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Convert bytes into a binary coded decimal (BCD) string

/ Published in: C#
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BCD is where the hex value of a byte represents two integer values between zero and nine; e.g., 0x98 -> "98" (whereas its integer value is actually 152). The method throws an exception if non-BCD data is input.

There is actually a built-in method to do BCD: System.BitConverter.ToString. Note, though, that BitConverter only uses the endianness of the host machine, so you might need to convert to Big or Little Endian depending on the data source or destination.

Example: `BitConverter.ToString(new byte[] {0xAE, 0xD0})` gives us the string `AE-D0`.

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  1. /// <summary>
  2. /// Convert the argument bytes into their binary-coded decimal (BCD) representation, e.g.
  3. /// { 0x01, 0x10 } -> "0110" (for Big Endian byte order)
  4. /// { 0x01, 0x10 } -> "1001" (for Little Endian byte order)
  5. /// </summary>
  6. /// <param name="isLittleEndian">True if the byte order is "little end first (leftmost)".</param>
  7. /// <param name="bytes">A comma-separated list of bytes or byte array</param>
  8. /// <returns>String representation of the bytes as BCD.</returns>
  9. /// <exception cref="ArgumentException">Thrown if the argument bytes contain non-BCD data (e.g. nibble values with 0xA-0xF).</exception>
  10. public static string ConvertToBinaryCodedDecimal(bool isLittleEndian, params byte[] bytes)
  11. {
  12.     StringBuilder bcd = new StringBuilder(bytes.Length * 2);
  13.     if (isLittleEndian)
  14.     {
  15.         for (int i = bytes.Length-1; i >= 0; i--)
  16.         {
  17.             byte bcdByte = bytes[i];
  18.             int idHigh = bcdByte >> 4;
  19.             int idLow = bcdByte & 0x0F;
  20.             if (idHigh > 9 || idLow > 9)
  21.             {
  22.                 throw new ArgumentException(
  23.                     String.Format("One of the argument bytes was not in binary-coded decimal format: byte[{0}] = 0x{1:X2}.",
  24.                     i, bcdByte));
  25.             }
  26.             bcd.Append(string.Format("{0}{1}", idHigh, idLow));
  27.         }
  28.     }
  29.     else
  30.     {
  31.         for (int i = 0; i < bytes.Length; i++)
  32.         {
  33.             byte bcdByte = bytes[i];
  34.             int idHigh = bcdByte >> 4;
  35.             int idLow = bcdByte & 0x0F;
  36.             if (idHigh > 9 || idLow > 9)
  37.             {
  38.                 throw new ArgumentException(
  39.                     String.Format("One of the argument bytes was not in binary-coded decimal format: byte[{0}] = 0x{1:X2}.",
  40.                     i, bcdByte));
  41.             }
  42.             bcd.Append(string.Format("{0}{1}", idHigh, idLow));
  43.         }
  44.     }
  45.     return bcd.ToString();
  46. }

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