c# - string to byte[] conversion using XmlWriter and XmlReader -

i have 2 methods xmlwriter , xmlreader.
have byte[] called thumbprint. in writer convert byte[] string , write xml file. works. need figure out how read in string , convert byte[].
here code far:

public void writexml(xmlwriter writer)         {              writer.writestartelement("agent");                          writer.writestartelement("thumbprint");             var encoding = new unicodeencoding();                 if (thumbprint != null)             {                 string base64 = system.convert.tobase64string(encoding.getbytes(thumbprint.tostring()));                 writer.writecdata(base64);             }             else             {                  writer.writeendelement();             }         }  public void readxml(xmlreader reader)         {             if (reader.isstartelement("agent"))             {                     //                 // read past <agent>                 //                 reader.read();                  while (true)                 {                     if (reader.isstartelement("thumbprint"))                     {                          byte[] todecodebyte = system.convert.frombase64string(thumbprint.tostring());                          thumbprint = todecodebyte;                        }                     else                     {                         //                         // read </agent>                         //                         reader.movetocontent();                         reader.readendelement();                         break;                     }                 }             }             else             {                 throw new xmlexception("expected <agent> element not present");             }         } 

xml input:

<thumbprint>     <![cdata[uwb5ahmadablag0algbcahkadablafsaxqa=]]> </thumbprint> 

a general solution convert byte array string when don't know encoding:

static string bytestostringconverted(byte[] bytes) {     using (var stream = new memorystream(bytes))     {         using (var streamreader = new streamreader(stream))         {             return streamreader.readtoend();         }     } }