diff --git a/examples/echo/echo-introspect.xml b/examples/echo/echo-introspect.xml
index be04755..7d415ab 100644
--- a/examples/echo/echo-introspect.xml
+++ b/examples/echo/echo-introspect.xml
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@
       <arg type="v" name="input" direction="in"/>
       <arg type="v" name="output" direction="out"/>
     </method>
+    <method name="Cat">
+      <arg type="s" name="file" direction="in"/>
+      <arg type="ay" name="stream" direction="out"/>
+    </method>
     <method name="Sum">
       <arg type="ai" name="ints" direction="in"/>
       <arg type="i" names="sum" direction="out"/>
diff --git a/examples/echo/echo-server.cpp b/examples/echo/echo-server.cpp
index d0716d7..251e1a2 100644
--- a/examples/echo/echo-server.cpp
+++ b/examples/echo/echo-server.cpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <signal.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
 
 static const char* ECHO_SERVER_NAME = "org.freedesktop.DBus.Examples.Echo";
 static const char* ECHO_SERVER_PATH = "/org/freedesktop/DBus/Examples/Echo";
@@ -28,6 +29,21 @@ DBus::Variant EchoServer::Echo( const DBus::Variant& value )
 	return value;
 }
 
+std::vector< DBus::Byte > EchoServer::Cat( const DBus::String & file )
+{
+	FILE* handle = fopen(file.c_str(), "rb");
+
+	if(!handle) throw DBus::Error("org.freedesktop.DBus.EchoDemo.ErrorFileNotFound", "file not found");
+
+	DBus::Byte buff[1024];
+
+	size_t nread = fread(buff, 1, sizeof(buff), handle);
+
+	fclose(handle);
+
+	return std::vector< DBus::Byte > (buff, buff + nread);
+}
+
 DBus::Int32 EchoServer::Sum( const std::vector<DBus::Int32>& ints )
 {
 	DBus::Int32 sum = 0;
diff --git a/examples/echo/echo-server.h b/examples/echo/echo-server.h
index 5d3de8c..d1007ac 100644
--- a/examples/echo/echo-server.h
+++ b/examples/echo/echo-server.h
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ public:
 
 	DBus::Variant Echo( const DBus::Variant & value );
 
+	std::vector< DBus::Byte > Cat( const DBus::String & file );
+
 	DBus::Int32 Sum( const std::vector<DBus::Int32> & ints );
 
 	std::map< DBus::String, DBus::String > Info();
diff --git a/include/dbus-c++/types.h b/include/dbus-c++/types.h
index 5bc2b54..a180c9f 100644
--- a/include/dbus-c++/types.h
+++ b/include/dbus-c++/types.h
@@ -288,7 +288,9 @@ inline DBus::MessageIter& operator << ( DBus::MessageIter& iter, const std::vect
 template<>
 inline DBus::MessageIter& operator << ( DBus::MessageIter& iter, const std::vector<DBus::Byte>& val )
 {
-	iter.append_array('y', &val.front(), val.size());
+	DBus::MessageIter ait = iter.new_array("y");
+	ait.append_array('y', &val.front(), val.size());
+	iter.close_container(ait);
 	return iter;
 }
 
@@ -447,9 +449,12 @@ inline DBus::MessageIter& operator >> ( DBus::MessageIter& iter, std::vector<DBu
 	if(iter.array_type() != 'y')
 		throw DBus::ErrorInvalidArgs("byte-array expected");
 
-	val.reserve(iter.array_length());
+	DBus::MessageIter ait = iter.recurse();
 
-	iter.get_array(const_cast<DBus::Byte*>(&val.front()));
+	DBus::Byte* array;
+	size_t length = ait.get_array(&array);
+
+	val.insert(val.end(), array, array+length);
 
 	return ++iter;
 }
diff --git a/src/message.cpp b/src/message.cpp
index 100aa91..ef3823f 100644
--- a/src/message.cpp
+++ b/src/message.cpp
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ char* MessageIter::signature() const
 
 bool MessageIter::append_array( char type, const void* ptr, size_t length )
 {
-	return dbus_message_iter_append_fixed_array((DBusMessageIter*)&_iter, type, ptr, length);
+	return dbus_message_iter_append_fixed_array((DBusMessageIter*)&_iter, type, &ptr, length);
 }
 
 int MessageIter::array_type()