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Store and Read Personal Data in a Binary File in C#

This program asks the user for their name, age (as a byte), and birth year (as an int). The data is then stored in a binary file. The program will also include a reader to test that the data has been successfully written and can be read back correctly. This exercise demonstrates how to use binary serialization and file handling in C#. The data will be saved in a structured format, allowing it to be read later for validation.



Group

File Handling in C#

Objective

1. The program prompts the user to input their name (as a string), age (as a byte), and year of birth (as an integer).
2. These inputs are stored in a binary file called personalData.dat.
3. The program will then read the binary file to ensure that the data has been stored correctly, displaying the contents to the usr.
4. If the program runs successfully, it will confirm that the data was written and read correctly.

Create a program which asks the user for his name, his age (byte) and the year in which he was born (int) and stores them in a binary file. Create also a reader to test that those data have been stored correctly.

Example C# Exercise

 Copy C# Code 
using System;
using System.IO;

class PersonalData
{
    // Fields to store the user's data
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public byte Age { get; set; }
    public int YearOfBirth { get; set; }

    // Method to store the data in a binary file
    public void SaveToFile(string fileName)
    {
        // Create a new FileStream to open the file in write mode
        using (BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(File.Open(fileName, FileMode.Create)))
        {
            // Write the user's name (string length + actual string)
            writer.Write(Name.Length);  // Write the length of the string
            writer.Write(Name);  // Write the string itself

            // Write the age and year of birth
            writer.Write(Age);
            writer.Write(YearOfBirth);
        }
    }

    // Method to read the data from the binary file and display it
    public static PersonalData ReadFromFile(string fileName)
    {
        // Create a new instance of PersonalData to hold the read values
        PersonalData data = new PersonalData();

        // Open the file in read mode
        using (BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(File.Open(fileName, FileMode.Open)))
        {
            // Read the name (first read the length, then the actual string)
            int nameLength = reader.ReadInt32();  // Read the string length
            data.Name = new string(reader.ReadChars(nameLength));  // Read the string

            // Read the age and year of birth
            data.Age = reader.ReadByte();
            data.YearOfBirth = reader.ReadInt32();
        }

        return data;  // Return the PersonalData object with the read values
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Prompt the user for their name, age, and year of birth
        Console.Write("Enter your name: ");
        string name = Console.ReadLine();

        Console.Write("Enter your age: ");
        byte age = byte.Parse(Console.ReadLine());  // Parse the age as a byte

        Console.Write("Enter your year of birth: ");
        int yearOfBirth = int.Parse(Console.ReadLine());  // Parse the year of birth as an int

        // Create an instance of PersonalData and set the values
        PersonalData userData = new PersonalData
        {
            Name = name,
            Age = age,
            YearOfBirth = yearOfBirth
        };

        // Define the file name to store the data
        string fileName = "personalData.dat";

        // Save the data to the file
        userData.SaveToFile(fileName);

        // Read the data back from the file
        PersonalData readData = PersonalData.ReadFromFile(fileName);

        // Display the read data to the user
        Console.WriteLine("\nData read from file:");
        Console.WriteLine($"Name: {readData.Name}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Age: {readData.Age}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Year of Birth: {readData.YearOfBirth}");
    }
}

 Output

Enter your name: John Doe
Enter your age: 25
Enter your year of birth: 1996

Data read from file:
Name: John Doe
Age: 25
Year of Birth: 1996

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