChrB(1)

..is still a string.

Eric,
you mentioned that creating a string that contains binary data would satisfy a COM method that expects a byte array. That is exactly what I am seeking. Could you please give an example of code that would create such string from a conventional VBScript string, say, "Hello World"? I am not "native" to ASP/VB, so maybe it's common knowledge for those who are in that world; sorry about that.
Thanks!

I found out a way to create an array of bytes in VBScript using ADODB.Stream object mentioned above, which resolved the problem I had. Thanks!

EricLippert said:
How do you create the binary array?

One way is to create a Text ADODB.Stream and copy it into a Binary ADODB.Stream.
Consider the following snippet I recently wrote to update a database connection UDL file:

  Option Explicit

  Dim sServer, sDatabase, sUsername, sPassword
  sServer   = "servername"
  sDatabase = "database"
  sUsername = "username"
  sUsername = "password"

  Dim UDL
  UDL = ReadBinaryFile("Old.udl")
  UDL = SetValue(UDL, "Data Source", sServer)
  UDL = SetValue(UDL, "Initial Catalog", sDatabase)
  UDL = SetValue(UDL, "User ID", sUsername)
  UDL = SetValue(UDL, "Password", sPassword)
  UDL = SaveBinaryData("New.udl", UDL)

' =================================================================
' Function to read text from a binary (unicode) file
' =================================================================

  Function ReadBinaryFile(FileName)
     Const adTypeBinary = 1

     Dim BinaryStream
     Set BinaryStream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
     BinaryStream.Type = adTypeBinary
     BinaryStream.Open
     BinaryStream.LoadFromFile FileName
     ReadBinaryFile = BinaryStream.Read
     BinaryStream.Close
     Set BinaryStream = Nothing
  End Function

' =================================================================
' Function to write a modified string back to a unicode file
' =================================================================

  Function SaveBinaryData(FileName, Text)
     Const adTypeBinary = 1
     Const adTypeText = 2
     Const adSaveCreateOverWrite = 2

     Dim BinaryStream
     Set BinaryStream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
     BinaryStream.Type = adTypeBinary
     BinaryStream.Open
     With CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
        .Type = adTypeText
        .Open: .WriteText Text
        .Position = 2
        .CopyTo BinaryStream, Len(Text) * 2
        .Close
     End With
     BinaryStream.SaveToFile FileName, adSaveCreateOverWrite
     BinaryStream.Close
     Set BinaryStream = Nothing
  End Function

' =================================================================
' Function replace semicolon delimited values in a unicode string
' =================================================================

  Function SetValue(Data, Key, Value)
     Dim Text, Prefix, Suffix, i
     If Len(Value) = 0 Then
        SetValue = Data
     Else
        'Drop leading character
        Text = Mid(Data, 2)
        i = InStr(Text, Key)
        Prefix = Left(Text, i + Len(Key))
        Suffix = Mid(Text, i + Len(Key))
        i = InStr(Suffix, ";")
        if i = 0 Then
           Suffix = ""
        Else
           Suffix = Mid(Suffix, i)
        End If
        'Restore leading character and concatinate new value
        SetValue = Left(Data, 1) + Prefix + Value + Suffix
     End If
  End Function

I've been playing with SideBar gadgets for some time now. Besides some quirks (ok, they're really bugs

Here's how to make a byte array, I extracted this from the example given by Hir

Function VariantArrayToByteArray(arr)

dim DM, EL, bin

Set DM = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")

Set EL = DM.createElement("tmp")

EL.DataType = "bin.hex"

EL.Text = ArrayToHexString(arr)

bin = EL.NodeTypedValue

VariantArrayToByteArray = bin

End Function

You will also need thi function:

Function ArrayToHexString(arr)

 Dim I, B

 Redim B(UBound(arr))

 For I= 0 to UBound(arr)

   B(I) = right("0" & hex(arr(I)), 2)

 Next

 ArrayToHexString = Join(B,"")

End Function

I have ie6 on my machine. I tried using adodb.stream from vbs for manipulating

binary files. I understand that adodb.stream is not getting recognized and

I am unable to save or read binary files through this. any ideas??

Try using an HTA or VBS file.

IE6 block dynamic content (i.e. scripts) in HTM, HTML files

Surely it is better to call it MBCS-land... and anyway, aren't we all in an MBCS land these days? Everything except the most basic of basic text files (that do not include any currency symbols other than the dollar sign ;-))

I came across newObjects' AXPack1 when I found out that Windows CE doesn't have FSO. It seems to have great support for Binary files. It's free too.

Check out this VBS sample:

Dim fso, file, BD, BoM

Set fso = CreateObject("newObjects.utilctls.SFMain")

Set file = fso.OpenFile(filename)

Set BD = CreateObject("newObjects.utilctls.SFBinaryData")

BD.Value = file.ReadBin(2)   'read first 2 bytes

BoM = BD.Data(0,1)   'convert first 2 bytes to byte array

file.Close()

bom now contains the byte order mark of filename in a VT_UI | VT_ARRAY byte array.

