TChilkatStream Delphi ActiveX Reference Documentation
TChilkatStream
Current Version: 10.0.0
Provides a generic class for streaming from a source to a sink. Streams can be connected together where the sink of one feeds to the source of another.
Note: This class was added in Chilkat v9.5.0.56. Initially it will seem somewhat useless, but over time, streaming functionality will be added to existing Chilkat classes and will be prevalent in new Chilkat classes.
Importing the Chilkat ActiveX into Delphi
Important: When upgrading to a new version of Chilkat, make sure to re-imported ActiveX DLL into Delphi to regenerate the files described below.
Chilkat v9.5.*: If using Chilkat v9.5.*, then use "Chilkat_v9_5_0_TLB" instead of "Chilkat_TLB", and the DLLs are named ChilkatAx-9.5.0-win32.dll (or ChilkatAx-9.5.0-x64.dll).
Two things are required to use an ActiveX in Delphi:
- The ActiveX DLL needs to be registered via regsvr32 on the system where the Delphi application runs. See How To Register ActiveX DLLs for detailed information.
- See also: ActiveX Registration Tutorial
- The ActiveX component needs to be "imported". Use the Delphi Import Component Wizard to import the Chilkat type library. This creates the following files: Chilkat_TLB.pas and Chilkat_TLB.dcr. The Chilkat_TLB.pas should be added to your project.
To import the Chilkat type library, do the following:
- In the Delphi RAD Studio, select the menu item "Component" --> "Import a Type Library".
- Find "Chilkat ActiveX" in the list and select it. This will only appear in the list if the ChilkatAx-win32.dll (or ChilkatAx-x64.dll) has been registered w/ regsvr32.
- Check the "Generate Component Wrappers" checkbox.
- Select a directory where the unit files (.pas and .dcr) should be generated.
- Select "Create Unit" and then "Finish".
- Add the .pas to your Delphi project.
To use a Chilkat ActiveX object in your Delphi code, add "Chilkat_TLB" to the "uses" statement. For example:
uses Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics, Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, Vcl.StdCtrls, Chilkat_TLB;
Object Creation
var obj: TChilkatStream; ... begin obj := TChilkatStream.Create(Self); ... // When finished, free the object instance. obj.Free();
Properties
AbortCurrent
When set to 1, causes the currently running method to abort. Methods that always finish quickly (i.e.have no length file operations or network communications) are not affected. If no method is running, then this property is automatically reset to 0 when the next method is called. When the abort occurs, this property is reset to 0. Both synchronous and asynchronous method calls can be aborted. (A synchronous method call could be aborted by setting this property from a separate thread.)
topCanRead
1 if the stream supports reading. Otherwise 0.
Note: A stream that supports reading, which has already reached the end-of-stream, will still have a CanRead value of 1. This property indicates the stream's inherent ability, and not whether or not the stream can be read at a particular moment in time.
topCanWrite
1 if the stream supports writing. Otherwise 0.
Note: A stream that supports writing, which has already been closed for write, will still have a CanWrite value of 1. This property indicates the stream's inherent ability, and not whether or not the stream can be written at a particular moment in time.
topDataAvailable
1 if it is known for sure that data is ready and waiting to be read. 0 if it is not known for sure (it may be that data is immediately available, but reading the stream with a ReadTimeoutMs of 0, which is to poll the stream, is the way to find out).
topDebugLogFilePath
If set to a file path, causes each Chilkat method or property call to automatically append it's LastErrorText to the specified log file. The information is appended such that if a hang or crash occurs, it is possible to see the context in which the problem occurred, as well as a history of all Chilkat calls up to the point of the problem. The VerboseLogging property can be set to provide more detailed information.
This property is typically used for debugging the rare cases where a Chilkat method call hangs or generates an exception that halts program execution (i.e. crashes). A hang or crash should generally never happen. The typical causes of a hang are:
- a timeout related property was set to 0 to explicitly indicate that an infinite timeout is desired,
- the hang is actually a hang within an event callback (i.e. it is a hang within the application code), or
- there is an internal problem (bug) in the Chilkat code that causes the hang.
