Stream was not readable error

Question

I am getting the message "Stream was not readable" on the statement:

using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(ms))

I have tried the tips posted here without success. Thanks for the help.

This is my code:

XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Conflict));
//Serialize Conflicts array to memorystream as XML
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
    using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(ms))
    {
        foreach (Conflict ct in Conflicts)      
            xmlSerializer.Serialize(sw, ct);
        sw.Flush(); //Site tip
        ms.Position = 0;  //Site tip
    }
    //Retrieve memory stream to string
    using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(ms))
    {
        string conflictXml = String.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, "{0}</NewDataSet>",

Solution 1

When this block of code completes, it will also dispose the attached MemoryStream

using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(ms))
{
    foreach (Conflict ct in Conflicts)
        xmlSerializer.Serialize(sw, ct);
    sw.Flush(); //Site tip
    ms.Position = 0;  //Site tip
}

Remove the using statement, and dispose the stream manually after you are done with it

StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(ms);
foreach (Conflict ct in Conflicts)
    xmlSerializer.Serialize(sw, ct);
sw.Flush(); //Site tip
ms.Position = 0;  //Site tip
// other code that uses MemoryStream here...
sw.Dispose();

Solution 2

Try this instead (assuming Conflicts is of type List<Conflict>):

XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Conflict>));
StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
xmlSerializer.Serialize(sw, Conflicts);
string conflictXml = sw.GetStringBuilder().ToString();

Comments

[BrMcMullin]

Formatted code would be easier to follow and help debug

[Lasse V. Karlsen]

StreamWriter and StreamReader both close the underlying stream when disposed of, as such, when you get to trying to read from the stream that was closed when you disposed of the StreamWriter, the stream is no longer open for reading or writing. Unfortunately I am not at my computer now, but other answers on this site has classes for wrapping the underlying stream to prevent it from being closed.

[Arnold Krohn]

Will this only work with a generic collection? I'm stuck right now with .Net 1.1.

[user3285954]

In .Net 4.5 there's a StreamWriter overload where can be specified to leave the stream open: msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/gg712853(v=VS.110,d=hv.2).a‌​spx

[Gabrielius]

And don't forget to enclose everything in try/finally block and add sw.Dispose() in finally block. You will need to define StreamWriter sw outside try/finally block.