getting 'System.OutOfMemoryException' when converting byte array to string

Question

code snippet:

//byte[] myByteArray = byte array from database (database BLOB) 
myByteArray = (byte[]) ((dbCommand.Parameters["parameter"].Value));

string myString =System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(myByteArray);

Xmldocument doc = new Xmldocument();
doc.Load(myString);

============

I am getting System.OutOfMemoryException sometimes.

string myString = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(myByteArray);

when converting bytearray to string i am getting this error.

is there a way i can make this code robust.

All i am trying to do is loading the BLOB in byte array and then converting them to string and loading them in xmldocument to work with.

java2s.com/Code/Java/Collections-Data-Structure/…

Ruchi
– Ruchi

2015-09-03 19:06:06 +00:00
Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 19:06 — Ruchi
– Ruchi, Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 19:06

Roger Lipscombe · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-06 18:59:43Z

7

If you've got a string containing XML text, you actually want XmlDocument.LoadXML. XmlDocument.Load treats the string as a URL.

That said, XmlDocument.Load has overloads taking an XmlReader, a TextReader or a Stream. You can create a MemoryStream on the underlying byte array, and pass that; this avoids the string conversion.

answered Jan 6, 2009 at 18:59

Roger Lipscombe

92.5k59 gold badges255 silver badges402 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

bounav Over a year ago

Didn't know about the MemoryStream class. Just what I needed! Thanks.

Michael Borgwardt · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-06 18:59:07Z

1

XmlDocument.Load(String) tries to load the XML document from the URL given as parameter, i.e. it tries to interpret your possibly HUGE string as an URL. No wonder that something goes wrong.

Use LoadXml() instead.

answered Jan 6, 2009 at 18:59

Michael Borgwardt

347k81 gold badges491 silver badges726 bronze badges

Comments

Jon Skeet · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-06 19:17:58Z

1

It sounds like your blob is just too big to fit in memory as a string. Don't forget that ASCII values will be twice the size as a string that they are in binary form. How big are these values, anyway?

What do you need to do with the string afterwards? You show loading it as XML (although as Roger said, you really want LoadXml) but not what you were planning on doing after that. Could you do something which streams the data instead? If so, wrap the byte array in a MemoryStream and then use a StreamReader on top of that.

answered Jan 6, 2009 at 19:17

Jon Skeet

1.5m893 gold badges9.3k silver badges9.3k bronze badges

Comments

arul · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-06 19:39:50Z

0

Strings/StringBuilders require contiguous memory block, so the OutOfMemoryException is closely related to the fragmentation of the heap.

That being said, you'll need to chunk the input or as already suggested use streams.

answered Jan 6, 2009 at 19:39

arul

14.1k1 gold badge60 silver badges78 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

getting 'System.OutOfMemoryException' when converting byte array to string

4 Answers 4

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related