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Asked: 2026-05-25T11:20:30+00:00

Up until now, whenever I wanted to pass some raw data to a function

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Up until now, whenever I wanted to pass some raw data to a function (like a function that loads an image from a buffer), I would do something like this:

void Image::load(const char* buffer, std::size_t size);

Today I took a look at the Boost libraries, more specifically at the property_tree/xml_parser.hpp header, and I noticed this function signature:

 template<typename Ptree> 
 void read_xml(std::basic_istream<typename Ptree::key_type::value_type>&, 
               Ptree &, int = 0);

This actually made me curious: is this the correct way to pass around raw data in C++, by using streams? Or am I misinterpreting what the function is supposed to be used for?

If it’s the former, could you please point me to some resource where I can learn how to use streams for this? I haven’t found much myself (mainly API references), and I have’t been able to find the Boost source code for the XML parser either.

Edit: Some extra details

Seems there’s been some confusion as to what I want. Given a data buffer, how can I convert it to a stream such that it is compatible with the read_xml function I posted above? Here’s my specific use case:

I’m using the SevenZip C library to read an XML file from an archive. The library will provide me with a buffer and its size, and I want to put that in stream format such that it is compatible with read_xml. How can I do that?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Well, streams are quite used in C++ because of their conveniences:
    – error handling
    – they abstract away the data source, so whether you are reading from a file, an audio source, a camera, they are all treated as input streams
    – and probably more advantages I don’t know of

    Here is an overview of the IOstream library, perhaps that might better help you understand what’s going on with streams:
    http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/iostream/

    Understanding what they are exactly will help you understand how and when to use them.

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