BinData Lazarus Pascal Reference Documentation
BinData
Current Version: 11.6.0
Chilkat.BinData
Load data from files, byte arrays, strings, encoded strings, or other
Chilkat objects that produce binary output.
Append bytes, strings, integers, BOMs, counted strings, padded fields,
encoded data, and other
Convert binary data to and from text encodings such as Base64, hex, URL
encoding, and other supported binary encodings.
Interpret bytes as text, append strings using a specified charset,
convert character encodings, and validate UTF-8 content.
Get byte counts, extract chunks, remove ranges, compare data, and work
with specific portions of a binary buffer.
Compute hashes for the contained data and write the resulting bytes to
files or pass them to other Chilkat classes.
For an extended overview, see
BinData Class Overview.
Build, transform, encode, decode, inspect, and save binary data.
Chilkat.BinData is a general-purpose mutable byte container used
throughout Chilkat for working with binary content in memory. It can load
bytes from files, byte arrays, strings, and encoded text; append additional
data in many forms; retrieve content as raw bytes, chunks, text, or encoded
strings; compute hashes; convert character encodings; validate UTF-8; remove
byte ranges; and write the final result to files.
Load binary content
Append and build data
BinData objects.
Encode and decode
Text and charset handling
Inspect and modify bytes
Hash and save output
BinData whenever a
Chilkat method needs a mutable in-memory binary buffer.
Create / Free
uses
Chilkat.BinData;
var
obj: TBinData;
begin
obj := TBinData.Create;
try
if not obj.IsValid then
raise Exception.Create('Failed to create a TBinData instance.');
// ... use obj ...
finally
obj.Free;
end;
end;
Allocates the underlying CkBinData object and returns a new TBinData instance. Simply adding Chilkat.BinData to the unit's uses clause is enough to locate and bind to the Chilkat shared library (DLL / .so / .dylib) at runtime — no separate load step is required. Check obj.IsValid after calling Create; it is False if the underlying library could not be found/loaded or the object could not be allocated (for example, when unlicensed).
Every TBinData created by calling Create should eventually be released by calling .Free (inherited from TObject). The destructor automatically disposes the underlying CkBinData handle. A native (unmanaged) memory leak occurs if the object is never freed.
Properties
DebugLogFilePath
If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.
Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.
Possible causes of hangs include:
- A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
- A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
- An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.
LastErrorHtml
Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
topLastErrorText
Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
LastErrorXml
Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.
topLastMethodSuccess
Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: True means success, False means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages. Note: This property does not apply to methods that return integer values or to boolean-returning methods where the boolean does not indicate success or failure.
NumBytes
The number of bytes contained within the object.
topVerboseLogging
If set to True, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is False. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.
Version
Methods
AppendBd
function AppendBd(binData: TChilkatBase): Boolean;
Appends the contents of another BinData to this object.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAppendBom
Appends the appropriate BOM (byte order mark), also known as a preamble, for the given charset. If the charset has no defined BOM, then nothing is appended. An application would typically call this to append the utf-8, utf-16, or utf-32 BOM.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAppendByte
Appends a single byte. The byteValue should be a value from 0 to 255.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAppendCountedString
bigEndian: Boolean;
const str: string;
const charset: string): Boolean;
Appends a byte count followed by the string in the desired character encoding, such as utf-8. The numCountBytes is the size in bytes of the integer to represent the byte count. If 0, then a minimal number of bytes is used. If bigEndian is True, the byte count is appended in big endian byte ordering, otherwise little-ending byte ordering. The str is the string to be appended. The charset is the character encoding, such as utf-8, utf-16, windows-1252, etc.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAppendData
numBytes: Integer): Boolean;
AppendEncoded
const encoding: string): Boolean;
Appends encoded binary data to the current data. The encoding may be Base64, modBase64, base64Url, Base32, Base58, QP (for quoted-printable), URL (for url-encoding), Hex, or any of the encodings found at Chilkat Binary Encodings List.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
AppendEncodedSb
function AppendEncodedSb(sb: TChilkatBase;
const encoding: string): Boolean;
Decodes the contents of sb and appends the decoded bytes to this object. The encoding may be Base64, modBase64, base64Url, Base32, Base58, QP (for quoted-printable), URL (for url-encoding), Hex, or any of the encodings found at Chilkat Binary Encodings List.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
AppendInt2
littleEndian: Boolean): Boolean;
Appends a 16-bit integer (2 bytes). If littleEndian is True, then the integer bytes are appended in little-endian byte order, otherwise big-endian byte order is used.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
AppendInt4
littleEndian: Boolean): Boolean;
Appends a 32-bit integer (4 bytes). If littleEndian is True, then the integer bytes are appended in little-endian byte order, otherwise big-endian byte order is used.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
AppendPadded
const charset: string;
padWithSpace: Boolean;
fieldLen: Integer): Boolean;
Appends a string to this object, padded to the fieldLen with NULL or SPACE chars. If padWithSpace is True, then SPACE chars are used and the string is not null-terminated. If fieldLen is False, then null bytes are used. The charset controls the byte representation to use, such as utf-8.
