File and Stream I/O
File and stream I/O (input/output) refers to the transfer of data either to or from a storage medium. In the .NET Framework, the System.IO namespaces contain types that enable reading and writing, both synchronously and asynchronously, on data streams and files. These namespaces also contain types that perform compression and decompression on files, and types that enable communication through pipes and serial ports.
A file is an ordered and named collection of bytes that has persistent storage. When you work with files, you work with directory paths, disk storage, and file and directory names. In contrast, a stream is a sequence of bytes that you can use to read from and write to a backing store, which can be one of several storage mediums (for example, disks or memory). Just as there are several backing stores other than disks, there are several kinds of streams other than file streams, such as network, memory, and pipe streams.
You can use the types in the System.IO namespace to interact with files and directories. For example, you can get and set properties for files and directories, and retrieve collections of files and directories based on search criteria.
Here are some commonly used file and directory classes:
Directory - provides static methods for creating, moving, and enumerating through directories and subdirectories.
DirectoryInfo - provides instance methods for creating, moving, and enumerating through directories and subdirectories.
Path - provides methods and properties for processing directory strings in a cross-platform manner.
In addition to using these classes, Visual Basic users can use the methods and properties provided by the Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem class for file I/O.
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.
Streams involve three fundamental operations:
Reading - transferring data from a stream into a data structure, such as an array of bytes.
Writing - transferring data to a stream from a data source.
Seeking - querying and modifying the current position within a stream.
Depending on the underlying data source or repository, a stream might support only some of these capabilities. For example, the PipeStream class does not support seeking. The CanRead, CanWrite, and CanSeek properties of a stream specify the operations that the stream supports.
Here are some commonly used stream classes:
FileStream – for reading and writing to a file.
IsolatedStorageFileStream – for reading and writing to a file in isolated storage.
MemoryStream – for reading and writing to memory as the backing store.
BufferedStream – for improving performance of read and write operations.
NetworkStream – for reading and writing over network sockets.
PipeStream – for reading and writing over anonymous and named pipes.
CryptoStream – for linking data streams to cryptographic transformations.
For an example of working with streams asynchronously, see Asynchronous File I/O.
The System.IO namespace also provides types for reading encoded characters from streams and writing them to streams. Typically, streams are designed for byte input and output. The reader and writer types handle the conversion of the encoded characters to and from bytes so the stream can complete the operation. Each reader and writer class is associated with a stream, which can be retrieved through the class's BaseStream property.
Here are some commonly used reader and writer classes:
Reading or writing a large amount of data can be resource-intensive. You should perform these tasks asynchronously if your application needs to remain responsive to the user. With synchronous I/O operations, the UI thread is blocked until the resource-intensive operation has completed. Use asynchronous I/O operations when developing Windows 8.x Store apps to prevent creating the impression that your app has stopped working.
For more information, see Asynchronous File I/O.
Compression refers to the process of reducing the size of a file for storage. Decompression is the process of extracting the contents of a compressed file so they are in a usable format. The System.IO.Compression namespace contains types for compressing and decompressing files and streams.
The following classes are frequently used when compressing and decompressing files and streams:
ZipArchive – for creating and retrieving entries in the zip archive.
ZipArchiveEntry – for representing a compressed file.
ZipFile – for creating, extracting, and opening a compressed package.
ZipFileExtensions – for creating and extracting entries in a compressed package.
DeflateStream – for compressing and decompressing streams using the Deflate algorithm.
GZipStream – for compressing and decompressing streams in gzip data format.
Isolated storage is a data storage mechanism that provides isolation and safety by defining standardized ways of associating code with saved data. The storage provides a virtual file system that is isolated by user, assembly, and (optionally) domain. Isolated storage is particularly useful when your application does not have permission to access user files. You can save settings or files for your application in a manner that is controlled by the computer's security policy.
Isolated storage is not available for Windows 8.x Store apps; instead, use application data classes in the Windows.Storage namespace. For more information, see Application data in the Windows Dev Center.
The following classes are frequently used when implementing isolated storage:
IsolatedStorage – provides the base class for isolated storage implementations.
IsolatedStorageFile – provides an isolated storage area that contains files and directories.
IsolatedStorageFileStream - exposes a file within isolated storage.
See Isolated Storage.
The .NET for Windows 8.x Store apps contains many of the types for reading from and writing to streams; however, this set does not include all the .NET Framework I/O types.
Some important differences to note when using I/O operations in Windows 8.x Store apps:
Types specifically related to file operations, such as File, FileInfo, Directory and DirectoryInfo, are not included in the .NET for Windows 8.x Store apps. Instead, use the types in the Windows.Storage namespace of the Windows Runtime, such as StorageFile and StorageFolder.
Isolated storage is not available; instead, use application data.
You can convert between .NET Framework streams and Windows Runtime streams, if necessary. For more information, see How to: Convert Between .NET Framework Streams and Windows Runtime Streams or WindowsRuntimeStreamExtensions.
For more information about I/O operations in a Windows 8.x Store app, see Quickstart: Reading and writing a file in the Windows Dev Center.
When you use the classes in the System.IO namespace, you must follow operating system security requirements such as access control lists (ACLs) to control access to files and directories. This requirement is in addition to any FileIOPermission requirements. You can manage ACLs programmatically. For more information, see How to: Add or Remove Access Control List Entries.
Default security policies prevent Internet or intranet applications from accessing files on the user’s computer. Therefore, do not use the I/O classes that require a path to a physical file when writing code that will be downloaded over the Internet or intranet. Instead, use isolated storage for traditional .NET Framework applications, or use application data for Windows 8.x Store apps.
A security check is performed only when the stream is constructed. Therefore, do not open a stream and then pass it to less-trusted code or application domains.
Provides a list of I/O tasks associated with files, directories, and streams, and links to relevant content and examples for each task.
Describes the performance advantages and basic operation of asynchronous I/O.
Describes a data storage mechanism that provides isolation and safety by defining standardized ways of associating code with saved data.
Describes anonymous and named pipe operations in the .NET Framework.
Describes memory-mapped files, which contain the contents of files on disk in virtual memory. You can use memory-mapped files to edit very large files and to create shared memory for interprocess communication.