Example: Handling binary type attributes using the AWS SDK for .NET low-level API

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Compression;
using Amazon.DynamoDBv2;
using Amazon.DynamoDBv2.Model;
using Amazon.Runtime;

namespace com.amazonaws.codesamples
{
    class LowLevelItemBinaryExample
    {
        private static string tableName = "Reply";
        private static AmazonDynamoDBClient client = new AmazonDynamoDBClient();

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Reply table primary key.
            string replyIdPartitionKey = "Amazon DynamoDB#DynamoDB Thread 1";
            string replyDateTimeSortKey = Convert.ToString(DateTime.UtcNow);

            try
            {
                CreateItem(replyIdPartitionKey, replyDateTimeSortKey);
                RetrieveItem(replyIdPartitionKey, replyDateTimeSortKey);
                // Delete item.
                DeleteItem(replyIdPartitionKey, replyDateTimeSortKey);
                Console.WriteLine("To continue, press Enter");
                Console.ReadLine();
            }
            catch (AmazonDynamoDBException e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); }
            catch (AmazonServiceException e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); }
            catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); }
        }

        private static void CreateItem(string partitionKey, string sortKey)
        {
            MemoryStream compressedMessage = ToGzipMemoryStream("Some long extended message to compress.");
            var request = new PutItemRequest
            {
                TableName = tableName,
                Item = new Dictionary<string, AttributeValue>()
            {
                { "Id", new AttributeValue {
                      S = partitionKey
                  }},
                { "ReplyDateTime", new AttributeValue {
                      S = sortKey
                  }},
                { "Subject", new AttributeValue {
                      S = "Binary type "
                  }},
                { "Message", new AttributeValue {
                      S = "Some message about the binary type"
                  }},
                { "ExtendedMessage", new AttributeValue {
                      B = compressedMessage
                  }}
            }
            };
            client.PutItem(request);
        }

        private static void RetrieveItem(string partitionKey, string sortKey)
        {
            var request = new GetItemRequest
            {
                TableName = tableName,
                Key = new Dictionary<string, AttributeValue>()
            {
                { "Id", new AttributeValue {
                      S = partitionKey
                  } },
                { "ReplyDateTime", new AttributeValue {
                      S = sortKey
                  } }
            },
                ConsistentRead = true
            };
            var response = client.GetItem(request);

            // Check the response.
            var attributeList = response.Item; // attribute list in the response.
            Console.WriteLine("\nPrinting item after retrieving it ............");

            PrintItem(attributeList);
        }

        private static void DeleteItem(string partitionKey, string sortKey)
        {
            var request = new DeleteItemRequest
            {
                TableName = tableName,
                Key = new Dictionary<string, AttributeValue>()
            {
                { "Id", new AttributeValue {
                      S = partitionKey
                  } },
                { "ReplyDateTime", new AttributeValue {
                      S = sortKey
                  } }
            }
            };
            var response = client.DeleteItem(request);
        }

        private static void PrintItem(Dictionary<string, AttributeValue> attributeList)
        {
            foreach (KeyValuePair<string, AttributeValue> kvp in attributeList)
            {
                string attributeName = kvp.Key;
                AttributeValue value = kvp.Value;

                Console.WriteLine(
                    attributeName + " " +
                    (value.S == null ? "" : "S=[" + value.S + "]") +
                    (value.N == null ? "" : "N=[" + value.N + "]") +
                    (value.SS == null ? "" : "SS=[" + string.Join(",", value.SS.ToArray()) + "]") +
                    (value.NS == null ? "" : "NS=[" + string.Join(",", value.NS.ToArray()) + "]") +
                    (value.B == null ? "" : "B=[" + FromGzipMemoryStream(value.B) + "]")
                    );
            }
            Console.WriteLine("************************************************");
        }

        private static MemoryStream ToGzipMemoryStream(string value)
        {
            MemoryStream output = new MemoryStream();
            using (GZipStream zipStream = new GZipStream(output, CompressionMode.Compress, true))
            using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(zipStream))
            {
                writer.Write(value);
            }
            return output;
        }

        private static string FromGzipMemoryStream(MemoryStream stream)
        {
            using (GZipStream zipStream = new GZipStream(stream, CompressionMode.Decompress))
            using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(zipStream))
            {
                return reader.ReadToEnd();
            }
        }
    }
}