Sql binary to c# - How to get SQL binary equivalent of binary in c#

Question

It might seem a dumb question to you guys. I have one SQL table with one binary column. It has some data in binary format.

e.g. 0x9A8B9D9A002020202020202020202020<

Answer 1

public static byte[] ConvertToBinary(string str)
{
    System.Text.ASCIIEncoding  encoding = new System.Text.ASCIIEncoding();
    return encoding.GetBytes(str);
}

or

Convert.ToByte(string);

Answer 2

It really depends on which encoding was used when you originally converted from string to binary:

 byte[] binaryString = (byte[])reader[1];

 // if the original encoding was ASCII
 string x = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(binaryString);

 // if the original encoding was UTF-8
 string y = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(binaryString);

 // if the original encoding was UTF-16
 string z = Encoding.Unicode.GetString(binaryString);

 // etc