haiku/docs/user/support/DataIO.dox

/*
 * Copyright 2007, Haiku, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
 *
 * Documentation by: 
 *   Niels Sascha Reedijk <niels.reedijk@gmail.com>
 *   Stefano Ceccherini (burton666@libero.it) 
 * Corresponds to:
 *   /trunk/headers/os/support/DataIO.h  rev 17981
 *   /trunk/src/kits/support/DataIO.cpp  rev 20510
 */

/*!
  \file DataIO.h
  \brief Defines abstract BDataIO and BPositionIO and the derived BMallocIO and BMemoryIO classes.

  Pure virtual BDataIO and BPositioIO classes provide
  the protocol for Read()/Write()/Seek().

  BMallocIO and BMemoryIO classes implement the protocol,
  as does BFile in the Storage Kit.
*/

///// BDataIO /////

/*!
  \class BDataIO
  \ingroup support
  \ingroup libbe
  \brief Abstract interface for objects that provide read and write access to 
    data.

  The interface provided by this class applies to objects or data that are
  limited to reading and writing data. Classes derived from this class should
  reimplement both the Read() and Write() method from this class.

  Candidates of types of data or objects that should be derived from this class
  are probably broadcasting media streams (which don't support reading at a
  certain point in the data) or network streams that output data continously.
  Objects and data that support more advanced operations like seeking or
  reading at writing at defined positions should derive their classes from
  BPositionIO, which inherits this class.
*/

/*!
  \fn BDataIO::BDataIO()
  \brief This constructor does nothing.
*/

/*!
  \fn BDataIO::~BDataIO()
  \brief This destructor does nothing.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual ssize_t BDataIO::Read(void *buffer, size_t size) = 0
  \brief Pure virtual to read data.

  Your implementation should copy data into \c buffer, with the maximum size
  of \c size. 
  \return You should return the amount of bytes actually read, or an error code
    in case of failure.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual ssize_t BDataIO::Write(const void *buffer, size_t size) = 0
  \brief Pure virtual to write data.

  Your implementation should copy data from \c buffer, with the maximum size
  of \c size. 
  \return You should return the amount of bytes actually written, or an error 
    code in case of failure.
*/

//////////// BPositionIO
/*!
  \class BPositionIO
  \ingroup support
  \ingroup libbe
  \brief Abstract interface that provides advanced read, write and seek access
    to data.

  The interface of this object applies to objects or data that allows
  position-aware reading and writing of data. Classes that derive from this
  class should at least reimplement ReadAt(), WriteAt(), Seek(), Position(),
  SetSize() and GetSize() methods.

  A good example of a form of data that can derive from this object, are files.
  The BFile class derives from BPositionIO and provides this interface to 
  files. If your object or data only supports linear reading and writing, 
  consider deriving from the baseclass BDataIO.

  A final note, from BDataIO this class inherits Read() and Write(). The 
  default implementation is to read or write the data at the current position 
  indicated by Position(). Reimplement the methods if you require a different
  behaviour.
*/

/*!
  \fn BPositionIO::BPositionIO()
  \brief This constructor does nothing.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual BPositionIO::~BPositionIO()
  \brief This destructor does nothing.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual ssize_t BPositionIO::Read(void *buffer, size_t size)
  \brief Read data from current position.

  This method is derived from BDataIO. The default implementation reads data 
  from the current position of the cursor, pointed at by Position(). If you
  require different behaviour, please look at BDataIO::Read() for what is 
  expected of this method.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual ssize_t BPositionIO::Write(const void *buffer, size_t size)
  \brief Write data to the current position.

  This method is derived from BDataIO. The default implementation writes data
  to the current position of the cursor, pointed at by Position(). If you
  require different behaviour, please look at BDataIO::Write() for what is
  expected of this method.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual ssize_t BPositionIO::ReadAt(off_t position, void *buffer, size_t size) = 0
  \brief Pure virtual to read data from a certain position.

  Your implementation should copy data from the position indicated by 
  \a position into the \a buffer with the maximum size of \a size.

  \return The amount of bytes actually read, or an error code.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual ssize_t BPositionIO::WriteAt(off_t position, const void *buffer, size_t size) = 0
  \brief Pure virtual to write data to a certain position.

  Your implementation should copy data from \a buffer to the position indicated
  by \a buffer with the maximum size of \a size.

  \return The amount of bytes actually written, or an error code.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual off_t BPositionIO::Seek(off_t position, uint32 seekMode) = 0
  \brief Pure virtual to move the cursor to a certain position.

