Store binary data string into byte array using c#

I have a 开发者_运维问答webservice that returns a binary data as a string. Using C# code how can I store it in byte array? Is this the right way?

System.Text.UTF8Encoding encoding = new System.Text.UTF8Encoding();
byte[] bytes = encoding.GetBytes(inputString);

Actually, this didn't work. Let me explain it more: the web service code converts a string (containing XSLFO data) into byte array using utf8 encoding. In my web service response I only see data something like "PGZvOnJvb3QgeG1sbnM6Zm89Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzE5OTkvWFNML0Zvcm1hdCIgeG1sbnM­6eGY9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cuZWNyaW9uLmNvbS94Zi8xLjAiIHhtbG5zOm1zeHNsPSJ1c==". Actually I would like to have the original string value that was converted into byte[] in the service. Not sure if it possible?

No, that's a bad idea.

Unless the input data was originally text, trying to use Encoding is a bad idea. The web service should be using something like base64 to encode it - at which point you can use Convert.FromBase64String to get the original binary data back.

Basically, treating arbitrary binary data as if it were encoded text is a quick way to lose data. When you need to represent binary data in a string, you should use base64, hex or something similar.

This may mean you need to change the web service as well, of course - if it's creating the string by simply treating the binary data as UTF-8-encoded text, it's broken to start with.

If the string is encoded in UTF8 Encoding, then yes that is the correct way. If it is in Unicode it is very similar:

System.Text.Unicode encoding = new System.Text.Unicode();
byte[] bytes = encoding.GetBytes(inputString);

Base64Encoding is a little different:

byte[] bytes = Convert.FromBase64String(inputString);