Question

I have a Java class, like:

class Foo implements IBar
{
    // Methods ..

    // A bunch of fields of primitive types (int, String)
    int f1;
    int f2;
    String f3;
    // ...
}

I want to pack all these fields to the byte array (don’t ask me why, this restriction is introduced by the C++ side that sends me data in such format).

The only way I found is to use ByteBuffer. But it is the worst I can thinks of. The code looks like:

ByteBuffer buf = ByteBuffer.allocate(4);

int offset = 0;

buf.putInt(f1);
System.arraycopy(buf.array(), 0, rawHeader, offset, 4);
offset += 4;

// A bunch of lines here (pack all other fields)

Does anyone know more suitable way of doing it? Thanks.

Answer 1

Use a DataOutputStream wrapping a ByteArrayOutputStream.

Or, if you prefer, make your class implement Serializable and use an ObjectOutputStream wrapping a ByteArrayOutputStream. This will of course make a byte array readable only by Java.