DefaultChunkSize
The default internal chunk size for reading or writing. The default value is 65536. If this property is set to 0, it will cause the default chunk size (65536) to be used. Note: The chunk size can have significant performance impact. If performance is an issue, be sure to experiment with different chunk sizes.
topEndOfStream
1 if the end-of-stream has already been reached. When the stream has already ended, all calls to Read* methods will return 0 with the ReadFailReason set to 3 (already at end-of-stream).
topHeartbeatMs
The time interval, in milliseconds, between AbortCheck event callbacks. The heartbeat provides a means for an application to monitor a method call that has event callbacks, and to abort it while in progress.
topIsWriteClosed
1 if the stream is closed for writing. Once closed, no more data may be written to the stream.
topLastBinaryResult
The binary data returned by the last (binary data returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepBinaryResult is set to 1. This provides a means for obtaining large varbinary results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting large amounts of data returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for binary properties).
topLastErrorHtml
Provides information in HTML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.
topLastErrorText
Provides information in plain-text format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.
LastErrorXml
Provides information in XML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.
topLastMethodSuccess
Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of 1 indicates success, a value of 0 indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:
- Any method that returns a string.
- Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
- Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = 1 and failure = 0.
- Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.
Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to 1. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.
topLastStringResult
The string return value of the last (string returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepStringResult is set to 1. This provides a means for obtaining large string results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting long strings returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for string properties).
LastStringResultLen
The length, in characters, of the string contained in the LastStringResult property.
topLength
The length (in bytes) of the stream's source. If unknown, then this property will have a value of -1. This property may be set by the application if it knows in advance the length of the stream.
topLength32
The length (in bytes) of the stream's source. If unknown, then this property will have a value of -1. This property may be set by the application if it knows in advance the length of the stream.
Setting this property also sets the Length property (which is a 64-bit integer).
topNumReceived
The number of bytes received by the stream.
topNumSent
The number of bytes sent by the stream.
topReadFailReason
This property is automatically set when a Read* method is called. It indicates the reason for failure. Possible values are:
- No failure (success)
- Timeout, or no data is immediately available for a polling read.
- Aborted by an application callback.
- Already at end-of-stream.
- Fatal stream error.
- Out-of-memory error (this is very unlikely).
ReadTimeoutMs
The maximum number of seconds to wait while reading. The default value is 30 seconds (i.e. 30000ms). A value of 0 indicates a poll. (A polling read is to return with a timeout if no data is immediately available.)
Important: For most Chilkat timeout related properties, a value of 0 indicates an infinite timeout. For this property, a value of 0 indicates a poll. If setting a timeout related property (or method argument) to zero, be sure to understand if 0 means "wait forever" or "poll".
The timeout value is not a total timeout. It is the maximum time to wait while no additional data is forthcoming.
topSinkFile
Sets the sink to the path of a file. The file does not need to exist at the time of setting this property. The sink file will be automatically opened on demand, when the stream is first written.
Note: This property takes priority over other potential sinks. Make sure this property is set to an empty string if the stream's sink is to be something else.
SinkFileAppend
If 1, the stream appends to the SinkFile rather than truncating and re-writing the sink file. The default value is 0.
topSourceFile
Sets the source to the path of a file. The file does not need to exist at the time of setting this property. The source file will be automatically opened on demand, when the stream is first read.
Note: This property takes priority over other potential sources. Make sure this property is set to an empty string if the stream's source is to be something else.
SourceFilePart
If the source is a file, then this property can be used to stream one part of the file. The SourceFilePartSize property defines the size (in bytes) of each part. The SourceFilePart and SourceFilePartSize have default values of 0, which means the entire SourceFile is streamed.
This property is a 0-based index. For example, if the SourceFilePartSize is 1000, then part 0 is for bytes 0 to 999, part 1 is for bytes 1000 to 1999, etc.
SourceFilePartSize
If the source is a file, then this property, in conjunction with the SourceFilePart property, can be used to stream a single part of the file. This property defines the size (in bytes) of each part. The SourceFilePart and SourceFilePartSize have default values of 0, which means that by default, the entire SourceFile is streamed.
StringBom
If 1, then include the BOM when creating a string source via SetSourceString where the charset is utf-8, utf-16, etc. (The term "BOM" stands for Byte Order Mark, also known as the preamble.) Also, if 1, then include the BOM when writing a string via the WriteString method. The default value of this property is 0.
topStringCharset
Indicates the expected character encoding, such as utf-8, windows-1256, utf-16, etc. for methods that read text such as: ReadString, ReadToCRLF, ReadUntilMatch. Also controls the character encoding when writing strings with the WriteString method. The supported charsets are indicated at the link below.