  Your implementation should move the position of the cursor to the provided
  point. What this actually means, depends on your object or data. 

  \param position An integer that defines a position.
  \param seekMode You will get one of the following values:
    - \c SEEK_SET Set the cursor to the position indicated by \c position.
    - \c SEEK_END Set the cursor to the end of the buffer, and go
      \c position beyond that.
    - \c SEEK_CUR Set the cursor the the current position plus \c position.
  \return The new position.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual off_t BPositionIO::Position() const = 0
  \brief Pure virtual to return the current position of the cursor.

  \return Your implementation should return the current position of the cursor.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual status_t BPositionIO::SetSize(off_t size)
  \brief Set the size of the object or data.

  The default implementation returns \c B_ERROR. If your object or data allows
  the size to be changed, reimplement this method.

  \return Return \c B_OK if everything succeeded, else return the appropriate
    error code.
*/

/*!
  \fn virtual status_t BPositionIO::GetSize(off_t* size) const
  \brief Get the size of the object or data.

  The default implementation uses Seek() with the \c SEEK_END flag to
  determine the size of the buffer. If your data or object has a different way
  of determining size, reimplement this method.

  Please check that NULL is not passed into \c size if you reimplement it in
  your class.

  \param[out] size The size of the object is put into this parameter.
  \return This method returns \c B_OK on success or an error code on error.
  \see Seek()
*/

//////////// BMemoryIO
/*!
  \class BMemoryIO
  \ingroup support
  \ingroup libbe
  \brief A BPositionIO derived class that works on memory buffers.

  This class is used if you require access that confirms to the BPositionIO
  interface on memory buffers that you created. If you would like to use that
  interface on new buffers, have a look at BMallocIO.

  This class is particularly useful if you would like to use a class or method
  that are written to make use of the BPositionIO interface. It might also
  be used for 'secure' reading and writing from buffers, since this class
  automatically checks the bounds of anything you might want to do.

  This class reimplements the Read(), Write(), ReadAt(), Writeat(), Seek() and
  Position() interface from BPositionIO.
*/

/*!
  \fn BMemoryIO::BMemoryIO(void *data, size_t length)
  \brief Create a read/write object.

  \param data A pointer to the buffer to adopt.
  \param length The size of the buffer.
  \see BMemoryIO(const void *buffer, size_t length) for a read-only 
    implementation.
*/

/*!
  \fn BMemoryIO::BMemoryIO(const void *buffer, size_t length)
  \brief Create a read-only object.

  \param buffer A pointer to the \c const (read-only) buffer to adopt.
  \param length The size of the buffer.
  \see BMemoryIO(void *buffer, size_t length) for a read-write implementation.
*/

/*!
  \fn BMemoryIO::~BMemoryIO()
  \brief The destructor does nothing.
*/

/*!
  \fn ssize_t BMemoryIO::ReadAt(off_t pos, void *buffer, size_t size)
  \brief Read from a given position.

  \param[in] pos The offset where to start reading data.
  \param[out] buffer The buffer to copy the read bytes into.
  \param[in] size The size of the \a buffer.
  \return The amount of read bytes or an error code.
  \retval B_BAD_VALUE The position is less than zero or the buffer given on
    construction is invalid.
*/

/*!
  \fn ssize_t BMemoryIO::WriteAt(off_t pos, const void *buffer, size_t size)
  \brief Write at a given position.

  \param pos The offset to write to.
  \param buffer The buffer to copy the bytes from.
  \param size The number of bytes to write.
  \return The amount of bytes written or an error code.
  \retval B_NOT_ALLOWED The object is constructed as a read-only object.
  \retval B_BAD_VALUE The position is less than zero or the buffer given on
    construction is invalid.
*/

/*!
  \fn off_t BMemoryIO::Seek(off_t position, uint32 seek_mode)
  \brief Move the cursor to a given position.

  \param position The position to move the cursor to.
  \param seek_mode The mode determines where the cursor is placed. 
    Possibilities:
    - \c SEEK_SET The cursor is set to \a position.
    - \c SEEK_CUR The \a position is added to the current position of the 
      cursor.
    - \c SEEK_END The cursor is put at the end of the data, plus
      \a position added to it. 
  \return The new position.
*/

/*!
  \fn off_t BMemoryIO::Position() const
  \brief Return the current position.
*/

/*!
  \fn status_t BMemoryIO::SetSize(off_t size)
  \brief Resize the buffer.

