Sending binary data with Protobuf-net

Question

Are there any special requirements, when using Protobuf-net to send a binary array? I have a message class, that wraps some binary data:

[ProtoContract]
public class BitmapPackage : BaseMessage
{
    [ProtoMember(1)]
    public byte[] BitmapData;
}

When trying to deserialize the message I catch the exception thrown by the Protobuf-net:

16:52:59.902: (007): [Error] Inner Exception in StartReceiveLoop():Message: Attempted to read past the end of the stream.Stack Trace: at ProtoBuf.ProtoReader.Ensure(Int32 count, Boolean strict) in c:\Dev\protobuf-net\protobuf-net\ProtoReader.cs:line 257 at ProtoBuf.ProtoReader.AppendBytes(Byte[] value, ProtoReader reader) in c:\Dev\protobuf-net\protobuf-net\ProtoReader.cs:line 921 at proto_4(Object , ProtoReader ) at ProtoBuf.Serializers.CompiledSerializer.ProtoBuf.Serializers.IProtoSerializer.Read(Object value, ProtoReader source) in c:\Dev\protobuf-net\protobuf-net\Serializers\CompiledSerializer.cs:line 57 at ProtoBuf.Meta.RuntimeTypeModel.Deserialize(Int32 key, Object value, ProtoReader source) in c:\Dev\protobuf-net\protobuf-net\Meta\RuntimeTypeModel.cs:line 775 at ProtoBuf.Meta.TypeModel.DeserializeCore(ProtoReader reader, Type type, Object value, Boolean noAutoCreate) in c:\Dev\protobuf-net\protobuf-net\Meta\TypeModel.cs:line 700 at ProtoBuf.Meta.TypeModel.Deserialize(Stream source, Object value, Type type, SerializationContext context) in c:\Dev\protobuf-net\protobuf-net\Meta\TypeModel.cs:line 588 at ProtoBuf.Serializer.Deserialize[T](Stream source) in c:\Dev\protobuf-net\protobuf-net\Serializer.cs:line 77

This happens only and always when I send one specific bitmap. So my question is should I somehow "escape" the binary data before deserializing it using protobuf-net?

UPDATE: Here is the code that is doing the receiving:

private async Task StartReceiveLoop()
{
await Task.Yield();

while(!_readOpCancelToken.IsCancellationRequested)
{
    try
    {
        var buffer = new byte[4096];
        int bytesRx = await _pipe.ReadAsync(
            buffer, 0, buffer.Length, _readOpCancelToken);

        Logger.LogInfo("Pipe connection: Got " + bytesRx + " bytes");

        if (bytesRx == 0) break;
        if (_readOpCancelToken.IsCancellationRequested) break;

        await _receivedDataStream.WriteAsync(buffer, 0, bytesRx);

        if (_pipe.IsMessageComplete)
        {
            // Get out the routing data
            _receivedDataStream.Position = 0;
            byte[] intbuffer = new byte[4];

            _receivedDataStream.Read(intbuffer, 0, 4);
            int size = BitConverter.ToInt32(intbuffer, 0);

            _receivedDataStream.Read(intbuffer, 0, 4);
            int typeId = BitConverter.ToInt32(intbuffer, 0);

            _receivedDataStream.Read(intbuffer, 0, 4);
            int routeTag = BitConverter.ToInt32(intbuffer, 0);

            messageObj = messageObj = Serializer.NonGeneric.Deserialize(messageType, _receivedDataStream);

            // Process message on UI thread via tick queue
            TickSystem.OneTimeTickQueue.Enqueue(new Action(() =>
            {
                ProcessMessageExtApp.ProcessThisMessage(messageObj);
            }));

            // Reset the stream
            _receivedDataStream = new MemoryStream();
        }
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        Logger.LogError(
            "Exception in StartReceiveLoop():" +
            "Message: " + e.Message +
            "Stack Trace: " + e.StackTrace);

        if (e.InnerException != null)
        {
            Logger.LogError(
            "Inner Exception in StartReceiveLoop():" +
            "Message: " + e.InnerException.Message +
            "Stack Trace: " + e.InnerException.StackTrace);
        }
    }
}

}

Answer 1

The actual problem was not the Protobuf-net, but a fact, that IsMessageComplete was signaled prematurely. The fix was to write to the Pipe on the pipe server using a byte array instead stream copy and flush the pipe after finishing each packet.