BinData Zig Reference Documentation
BinData
Current Version: 11.6.1
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.
Object Creation
// Add the package once:
// zig fetch --save https://chilkatdownload.com/11.6.1/chilkat-zig-11.6.1.tar.gz
// and in build.zig:
// const chilkat = b.dependency("chilkat", .{ .target = target, .optimize = optimize });
// exe.root_module.addImport("chilkat", chilkat.module("chilkat"));
const chilkat = @import("chilkat");
// Once per process, before any other Chilkat call:
try chilkat.unlockBundle("Anything for 30-day trial");
const bin_data = try chilkat.BinData.init();
defer bin_data.deinit();Creates the underlying native Chilkat object. BinData is a one-pointer struct passed by value; copying it copies the handle (two names for one object). Returns error.OutOfMemory if the library could not allocate the object. Use an object from one thread at a time; it may be handed from one thread to another.
Releases the native object. Call it exactly once per object (usually with defer); the handle is invalid afterwards. Objects returned by methods are owned by the caller too and are released the same way.
Wraps a handle obtained from the C API (chilkat.c.CkBinData), taking ownership of it. The struct's handle field goes the other way, for anything the Zig API does not cover.
Errors and memory
Methods that can fail return an error union: a method whose only outcome is success or failure returns Error!void; a method producing a string returns (Error || Allocator.Error)![:0]u8; a method producing an object returns Error!T. chilkat.Error is error{ChilkatFailed}; the reason for a failure is in getLastErrorText, and the object remains usable. Properties never fail, and methods that answer a question (hasMember, isUnlocked, ...) return a plain bool.
String arguments are [:0]const u8 (UTF-8; string literals can be passed as is). String results are copies allocated with the allocator argument and owned by the caller, so they stay valid across later calls on the same object.
const text = bin_data.someMethod(allocator, ...) catch |err| {
const why = try bin_data.getLastErrorText(allocator);
defer allocator.free(why);
std.debug.print("{s}\n", .{why});
return err;
};
defer allocator.free(text);Properties
DebugLogFilePath
pub fn getDebugLogFilePath(self: BinData, allocator: Allocator) Allocator.Error![:0]u8
pub fn setDebugLogFilePath(self: BinData, value: [:0]const u8) void
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
pub fn getLastErrorHtml(self: BinData, allocator: Allocator) Allocator.Error![:0]u8
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
pub fn getLastErrorText(self: BinData, allocator: Allocator) Allocator.Error![:0]u8
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
pub fn getLastErrorXml(self: BinData, allocator: Allocator) Allocator.Error![:0]u8
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
pub fn getLastMethodSuccess(self: BinData) bool
pub fn setLastMethodSuccess(self: BinData, value: bool) void
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
pub fn getNumBytes(self: BinData) i32
The number of bytes contained within the object.
topVerboseLogging
pub fn getVerboseLogging(self: BinData) bool
pub fn setVerboseLogging(self: BinData, value: bool) void
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
pub fn getVersion(self: BinData, allocator: Allocator) Allocator.Error![:0]u8
Methods
AppendBd
Appends the contents of another BinData to this object.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendBom
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendByte
Appends a single byte. The byte_value should be a value from 0 to 255.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendCountedString
Appends a byte count followed by the string in the desired character encoding, such as utf-8. The num_count_bytes is the size in bytes of the integer to represent the byte count. If 0, then a minimal number of bytes is used. If big_endian 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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendData
Appends binary data to the current contents.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendEncoded
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendEncodedSb
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendInt2
Appends a 16-bit integer (2 bytes). If little_endian is true, then the integer bytes are appended in little-endian byte order, otherwise big-endian byte order is used.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendInt4
Appends a 32-bit integer (4 bytes). If little_endian is true, then the integer bytes are appended in little-endian byte order, otherwise big-endian byte order is used.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendPadded
Appends a string to this object, padded to the field_len with NULL or SPACE chars. If pad_with_space is true, then SPACE chars are used and the string is not null-terminated. If field_len 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 field_len. If the str is longer than field_len, the method returns false to indicate failure and nothing is appended.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendSb
Appends the contents of a StringBuilder to this object.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
AppendString
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
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)
CharsetConvert
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 all_or_none parameter determines error handling for unrepresentable bytes. If all_or_none 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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
Clear
ContentsEqual
Return true if the contents of this object equals the contents of bin_data.
FindString
Return the index where the first occurrence of str is found. Return -1 if not found. The start_idx 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.
GetData
Retrieves the binary data contained within the object.
The bytes are allocated with allocator and owned by the caller.
GetDataChunk
Retrieves a chunk of the binary data contained within the object.
The bytes are allocated with allocator and owned by the caller.
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why. The string is allocated with allocator and owned by the caller (defer allocator.free(s)).
GetEncodedChunk
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why. The string is allocated with allocator and owned by the caller (defer allocator.free(s)).
GetEncodedSb
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
GetHash
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why. The string is allocated with allocator and owned by the caller (defer allocator.free(s)).
GetInt2
Returns the value of the 16-bit signed integer stored in big-endian or little-endian byte ordering at the given index.
topGetInt4
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why. The string is allocated with allocator and owned by the caller (defer allocator.free(s)).
GetTextChunk
Returns num_bytes bytes starting at start_idx. The bytes are interpreted according to charset (for example, utf-8, ansi, utf-16, windows-1252, etc.)
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why. The string is allocated with allocator and owned by the caller (defer allocator.free(s)).
GetUInt2
Returns the value of the 16-bit unsigned integer stored in big-endian or little-endian byte ordering at the given index.
topGetUInt4
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.
LoadEncoded
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 error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
LoadFile
RemoveByteVal
Removes bytes having a specified value (0-255). For example, to remove all null bytes, pass 0 in value.
RemoveChunk
Removes a chunk of bytes from the binary data.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
SecureClear
Securely clears the contents by writing 0 bytes to the memory prior to deallocating the internal memory.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
WriteAppendFile
Appends the contents of this object to a file.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.
WriteFile
Writes the contents to a file.
Returns error.ChilkatFailed on failure; getLastErrorText explains why.