VBA - Read 15 MB binary file to var

Question

Is it possible in Excel VBA to read a binary file to a variable?

A function similar to:

function bin2var(filename as String) As XXXX

And also, is it possible to do the reverse operation?

function var2bin(filename as String,data as XXXX)

What makes you think it isn't possible..? What have you tried so far that doesn't work..? — Sean, Dec 04 '11 at 18:31
It's totally possible. But what kind of variable do you want? A Byte array, or a String? — Boann, Dec 04 '11 at 18:34
@Sean This:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/660312/how-can-i-read-a-binary-file-using-vba but it's not exactaly what I need... — , Dec 04 '11 at 18:34
@Diga: You accepted my answer very fast. Make sure you copied the version with the #1/#f fix. — Boann, Dec 04 '11 at 19:00

Boann · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-07T02:46:44.813

Function bin2var(filename As String) As String
    Dim f As Integer
    f = FreeFile()
    Open filename For Binary Access Read Lock Write As #f
        bin2var = Space(FileLen(filename))
        Get #f, , bin2var
    Close #f
End Function

Sub var2bin(filename As String, data As String)
    Dim f As Integer
    f = FreeFile()
    Open filename For Output Access Write Lock Write As #f
        Print #f, data;
    Close #f
End Sub

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 28 '14 at 22:05

Rewriting Boann's code as it writes a new line (2 byte) at the end of the output file.

Function bin2var(filename As String) As String
    Dim f As Integer
    f = FreeFile()
    Open filename For Binary Access Read Lock Write As #f
        bin2var = Space(FileLen(filename))
        Get #f, , bin2var
    Close #f End Function

Sub var2bin(filename As String, data As String)
    Dim f As Integer
    f = FreeFile()
    Open filename For Binary Access Write As #f
        Put #f, , data
    Close #f 
End Sub

VBA - Read 15 MB binary file to var

2 Answers2