Note: This call will always append a total number of bytes equal to fieldLen. If the str is longer than fieldLen, the method returns False to indicate failure and nothing is appended.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
AppendSb
function AppendSb(sb: TChilkatBase;
const charset: string): Boolean;
Appends the contents of a StringBuilder to this object.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topAppendString
const charset: string): Boolean;
Appends a string to this object. (This does not append the BOM. If a BOM is required, the AppendBom method can be called to append the appropriate BOM.)
Returns True for success, False for failure.
ByteSwap
Does either 16-bit or 32-bit byte swapping of the entire contents. If size equals 16, then swaps in 2 bytes (e.g., 0x1234 → 0x3412). If size equals 32, then swaps 4 bytes (e.g., 0x12345678 → 0x78563412)
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topCharsetConvert
const toCharset: string;
allOrNone: Boolean): Boolean;
This method converts the character encoding of an object's contents from one format to another, such as from Windows-1252 to UTF-8. The allOrNone parameter determines error handling for unrepresentable bytes. If allOrNone is True, the object's contents remain unchanged when errors occur. If False, error bytes are discarded. The method returns True if successful and False if errors occur.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
Clear
ContentsEqual
function ContentsEqual(binData: TChilkatBase): Boolean;
Return True if the contents of this object equals the contents of binData.
FindString
startIdx: Integer;
const charset: string): Integer;
Return the index where the first occurrence of str is found. Return -1 if not found. The startIdx indicates the byte index where the search begins. The charset specifies the byte representation of str that is to be searched. For example, it can be utf-8, windows-1252, ansi, utf-16, etc.
GetByte
Returns the value of the byte at the given index. The returned value is an integer from 0 to 255.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topGetData
GetDataChunk
numBytes: Integer): TBytes;
GetEncoded
Retrieves the binary data as an encoded string. The encoding may be Base64, modBase64, base64Url, Base32, Base58, QP (for quoted-printable), URL (for url-encoding), Hex, or any of the encodings found at Chilkat Binary Encodings List.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
GetEncodedChunk
numBytes: Integer;
const encoding: string): string;
Retrieves a chunk of the binary data and returns it in encoded form. The encoding may be Base64, modBase64, base64Url, Base32, Base58, QP (for quoted-printable), URL (for url-encoding), Hex, or any of the encodings found at Chilkat Binary Encodings List.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
GetEncodedSb
function GetEncodedSb(const encoding: string;
sb: TChilkatBase): Boolean;
Writes the encoded data to a StringBuilder. The encoding may be Base64, modBase64, base64Url, Base32, Base58, QP (for quoted-printable), URL (for url-encoding), Hex, or any of the encodings found at Chilkat Binary Encodings List.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
GetHash
const encoding: string): string;
Returns the hash of the contents of this object. The algorithm is the hash algorithm, and can be sha1, sha256, sha384, sha512, sha3-224, sha3-256, sha3-384, sha3-512, md2, md5, ripemd128, ripemd160,ripemd256, or ripemd320.
The encoding can be base64, modBase64, base64Url, base32, base58, qp (for quoted-printable), url (for url-encoding), hex, hexLower, or any of the encodings found at Chilkat Binary Encodings List.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topGetInt2
littleEndian: Boolean): Integer;
Returns the value of the 16-bit signed integer stored in big-endian or little-endian byte ordering at the given index.
topGetInt4
littleEndian: Boolean): Integer;
Returns the value of the 32-bit signed integer stored in big-endian or little-endian byte ordering at the given index.
topGetString
Interprets the bytes according to charset and returns the string. The charset can be utf-8, utf-16, ansi, iso-8859-*, windows-125*, or any of the supported character encodings listed in the link below.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
GetTextChunk
numBytes: Integer;
const charset: string): string;
Returns numBytes bytes starting at startIdx. The bytes are interpreted according to charset (for example, utf-8, ansi, utf-16, windows-1252, etc.)
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topGetUInt2
littleEndian: Boolean): LongWord;
Returns the value of the 16-bit unsigned integer stored in big-endian or little-endian byte ordering at the given index.
topGetUInt4
littleEndian: Boolean): LongWord;
Returns the value of the 32-bit unsigned integer stored in big-endian or little-endian byte ordering at the given index.
topIsValidUtf8
Returns True if this object contains valid utf-8 byte sequences. Any invalid byte sequence that is not valid utf-8 will cause this function to return False.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topLoadEncoded
const encoding: string): Boolean;
Loads binary data from an encoded string, replacing the current contents, if any. The encoding may be Base64, modBase64, base64Url, Base32, Base58, QP (for quoted-printable), URL (for url-encoding), Hex, or any of the encodings found at Chilkat Binary Encodings List.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
topLoadFile
RemoveByteVal
Removes bytes having a specified value (0-255). For example, to remove all null bytes, pass 0 in value.
RemoveChunk
numBytes: Integer): Boolean;
SecureClear
Securely clears the contents by writing 0 bytes to the memory prior to deallocating the internal memory.
Returns True for success, False for failure.
top