MultiStream

The abstract base class Stream supports reading and writing bytes. All classes that represent streams inherit from the Stream class. The Stream class and its derived classes provide a common view of data sources and repositories, and isolate the programmer from the specific details of the operating system and underlying devices.

MultiStream enables you to wrap multiple streams, and present them as a single, read-only Stream.

Use this component

If you have not already added it to your project, install the package from NuGet:

Install-Package NetEx.IO

Use the MultiStream constructor to create a MultiStream instance that wraps other streams. You can then use the MultiStream instance wherever you can use a Stream.

Example

The following example uses the Windows Forms Button control's Click event handler to create two MemoryStream instances, each containing a string, and then creates a MultiStream instance to wrap the streams. The MultiStream instance is then passed to a StreamReader, and the contents of the combined streams are displayed in a MessageBox.

using NetEx.IO;
using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class MultiStreamForm : Form
{
    [STAThread]
    public static void Main()
    {
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.Run(new MultiStreamForm());
    }

    private Button selectButton;

    public MultiStreamForm()
    {
        selectButton = new Button
        {
            Size = new Size(100, 20),
            Location = new Point(15, 15),
            Text = "Read MultiStream"
        };
        selectButton.Click += new EventHandler(SelectButton_Click);
        ClientSize = new Size(330, 360);
        Controls.Add(selectButton);
    }

    private void SelectButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        using var stream1 = new MemoryStream(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("Hello "));
        using var stream2 = new MemoryStream(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("World!"));
        using var multiStream = new MultiStream(stream1, stream2);
        using var streamReader = new StreamReader(multiStream);

        MessageBox.Show($"Stream 1 Length: {stream1.Length}\n"
                        + $"Stream 2 Length: {stream2.Length}\n"
                        + $"MultiStream Length: {multiStream.Length}\n\n"
                        + "Stream Text:\n"
                        + streamReader.ReadLine());
    }
}

Applies to

Product	Versions
.NET	5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework	2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard	2.0, 2.1

See also

Files and Stream I/O