Allow BitConverter.ToString to format without dashes

[nvivo]

I think BitConverter is not even in CoreFx yet, but for when it is, please allow to convert to an hex string without dashes. This is to avoid this pattern:

BitConverter.ToString(data).Replace("-", string.Empty);

This representation of bytes is common enough that .NET should have a simple method to do this without extra code or an extra memory allocation.

[ebickle]

BitConverter needs a lot of work, potentially a new API altogether. It's once place that desperately needs both Little Endian and Big Endian support. The number of hack solutions on StackOverflow with people trying to flip the order of their byte arrays before calling BitConverter methods is truly frightening.

[zii-dmg]

Maybe .NET Core should include DataConverter class from Mono?

[Eirenarch]

I agree with @ebickle . I just ran into the little endian vs big endian issue 2 days ago. Also I think we should have a way to convert a hex string to a byte array. I mean the Convert class has methods to convert to/from base64 but for hex you have to roll your own method and it makes no sense to me.

[CodesInChaos]

I'd add these methods to Convert:

public static string ToHexStringUpper(byte[] data);
public static string ToHexStringLower(byte[] data);
public static byte[] FromHexString(string hexString);

I'd also consider having them return null when the argument is null since that simplifies printing byte arrays that may be null.

[felipepessoto]

Hi, I'll work on it.
@karelz would you assign me please?

[karelz]

The API is not approved yet, so we won't assign it to anyone.

Next step: We need formal API proposal.

[andreujuanc]

+1 to this. So simple yet really good.

[danmoseley]

@andreujuanc do you want to take a shot at formalizing the format? Link to a good example from this doc.
https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/blob/master/Documentation/project-docs/api-review-process.md

[andreujuanc]

@danmosemsft Sure. But I would like to have a small discussion if possible. Gitter, slack, or should we keep everything in here?

[danmoseley]

We tend to keep stuff in here because otherwise it doesn't scale well. If you have alternatives or other proposals etc feel free to share them here or pick one suggestion for others to give feedback.

[mpollock11p]

I'm new at this but this sure helped out a hole lot! I was trying to get a whole packet out and don't know why anyone would even want the dashes in there?? Thanks much!!

[jeremyVignelles]

Is it a duplicate of dotnet/corefx#10013 or am I missing something?
That issue has a formal API defined and offers methods for the reverse conversion.

[mfalkvidd]

@jeremyVignelles dotnet/corefx#10013 was created 1.5 years after this issue was created, and has a significantly larger scope. The larger scope might delay implementation and might therefore be a less desirable solution. But if dotnet/corefx#10013 was implemented, it would solve this issue as well.

[stephentoub]

@mfalkvidd, valid concerns. At the same time, more recent forward progress has been made on that issue and not on this one, and we don't need two issues covering the same scope, so I'm going to close that one. Thanks, all.

[mfalkvidd]

20 days ago the "api-ready-for-review" label was removed from 10013, calling for a survey to be conducted. Since then it seems like nothing has happened. That doesn't sound like forward progress to me ;-)

But if you can make things happen in 10013, please do. I'm just worried it will be mothballed.

[stephentoub]

That doesn't sound like forward progress to me

It's been looked at and talked about, leading to that status change. That's more than had happened here.

I'm just worried it will be mothballed

If it doesn't happen, this one wouldn't either. Deciding to go ahead with an issue doesn't mean it's done exactly as outlined; it effectively represents a desire to explore the space further, whch could mean doing more or less than is described, or something different entirely.

[alrz]

This is a dead link dotnet/corefx#10013 and I couldn't find the issue in runtime repo.

[danmoseley]

10013 is https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/issues/10013 which redirects to #17837