Class: Writer

Description:
This class wraps around an ostream and provides a machine-independant framework for writing various binary encoded data types. Sub-classes may be optimized for individual platforms.

Data Fields
private	ostream*	out

Constructors / Destructor
public	Writer(ostream& out) Constructor from ostream passed by reference.
public	Writer(ostream* out) Constructor from ostream passed as a pointer .
public	~Writer() Destructor. This method flushes the ostream, but does not close or delete it.

Methods
public	virtual	ostream*	getStream() Return a pointer to the underlying ostream.
public	virtual	void	writeByte(unsigned char value) Write a single byte . Throws: Exception
public	virtual	void	writeBytes(unsigned char* buffer, int n) Write a given number of bytes . Throws: Exception
public	virtual	void	writeInt(int value, int bytes) Write an twos complement, big-endian integer a given number of bytes in length . Throws: Exception
public	virtual	void	writeUnsignedInt(unsigned int value, int bytes) Write an unsigned big-endian integer a given number of bytes in length . Throws: Exception
public	virtual	void	writeUnsignedBits(unsigned int value, int n) Write a given unsigned integer represented by a given number of bits. Throws: Exception
public	virtual	void	writeSignedBits(int value, int n) Write a given twos compliment signed integer represented by a given number of bits . Throws: Exception
public	virtual	void	writeFloat(float value) Write a 4 byte IEEE format floating point number. Throws: Exception
public	virtual	void	writeDouble(double value) Write a 8 byte IEEE format floating point number. Throws: Exception
public	static	void	checkMachine() Test whether the machine running this code stores variables in a way consistent with the assumptions made when writing this class. This particular makes no assumptions so this method does nothing. Throws: HardwareException
public	virtual	void	writeTestPattern() Write a fixed set of values. These can then be read back with the readTestPattern method to check a reader and writer for self-consistency. Throws: Exception

Operators