storing first byte as string from network stream - vb.net

Question

I need to store the first byte of data read from the network stream as a string, so I can call it back later.
prinf(" While 1
Dim tcpListener As New TcpListener(IPAddress.Any, 80) ' Listen to port given
Console.WriteLine("Waiting for connection...")
tcpListener.Start()
'Accept the pending client connection and return 'a TcpClient initialized for communication.
Dim tcpClient As TcpClient = tcpListener.AcceptTcpClient()
Console.WriteLine("Connection accepted.")
' Get the stream
Dim networkStream As NetworkStream = tcpClient.GetStream()
' Read the stream into a byte array
Dim bytes(tcpClient.ReceiveBufferSize) As Byte
networkStream.Read(bytes, 0, CInt(tcpClient.ReceiveBufferSize))
' Return the data received from the client to the console.
Dim clientdata As String = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytes)
Console.WriteLine(("Client Sent: " + clientdata))
' Return the data received from the client to the console.
Dim responseString As String = "Hello"
'Dim chat_name As String = "Name"
Dim sendBytes As [Byte]() = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(responseString)
networkStream.Write(sendBytes, 0, sendBytes.Length)
Console.WriteLine(("Response: " + responseString))
tcpClient.Close() 'Close TcpListener and TcpClient
tcpListener.Stop()
End While");
Thats my server ^ everything works fine, but I need the 1st piece of data read to be stored, such as if I get "Name" it should be stored in an array
Thanks

Answer 1

You'll need to define exactly what you mean by "1st piece of data" - is this data delimited in some form (like HTTP headers - key/value pairs are delimited by carriage-return line-feed)? Length-prefixed (like HTTP bodies when the Content-Length header is specified)? You almost certainly don't just want the first byte.
If you were hoping to just send the name and then send something else, without any indication of the fact that they're different bits of data, you're going to be disappointed. Streams are just sequences of bytes - there's nothing (built-in) to say "read what the client sent in their first API call".

Answer 2

This should work:
Dim strFirstByte as string = vbNullString
While 1
' ... Your code ...
Dim bytes(tcpClient.ReceiveBufferSize) As Byte
networkStream.Read(bytes, 0, CInt(tcpClient.ReceiveBufferSize))
If strFirstByte = vbNullString Then strFirstByte = bytes(0).ToString("X2")
' ... The rest of your code ...
End While