The default value is "utf-8".
VerboseLogging
If set to 1, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is 0. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.
topVersion
WriteFailReason
This property is automatically set when a Write* method is called. It indicates the reason for failure. Possible values are:
- No failure (success)
- Timeout, or unable to immediately write when the WriteTimeoutMs is 0.
- Aborted by an application callback.
- The stream has already ended.
- Fatal stream error.
- Out-of-memory error (this is very unlikely).
WriteTimeoutMs
The maximum number of seconds to wait while writing. The default value is 30 seconds (i.e. 30000ms). A value of 0 indicates to return immediately if it is not possible to write to the sink immediately.
topMethods
LoadTaskCaller
ReadBd
Read as much data as is immediately available on the stream. If no data is immediately available, it waits up to ReadTimeoutMs milliseconds for data to arrive. The incoming data is appended to binData.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
ReadBdAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ReadBd method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
ReadBytes
Read as much data as is immediately available on the stream. If no data is immediately available, it waits up to ReadTimeoutMs milliseconds for data to arrive.
Returns a zero-length byte array (as an OleVariant) on failure.
An empty array will have a VarArrayHighBound of -1 meaning 0 elements.
ReadBytesAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ReadBytes method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topReadBytesENC
The same as ReadBytes, except returns the received bytes in encoded string form. The encoding argument indicates the encoding, which can be "base64", "hex", or any of the multitude of encodings indicated in the link below.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
ReadBytesENCAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ReadBytesENC method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topReadNBytes
Reads exactly numBytes bytes from the stream. If no data is immediately available, it waits up to ReadTimeoutMs milliseconds for data to arrive.
Returns a zero-length byte array (as an OleVariant) on failure.
An empty array will have a VarArrayHighBound of -1 meaning 0 elements.
ReadNBytesAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ReadNBytes method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topReadNBytesENC
The same as ReadNBytes, except returns the received bytes in encoded string form. The encoding argument indicates the encoding, which can be "base64", "hex", or any of the multitude of encodings indicated in the link below.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
ReadNBytesENCAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ReadNBytesENC method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topReadSb
Read as much data as is immediately available on the stream. If no data is immediately available, it waits up to ReadTimeoutMs milliseconds for data to arrive. The data is appended to sb. The incoming bytes are interpreted according to the StringCharset property. For example, if utf-8 bytes are expected, then StringCharset should be set to "utf-8" prior to calling ReadSb.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topReadSbAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ReadSb method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
ReadString
Read as much data as is immediately available on the stream. If no data is immediately available, it waits up to ReadTimeoutMs milliseconds for data to arrive. The data is returned as a string. The incoming bytes are interpreted according to the StringCharset property. For example, if utf-8 bytes are expected, then StringCharset should be set to "utf-8" prior to calling ReadString.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
topReadStringAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ReadString method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topReadToCRLF
Reads the stream until a CRLF is received. If no data is immediately available, it waits up to ReadTimeoutMs milliseconds for data to arrive. The data is returned as a string. The incoming bytes are interpreted according to the StringCharset property. For example, if utf-8 bytes are expected, then StringCharset should be set to "utf-8" prior to calling ReadString.
Note: If the end-of-stream is reached prior to receiving the CRLF, then the remaining data is returned, and the ReadFailReason property will be set to 3 (to indicate end-of-file). This is the only case where as string would be returned that does not end with CRLF.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
topReadToCRLFAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ReadToCRLF method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topReadUntilMatch
Reads the stream until the string indicated by matchStr is received. If no data is immediately available, it waits up to ReadTimeoutMs milliseconds for data to arrive. The data is returned as a string. The incoming bytes are interpreted according to the StringCharset property. For example, if utf-8 bytes are expected, then StringCharset should be set to "utf-8" prior to calling ReadString.
