[Closed] .net question

I’ve tried the same and found that it simply doesn’t work. The ToBase64String method expects a byte array, which you cannot create using mxs. I wrote a dll with a couple of simple wrappers, including a method to convert strings to base64, but it’s part of a larger project which I can’t share. I can put just this functionality in a single dll if you want though, but the downside is that it adds an extra dependency to your script.

Here’s how (I think) it should work:

(

	dnEncoding = (dotNetClass "System.Text.Encoding").Unicode -- or UTF8 or ASCII or ..
	dnConvert = dotNetClass "System.Convert"
	dnValue = dotNetObject "System.String" "Dave"
	
	-- Convert the string to an array of bytes.
	Bytes = dnEncoding.GetBytes dnValue

	-- Get the Base64 string using these bytes.
	dnConvert.ToBase64String Bytes

	-- Runtime exception ...
	-- max automatically converts the byte array retrieved from the
	-- GetBytes method to an array of integers, which dotNet is unable
	-- to convert back to an array of bytes ...
	
)

Cheers,
Martijn

a byte array is just an array of, well, bytes; in this case stored as 8bit ints. No reason you shouldn’t be able to use it…

 dncConvert = dotNetClass "System.Convert"
 dotNetClass:System.Convert
 
 dnvStringIn = (dotNetObject "System.String" "Dave")
 dotNetObject:System.String
 
 dnoASCII = dotNetObject "System.Text.ASCIIEncoding"
 dotNetObject:System.Text.ASCIIEncoding
 
 dnvByteArrayIn = dnoASCII.getBytes dnvStringIn
 #(68, 97, 118, 101)
 
 dnvB64String = dncConvert.ToBase64String dnvByteArrayIn
 "RGF2ZQ=="
 
 dnvByteArrayOut = dncConvert.FromBase64String dnvB64String
 #(68, 97, 118, 101)
 
 dnoUTF8 = dotNetObject "System.Text.UTF8Encoding"
 dotNetObject:System.Text.UTF8Encoding
 
 dnvStringOut = dnoUTF8.getString dnvByteArrayOut
 "Dave"
 

Whether that does what you need it to do, however…

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for the info. We’re just chucking ideas around at the moment, but that’s really helpful.

Richard, in particular, thanks for working through the sticky stuff. .NET seems quite rigourous / unforgiving so it’s good to have an example.

With that in mind, how would one go about getting to know how to use .NET without feeling like it’s bashing your head against a brick wall? Do I need to get into Visual Studio and C# type stuff first?

Cheers,
Dave

hi Dave,

i’d just go to microsoft and download the visual studio express edition. I went for the VB flavour, as i thought it would be a wee bit more straightforward than c#.
it’s free and even without getting into it you will be able to see via the intellisense prompt how to declare the classes and what arguments and overloads pertain to each. It really will remove the guesswork about using .net within max. on a side note im frustrated as I am hoping to post some of my dotnet research soon, including usercontrols and a dotnet maxfile thumbnail class but am totally swamped at the mo. :argh:

in addition to grabbing express, I’d say find the nearest book store and pick up a copy of a beginner-level .NET book; there’s plenty of resources online as well, of course, but books tend to have better flow

So the ToBase64String method does work for you guys?
Weird… here’s what I get:

– Runtime error: dotNet runtime exception: Cannot widen from source type to target type either because the source type is a not a primitive type or the conversion cannot be accomplished.

This is on max2008 32bit btw.

Martijn

Thanks for checking. I’m glad I won’t be needing that dll anymore

Edit: And thanks for posting that link as well Richard, useful stuff!

Cheers,
Martijn

Also note on the .net sticky thread I posted a message from someone on the area who found a way to compile dotnet classes/objects in mxs runtime… which leads to “probably” never have to compile a dll again! The .cs file as string can be used.

-Johan