Get a hex substring & convert to binary Delphi XE2

My program reads from a device via a serial port and returns this string. 'IC'#$0088#$0080'Ô'#$0080#$0080 I need to get the 5 hex values and convert to binary. #$0088 = 10001000, #$0080 = 10000000, Ô = 11010100.

I can convert the 80 & 88, but am having difficulty extracting them from the whole string. The Ô(xD4) I can neither extract or convert. An extended character like the Ô could be at any or all locations.

The read methods in my serial component are:

function Read(var Buffer; Count: Integer): Integer;
function ReadStr(var Str: string; Count: Integer): Integer;
function ReadAsync(var Buffer; Count: Integer;   var AsyncPtr: PAsync): Integer;
function ReadStrAsync(var Str: Ansistring; Count: Integer;  var AsyncPtr: PAsync): Integer;

Can you give me an example of reading binary?

Solution

As I wrote earlier in the comments, the problem with the message in your question is that it consists partly of non-ASCII characters. The ASCII range is from $00 to $7F and have the same characters as Unicode U+0000 to U+007F. Therefore no conversion (except for the leading 0). AnsiCharacters ($80 to $FF) on the other hand are subject to conversion according to the code page in use, in order to keep the same glyph for both. F.Ex. AnsiChar $80 (Euro sign in CP1252) is therefore converted to Unicode U+02C6. Bit patten for the lower byte doesn't match anymore.

Ref: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc195054.aspx

Following code shows the result of two tests, Using Char vs. AnsiChar

procedure TMainForm.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
const
  Buffer: array[0..7] of AnsiChar = ('I','C', #$88, #$80, #$D4, #$80, #$80, ';');
//  Buffer: array[0..7] of Char = ('I','C', #$88, #$80, #$D4, #$80, #$80, ';');
  BinChars: array[0..1] of Char = ('0','1');
var
  i, k: integer;
  c: AnsiChar;
//  c: Char;
  s: string;
begin
  for k := 2 to 6 do
  begin
    c := Buffer[k];
    SetLength(s, 8);
    for i := 0 to 7 do
      s[8-i] := BinChars[(ord(c) shr i) and 1];
    Memo1.Lines.Add(format('Character %d in binary format: %s',[k, s]));
  end;
end;

Using Char (UTF-16 WideChar)

AnsiChar #$88 is converted to U+02C6 
AnsiChar #$80 is converted to U+20AC 
AnsiChar #$D4 is converted to U+00D4 !

Lower byte gives

Character 2 in binary format: 11000110 
Character 3 in binary format: 10101100 
Character 4 in binary format: 11010100
Character 5 in binary format: 10101100 
Character 6 in binary format: 10101100

Using AnsiChar

Character 2 in binary format: 10001000
Character 3 in binary format: 10000000
Character 4 in binary format: 11010100
Character 5 in binary format: 10000000
Character 6 in binary format: 10000000

Unfortunately a conversion from Unicode to Ansi (even if originally converted from Ansi to Unicode) is lossy and will fail.

I really don't see any easy solution with the information available.