Read a file into bytes

This internal helper materializes a file on disk as a Byte() array so the file-path overload of SendMailWithAttachment can pass it to the SOAP proxy. It guarantees the underlying file handle is released whether or not the read succeeds, but it does so at the cost of resetting the stack trace of any exception it re-throws.

Field	Value
Operation ID	MAIL-OP-005
Trigger	Attachment-sending code calls GetFileAsBytes(inPath).
Inputs	inPath.
Outputs	A Byte() payload, or a propagated exception.
Primary components	Mail.GetFileAsBytes, System.IO.FileStream
Entry point	SAIF.Framework.Mail\MailServices.vb

Steps

1. Initialize the local FS variable to Nothing before entering the Try...Catch...Finally block, so Finally has a defined reference to inspect even if opening the file fails.
2. Inside Try, open the file with New IO.FileStream(inPath, FileMode.Open).
3. Allocate Dim FileBytes(CInt(FS.Length)) As Byte and read FS.Length bytes from the stream into that array.
4. Return the populated array to the caller.
5. If any exception occurs while the file is open or being read, re-throw it with Throw ex (BR-004).
6. In Finally, call FS.Close() to release the file handle regardless of whether step 3 succeeded or step 5 raised an exception (BR-004).

Process flow

The following diagram visualizes this operation's control flow.

flowchart TD
    Start([GetFileAsBytes call]) --> Open[Open FileStream]
    Open --> Read[Allocate byte array and read file]
    Read --> ReturnBytes[Return byte array]
    Open -->|Exception| ThrowErr[Re-throw exception]
    Read --> Finally[Close FileStream in Finally]
    ThrowErr --> Finally
    Finally --> End([Caller continues or receives exception])

Failure and edge-case behavior

• Re-throwing with Throw ex rather than a bare Throw resets the exception's stack trace, so the caller sees where the re-throw happened rather than where the original error occurred.*
• FS.Close() runs unconditionally in Finally; if the FileStream constructor itself fails before FS is assigned a usable instance, this cleanup step can raise a NullReferenceException that masks the original error.*
• Because VB array declarations specify an inclusive upper bound, Dim FileBytes(CInt(FS.Length)) As Byte allocates one more element than the file's byte count, leaving a trailing zero byte in the returned array.

Note: Statements marked with * were inferred from code structure, naming conventions, or contextual evidence where direct confirmation was not available in source artifacts. Statements marked with ** could not be confirmed; treat as unknown until verified.

Related documentation

• Operations and processes
• Overview
• Architecture
• Dependencies
• Business rules
• Configuration
• API reference

Sources

• SAIF.Framework.Mail\MailServices.vb