Performance: use Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes instead of StringToByteArray, 3X faster

Author: alex-jitbit

AspNetSaml.Tests/UnitTests.cs

@@ -94,5 +94,30 @@ public void TestSamlRequest()
             Assert.IsTrue(str.EndsWith(@"ProtocolBinding=""urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-POST"" AssertionConsumerServiceURL=""http://www.myapp.com/SamlConsume"" xmlns:samlp=""urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol""><saml:Issuer xmlns:saml=""urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion"">http://www.myapp.com</saml:Issuer><samlp:NameIDPolicy Format=""urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:unspecified"" AllowCreate=""true"" /></samlp:AuthnRequest>"));
 
 		}
-    }
+
+        [TestMethod]
+        public void TestStringToByteArray()
+        {
+            //test that the old StringToByteArray was generating same result as the new Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes
+
+            var cert = @"-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
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
+-----END CERTIFICATE-----";
+
+
+			var x = StringToByteArray(cert);
+            var y = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(cert);
+            Assert.IsTrue(x.SequenceEqual(y));
+		}
+
+		private static byte[] StringToByteArray(string st)
+		{
+			byte[] bytes = new byte[st.Length];
+			for (int i = 0; i < st.Length; i++)
+			{
+				bytes[i] = (byte)st[i];
+			}
+			return bytes;
+		}
+	}
 }

AspNetSaml/Saml.cs

@@ -16,31 +16,21 @@ namespace Saml
 {
 	public class Response
 	{
-		private static byte[] StringToByteArray(string st)
-		{
-			byte[] bytes = new byte[st.Length];
-			for (int i = 0; i < st.Length; i++)
-			{
-				bytes[i] = (byte)st[i];
-			}
-			return bytes;
-		}
-
 		protected XmlDocument _xmlDoc;
 		protected readonly X509Certificate2 _certificate;
 		protected XmlNamespaceManager _xmlNameSpaceManager; //we need this one to run our XPath queries on the SAML XML
 
 		public string Xml { get { return _xmlDoc.OuterXml; } }
 
 		public Response(string certificateStr, string responseString)
-			: this(StringToByteArray(certificateStr), responseString) { }
+			: this(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(certificateStr), responseString) { }
 
 		public Response(byte[] certificateBytes, string responseString) : this(certificateBytes)
 		{
 			LoadXmlFromBase64(responseString);
 		}
 
-		public Response(string certificateStr) : this(StringToByteArray(certificateStr)) { }
+		public Response(string certificateStr) : this(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(certificateStr)) { }
 
 		public Response(byte[] certificateBytes)
 		{