Structure Format - Writing a mat binary file using C#

I am not using any Matlab APIs. I have been able to create numeric arrays and save them as a Matlab binary file. I can write a simple structure and save it as a Matlab binary file. Where I am getting stuck is trying to figure out how to write a structure with a name that has more than 4 characters. Referring to page 32 in the Mat-File Format document the Array Name section has this in the Examaple Structure Mat File Data Element byte table

 | 1 | miINT8 | X | padding|

I am guessing '1' represents the number of characters in the structure name

For example if my structure name is 'wooot' then I think it would look like this in the byte table

 |0|5|0|1|w|o|o|o|

 |t|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

where 5 is the number of characters

1 is the miInt8 datatype

and the 7 zeros at the end are the padding

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MikeHunts]

Okay got it figured out the format is

 |miInt8|# of characters|

so using 'wooot' it would look like

 |0|0|0|1|0|0|0|5|
 |w|o|o|o|t|0|0|0|

I think the structure name is limited to 4 characters if we are using the compressed format.

[José-Luis]

Why are you reinventing the wheel? It's commendable, mind you, but generally error-prone. It's also probably my favorite sin.

That being said, what's wrong with using APIs? Saves time and they're hopefully better than anything you'd care to kludge.