.NET Micro Framework, reading files on a device with limited memory

Question

On a ChipworkX device we would read files using:

File.ReadAllBytes(filename);

But if we try that on a NetDuino Plus which has a much smaller amount of memory,
we simply get an OutOfMemoryException.

The files are not that big, but I guess that's all relative in this case (1.5kb max).

What's the correct way to read files on a device like this?

Answer 1

Use a FileStream

using (var fileStream = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Open))
{
    byte[] block = new byte[1024];
    int readLength;
    while ((readLength = fileStream.Read(block, 0, block.Length)) > 0)
    {
        Process(block, readLength);
    }
}

write your own Process method. The block length of 1024 is just an example, read as big chunks as you can process at a time. You can vary that depending on the data.