If ADODB.Stream is a solution.

I dont know what is much ado aabout nothing means.

/****************************************************************************/

 Option Explicit

 Dim sServer, sDatabase, sUsername, sPassword

 sServer   = "servername"

 sDatabase = "database"

 sUsername = "username"

 sUsername = "password"

 Dim UDL

 UDL = ReadBinaryFile("Old.udl")

 UDL = SetValue(UDL, "Data Source", sServer)

 UDL = SetValue(UDL, "Initial Catalog", sDatabase)

 UDL = SetValue(UDL, "User ID", sUsername)

 UDL = SetValue(UDL, "Password", sPassword)

 UDL = SaveBinaryData("New.udl", UDL)

' =================================================================

' Function to read text from a binary (unicode) file

' =================================================================

 Function ReadBinaryFile(FileName)

    Const adTypeBinary = 1

    Dim BinaryStream

    Set BinaryStream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")

    BinaryStream.Type = adTypeBinary

    BinaryStream.Open

    BinaryStream.LoadFromFile FileName

    ReadBinaryFile = BinaryStream.Read

    BinaryStream.Close

    Set BinaryStream = Nothing

 End Function

' =================================================================

' Function to write a modified string back to a unicode file

' =================================================================

 Function SaveBinaryData(FileName, Text)

    Const adTypeBinary = 1

    Const adTypeText = 2

    Const adSaveCreateOverWrite = 2

    Dim BinaryStream

    Set BinaryStream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")

    BinaryStream.Type = adTypeBinary

    BinaryStream.Open

    With CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")

       .Type = adTypeText

       .Open: .WriteText Text

       .Position = 2

       .CopyTo BinaryStream, Len(Text) * 2

       .Close

    End With

    BinaryStream.SaveToFile FileName, adSaveCreateOverWrite

    BinaryStream.Close

    Set BinaryStream = Nothing

 End Function

' =================================================================

' Function replace semicolon delimited values in a unicode string

' =================================================================

 Function SetValue(Data, Key, Value)

    Dim Text, Prefix, Suffix, i

    If Len(Value) = 0 Then

       SetValue = Data

    Else

       'Drop leading character

       Text = Mid(Data, 2)

       i = InStr(Text, Key)

       Prefix = Left(Text, i + Len(Key))

       Suffix = Mid(Text, i + Len(Key))

       i = InStr(Suffix, ";")

       if i = 0 Then

          Suffix = ""

       Else

          Suffix = Mid(Suffix, i)

       End If

       'Restore leading character and concatinate new value

       SetValue = Left(Data, 1) + Prefix + Value + Suffix

    End If

 End Function

July 11, 2006 7:11 PM

/****************************************************************************/

hem. just test that FileSystemObject can be use to READ and WRITE binary file. only that you had to CHEAT a little. Instead of using ReadAll() just use recursice Read() to the file Size. a little snippet in JScript:

-- Code Start --

var objFileSystem = new ActiveXObject('Scripting.FileSystemObject');

var objFileIO = objFileSystem.GetFile('pack.exe');

var streamIO = objFileIO.OpenAsTextStream();

var strTransform = new Array();

for (i=0;i<objFileIO.Size;i++) {

var strContent = streamIO.Read(1);

strTransform[i] = strContent.charCodeAt(0);

}

streamIO.Close();

objFileIO = objFileSystem.CreateTextFile('dumb.exe', true);

for (i=0;i<strTransform.length;i++) { objFileIO.Write(strTransform[i]); }

objFileIO.Close();

-- Code End --

Basicaly copy pack.exe into Array then write Array into dumb.exe

Surprisingly both are identical and executable. Isn't strange?

All i need now is smart way to play with the Array ....

ups. Sorry ... a typo in the code. just replace:

strTransform[i] = strContent.charCodeAt(0);

into

strTransform[i] = strContent;

I use charCodeAt to play around with ASCII code .....

Scriptable Byte Array  

Function CreateByteArray(nsize)

Dim sBin

Set sBin = CreateObject("Adodb.Stream")

sBin.Open

sBin.Type = 2 ' adTypeText = 2

sBin.WriteText String(nsize, Chr(0))

sBin.Position = 0

sBin.Type = 1 ' adTypeBinary

CreateByteArray = sBin.Read(nsize)

sBin.Close

End Function

I use FSO and ADO.Streams for most of my binary file ops already.  But...  A comment here...

The problem you seem to be describing here doesn't seem to have so much to do with the FileSystemObject, but rather with a quirky behaviour in the CHR() function.  The fso seems to happily, and binarily, write your binary file without hesitation.  It only broke down when you tried to make the CHR() function do something it isn't supposed to do.  

Wouldn't an ADO stream have done the same thing with that same input?