Note: If the end-of-stream is reached prior to receiving the match string, then the remaining data is returned, and the ReadFailReason property will be set to 3 (to indicate end-of-file). This is the only case where as string would be returned that does not end with the desired match string.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
ReadUntilMatchAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the ReadUntilMatch method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topReset
Resets the stream. If a source or sink is open, then it is closed. Properties such as EndOfStream and IsWriteClose are reset to default values.
topSetSourceBytes
SetSourceString
Sets the stream's source to the contents of srcStr. The charset indicates the character encoding to be used for the byte representation of the srcStr.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topToDecimalStr
Some programming languages do not support 64-bit integers. The following properties are implemented as 64-bit ints: Length, NumReceived, NumSent. The value of these properties can be retrieved in decimal string form by passing the property name in propertyName.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
topWriteBd
WriteBdAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteBd method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topWriteByte
Writes a single byte to the stream. The byteVal must have a value from 0 to 255.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topWriteByteAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteByte method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topWriteBytes
WriteBytesAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteBytes method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topWriteBytesENC
Writes binary bytes to a stream. The byte data is passed in encoded string form, where the encoding can be "base64", "hex", or any of the supported binary encodings listed at the link below.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
WriteBytesENCAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteBytesENC method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topWriteClose
WriteSb
Writes the contents of sb to the stream. The actual bytes written are the byte representation of the string as indicated by the StringCharset property. For example, to write utf-8 bytes, first set StringCharset equal to "utf-8" and then call WriteSb.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topWriteSbAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteSb method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topWriteString
Writes a string to a stream. The actual bytes written are the byte representation of the string as indicated by the StringCharset property. For example, to write utf-8 bytes, first set StringCharset equal to "utf-8" and then call WriteString.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topWriteStringAsync (1)
Creates an asynchronous task to call the WriteString method with the arguments provided. (Async methods are available starting in Chilkat v9.5.0.52.)
Note: Async method event callbacks happen in the background thread. Accessing and updating UI elements existing in the main thread may require special considerations.
Returns nil on failure
topEvents
AbortCheck
Provides the opportunity for a method call to be aborted. The AbortCheck event is fired periodically based on the value of the HeartbeatMs property. If HeartbeatMs is 0, then no AbortCheck events will fire. As an example, to fire 5 AbortCheck events per second, set the HeartbeatMs property equal to 200.
Delphi ActiveX Event callback implementation:
procedure TForm1.streamAbortCheck(ASender: TObject; out abort: Integer); begin // Application code goes here... end; procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); var stream: TChilkatStream; begin stream := TChilkatStream.Create(Self); stream.OnAbortCheck := streamAbortCheck; // ...
PercentDone
Provides the percentage completed for any method that involves network communications or time-consuming processing (assuming it is a method where a percentage completion can be measured). This event is only fired when it is possible to know a percentage completion, and when it makes sense to express the operation as a percentage completed. The pctDone argument will have a value from 1 to 100. For operations (Chilkat method calls) that complete very quickly, the number of PercentDone callbacks will vary, but the final callback should have a value of 100. For long running operations, no more than one callback per percentage point will occur (for example: 1, 2, 3, ... 98, 99, 100).
The PercentDone callback counts as an AbortCheck event. For method calls that complete quickly such that PercentDone events fire, it may be that AbortCheck events don't fire because the opportunity to abort is already provided in the PercentDone callback. For time consuming operations, where the amount of time between PercentDone callbacks are long, AbortCheck callbacks may be used to allow for the operation to be aborted in a more responsive manner.
The abort output argument provides a means for aborting the operation. Setting it to 1 will cause the method to abort and return a failed status (or whatever return value indicates failure).
Delphi ActiveX Event callback implementation:
procedure TForm1.streamPercentDone(ASender: TObject; pctDone: Integer; out abort: Integer); begin // Application code goes here... end; procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); var stream: TChilkatStream; begin stream := TChilkatStream.Create(Self); stream.OnPercentDone := streamPercentDone; // ...
ProgressInfo
A general name/value event that provides information about what is happening during a method call. To find out what information is available, write code to handle this event and log the name/value pairs. Most are self-explanatory.
Delphi ActiveX Event callback implementation:
procedure TForm1.streamProgressInfo(ASender: TObject; const name: WideString; const value: WideString); begin // Application code goes here... end; procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); var stream: TChilkatStream; begin stream := TChilkatStream.Create(Self); stream.OnProgressInfo := streamProgressInfo; // ...
TaskCompleted
Called in the background thread when an asynchronous task completes.
Delphi ActiveX Event callback implementation:
procedure TForm1.streamTaskCompleted(ASender: TObject; const task: IChilkatTask); begin // Application code goes here... end; procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); var stream: TChilkatStream; begin stream := TChilkatStream.Create(Self); stream.OnTaskCompleted := streamTaskCompleted; // ...