  This method does not actually resize the buffer. If the new size is greater
  than the size of the buffer, resizing will fail. It will only succeed if the 
  new size is less than the size of the buffer. The buffer itself will not be
  resized though. 

  This method might be useful in some cases. If the buffer is larger than the
  data it holds, changing the size will enable you to use the Seek() method
  with the flag \c SEEK_END and not get an error if you read or write from
  that position, since you actually have a buffer at the end.

  \retval B_OK The buffer is resized.
  \retval B_NOT_ALLOWED The buffer is read-only.
  \retval B_ERROR The \c size is larger than the size of the buffer.
*/

//////////// BMallocIO
/*!
  \class BMallocIO
  \ingroup support
  \ingroup libbe
  \brief A BPositionIO derived class that creates a memory buffer.

  This class creates a memory buffer and provides a BPositionIO interface to
  work on it. The memory buffer grows and shrinks automatically.
  This is especially useful if you want to use a method or function that
  works on an object derived from BPositionIO and you want to do something with
  the resulting data, or it could be useful if you want to read and write to
  memory in a safe way, since this class has boundary checking.

  BMallocIO allocates a buffer based on a certain blocksize. This provides a
  mechanism that will prevent it from needing to allocate new memory too often.
  The default blocksize is 256 bytes, you can change it with SetBlockSize(). If
  you are sure you are going to use a bigger buffer, change the blocksize so 
  that you won't have to allocate more memory too often, especially if you use
  this class in performance-critical code.

  If you require a BPositionIO derived object that works on buffers you
  provide, have a look at BMemoryIO.
*/

/*!
  \fn BMallocIO::BMallocIO()
  \brief Create a new memory buffer with block size 256.
  \see SetBlockSize()
*/

/*!
  \fn BMallocIO::~BMallocIO()
  \brief Destroy the object and free the internal buffer.
*/

/*!
  \fn ssize_t BMallocIO::ReadAt(off_t pos, void *buffer, size_t size)
  \brief Read data at a certain position.

  \param[in] pos Offset into the data where to read from.
  \param[out] buffer The buffer to copy the read bytes in.
  \param [in] size Size of the buffer.
  \return The number of read bytes, or \c B_BAD_VALUE if
    the provided \a buffer is invalid.
*/

/*!
  \fn ssize_t BMallocIO::WriteAt(off_t pos, const void *buffer, size_t size)
  \brief Write data to a certain position.

  \param pos Offset into the data where to write to.
  \param buffer The buffer to copy from.
  \param size The size of the buffer.
  \return The number of bytes written or \c B_BAD_VALUE if the provided.
  \a buffer is invalid.
*/

/*!
  \fn off_t BMallocIO::Seek(off_t position, uint32 seekMode)
  \brief Move the cursor to a given position.

  \param position The position to move the cursor to.
  \param seekMode The mode determines where the cursor is placed. Possibilities:
    - \c SEEK_SET The cursor is set to \a position.
    - \c SEEK_CUR The \c position is added to the current position of the
      cursor.
    - \c SEEK_END The cursor is put at the end of the data, plus
      \a position added to it. 
  \return The new position.
*/

/*!
  \fn off_t BMallocIO::Position() const
  \brief Return the position of the cursor.
*/

/*!
  \fn status_t BMallocIO::SetSize(off_t size)
  \brief Change the size of the buffer.

  This method changes the size of the current buffer. If \a size is smaller 
  than the current size, the data will be cleared.

  \param size The new size of the buffer.
  \retval B_OK Resizing the data succeeded.
  \retval B_NO_MEMORY Failed to allocate the necessary memory.
*/

/*!
  \fn void BMallocIO::SetBlockSize(size_t blockSize)
  \brief Change the block size to a certain value.

  This class allocates memory in blocks. If you are in performance-critical 
  code you might want to tweak this setting to create a better performance in
  case you know you are going to allocate more than the default blocksize of
  256.

  \param blockSize The new block size.
*/

/*!
  \fn const void *BMallocIO::Buffer() const
  \brief Return a pointer to the internal buffer.

  As with any pointer to internal buffers the Haiku API exposes,
  make sure you don't change anything since it doesn't belong to you.
*/

/*!
  \fn size_t BMallocIO::BufferLength() const
  \brief Return the number of bytes in the buffer.

  This number doesn't have to be the same size as the buffer is. Because memory
  is allocated in blocks the actual size of the buffer may be greater, but this
  method only returns the number of bytes that are actually used.
*/