Are 2 streams really needed?

Question

I have a simple text file setup as a Resource through my application's Properties as a byte[]. In order to access a "Stream.ReadLine" function, I believe I need to make it into a StreamReader. Is there a way to get the following result using only 1 Stream, or else, any tricks to make it better?

List<string> list = new List<string>();

using (Stream s = new MemoryStream(myFile))
{
    using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(s))
    {
        while (!sr.EndOfStream)
        {
            list.Add(sr.ReadLine());
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

Not without having to reinvent a lot of other things and make it more complex, no. This solution looks to be the best to me. You even use using correctly, which is one of my frequent nitpicks. However, if you want to simplify that bit of code, you might be able to help it with an extension method like so:

        List<string> list;

        using (var s = new MemoryStream(myFile))
        {
            list = s.ReadLines().ToList();
        }

...

    public static IEnumerable<string> ReadLines(this Stream s)
    {
        using (var sr = new StreamReader(s))
        {
            while (!sr.EndOfStream)
            {
                yield return sr.ReadLine();
            }
        }
    }

Answer 2

EDIT: So this is the famous "how do I read my embedded resource".

        using (var sr = new StreamReader(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().
                GetManifestResourceStream("MyNamespace.MyFile.Ext"))) 
        {
            return sr.ReadToEnd(); // or whatever else suits you
        }

You can also link instead of embedding.

---

[this section is now irrelevant]

I'd go with:

public static IEnumerable<string> ReadLines(byte[] raw)
{
     using (var sr = new StreamReader(System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetString(raw)))
     { // or whatever encoding you're actually using...
         return sr.ReadToEnd().Split(Environment.NewLine.ToCharArray());
     }
}

If only to make clear that converting byte[] to string should be done using explicit encoding.

Answer 3

You can go with one more builtin approach.

You can use:

string content = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(someFilePath);

That actually creates one SteramReader and call reader.ReadToEnd();

Or if you need lazy one, you can use

foreach(string line in System.IO.File.ReadLines(someFilePath))
{
    // do something with line
}

Second approach creates internal StreamReader that reads one line for each iteration. It should be used in foreach because it needs to be disposed at the end.

PS. Sorry, I missed that you are talking about data from Assembly resources