Encoding.GetPreamble Method (System.Text)

GetPreamble Method

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:

.NET Framework Class Library

Encoding..::.GetPreamble Method

Updated: November 2007

When overridden in a derived class, returns a sequence of bytes that specifies the encoding used.

Namespace: System.Text
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Overridable Function GetPreamble As Byte()

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As Encoding
Dim returnValue As Byte()

returnValue = instance.GetPreamble()

public virtual byte[] GetPreamble()

Visual C++

public:
virtual array<unsigned char>^ GetPreamble()

public byte[] GetPreamble()

JScript

public function GetPreamble() : byte[]

Return Value

Type: array<System..::.Byte>[]()[]

A byte array containing a sequence of bytes that specifies the encoding used.

-or-

A byte array of length zero, if a preamble is not required.

Remarks

Optionally, the Encoding object provides a preamble that is an array of bytes that can be prefixed to the sequence of bytes resulting from the encoding process. If the preamble contains a byte order mark (in Unicode, code point U+FEFF), it helps the decoder determine the byte order and the transformation format or UTF.

The Unicode byte order mark (BOM) is serialized as follows (in hexadecimal):

UTF-8: EF BB BF
UTF-16 big endian byte order: FE FF
UTF-16 little endian byte order: FF FE
UTF-32 big endian byte order: 00 00 FE FF
UTF-32 little endian byte order: FF FE 00 00

Your applications are recommended to use the BOM, because it provides nearly certain identification of an encoding for files that otherwise have lost reference to the Encoding object, for example, untagged or improperly tagged web data or random text files stored when a business did not have international concerns or other data. Often user problems might be avoided if data is consistently and properly tagged, preferably in UTF-8 or UTF-16.

For standards that provide an encoding type, a BOM is somewhat redundant. However, it can be used to help a server send the correct encoding header. Alternatively, it can be used as a fallback in case the encoding is otherwise lost.

There are some disadvantages to using a BOM. For example, knowing how to limit the database fields that use a BOM can be difficult. Concatenation of files can be a problem also, for example, when files are merged in such a way that an unnecessary character can end up in the middle of data. In spite of the few disadvantages, however, the use of a BOM is highly recommended.

For more information on byte order and the byte order mark, see The Unicode Standard at the Unicode home page.

Caution:
To ensure that the encoded bytes are decoded properly, your application should prefix encoded bytes with a preamble. However, most encodings do not provide a preamble. To ensure that the encoded bytes are decoded properly, the application should use a Unicode encoding, that is, UTF8Encoding, UnicodeEncoding, or UTF32Encoding, with a preamble.

Examples

The following code example determines the byte order of the encoding based on the preamble.

Visual Basic

Imports System
Imports System.Text

Namespace GetPreambleExample
   Class GetPreambleExampleClass
      Shared Sub Main()
         Dim [unicode] As Encoding = Encoding.Unicode

         ' Get the preamble for the Unicode encoder. 
         ' In this case the preamble contains the byte order mark (BOM).
         Dim preamble As Byte() = [unicode].GetPreamble()

         ' Make sure a preamble was returned 
         ' and is large enough to contain a BOM.
         If preamble.Length >= 2 Then
            If preamble(0) = &HFE And preamble(1) = &HFF Then
               Console.WriteLine("The Unicode encoder is encoding in big-endian order.")
            Else
               If preamble(0) = &HFF And preamble(1) = &HFE Then
                  Console.WriteLine("The Unicode encoder is encoding in little-endian order.")
               End If
            End If
         End If
      End Sub
   End Class
End Namespace

using System;
using System.Text;

namespace GetPreambleExample
{
   class GetPreambleExampleClass
   {
      static void Main()
      {
         Encoding unicode = Encoding.Unicode;

         // Get the preamble for the Unicode encoder. 
         // In this case the preamble contains the byte order mark (BOM).
         byte[] preamble = unicode.GetPreamble();

         // Make sure a preamble was returned 
         // and is large enough to containa BOM.
         if(preamble.Length >= 2)
         {
            if(preamble[0] == 0xFE && preamble[1] == 0xFF)
            {
               Console.WriteLine("The Unicode encoder is encoding in big-endian order.");
            }
            else if(preamble[0] == 0xFF && preamble[1] == 0xFE)
            {
               Console.WriteLine("The Unicode encoder is encoding in little-endian order.");
            }
         }
      }
   }
}

Visual C++

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Text;
int main()
{
   Encoding^ unicode = Encoding::Unicode;

   // Get the preamble for the Unicode encoder. 
   // In this case the preamblecontains the Byte order mark (BOM).
   array<Byte>^preamble = unicode->GetPreamble();

   // Make sure a preamble was returned 
   // and is large enough to containa BOM.
   if ( preamble->Length >= 2 )
   {

      // if (preamble->Item[0] == 0xFE && preamble->Item[1] == 0xFF) 
      if ( preamble[ 0 ] == 0xFE && preamble[ 1 ] == 0xFF )
      {
         Console::WriteLine( "The Unicode encoder is encoding in big-endian order." );
      }
      // else if (preamble->Item[0] == 0xFF && preamble->Item[1] == 0xFE) 
      else

      // else if (preamble->Item[0] == 0xFF && preamble->Item[1] == 0xFE) 
      if ( preamble[ 0 ] == 0xFF && preamble[ 1 ] == 0xFE )
      {
         Console::WriteLine( "The Unicode encoder is encoding in little-endian order." );
      }
   }
}

package GetPreambleExample; 

import System.*;
import System.Text.*;

class GetPreambleExampleClass
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        Encoding unicode = Encoding.get_Unicode();

        // Get the preamble for the Unicode encoder. 
        // In this case the preamble contains the byte order mark (BOM).
        ubyte preamble[] = unicode.GetPreamble();

        // Make sure a preamble was returned 
        // and is large enough to containa BOM.
        if(preamble.length >= 2) {
            if(preamble[0] == 0xFE && preamble[1] == 0xFF) {
                Console.WriteLine("The Unicode encoder is "
                + "encoding in big-endian order.");
            }
            else {
                if(preamble[0] == 0xFF && preamble[1] == 0xFE) {
                    Console.WriteLine("The Unicode encoder is" 
                    + " encoding in little-endian order.");
                }
            }
        }
    } //main
} //GetPreambleExampleClass

Platforms

Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information