public abstract class

Buffer

extends Object
java.lang.Object
   ↳ java.nio.Buffer
Known Direct Subclasses

Class Overview

A container for data of a specific primitive type.

A buffer is a linear, finite sequence of elements of a specific primitive type. Aside from its content, the essential properties of a buffer are its capacity, limit, and position:

A buffer's capacity is the number of elements it contains. The capacity of a buffer is never negative and never changes.

A buffer's limit is the index of the first element that should not be read or written. A buffer's limit is never negative and is never greater than its capacity.

A buffer's position is the index of the next element to be read or written. A buffer's position is never negative and is never greater than its limit.

There is one subclass of this class for each non-boolean primitive type.

Transferring data

Each subclass of this class defines two categories of get and put operations:

Relative operations read or write one or more elements starting at the current position and then increment the position by the number of elements transferred. If the requested transfer exceeds the limit then a relative get operation throws a BufferUnderflowException and a relative put operation throws a BufferOverflowException; in either case, no data is transferred.

Absolute operations take an explicit element index and do not affect the position. Absolute get and put operations throw an IndexOutOfBoundsException if the index argument exceeds the limit.

Data may also, of course, be transferred in to or out of a buffer by the I/O operations of an appropriate channel, which are always relative to the current position.

Marking and resetting

A buffer's mark is not always defined, but when it is defined it is never negative and is never greater than the position. If the mark is defined then it is discarded when the position or the limit is adjusted to a value smaller than the mark.

Invariants

The following invariant holds for the mark, position, limit, and capacity values:

0 <= mark <= position <= limit <= capacity

A newly-created buffer always has a position of zero and a mark that is undefined. The initial limit may be zero, or it may be some other value that depends upon the type of the buffer and the manner in which it is constructed. The initial content of a buffer is, in general, undefined.

Clearing, flipping, and rewinding

In addition to methods for accessing the position, limit, and capacity values and for marking and resetting, this class also defines the following operations upon buffers:

  • clear() makes a buffer ready for a new sequence of channel-read or relative put operations: It sets the limit to the capacity and the position to zero.

  • flip() makes a buffer ready for a new sequence of channel-write or relative get operations: It sets the limit to the current position and then sets the position to zero.

  • rewind() makes a buffer ready for re-reading the data that it already contains: It leaves the limit unchanged and sets the position to zero.

Read-only buffers

Every buffer is readable, but not every buffer is writable.

Thread safety

Buffers are not safe for use by multiple concurrent threads. If a buffer is to be used by more than one thread then access to the buffer should be controlled by appropriate synchronization.

Invocation chaining

Methods in this class that do not otherwise have a value to return are specified to return the buffer upon which they are invoked. This allows method invocations to be chained; for example, the sequence of statements 

 b.flip();
 b.position(23);
 b.limit(42);
can be replaced by the single, more compact statement 
 b.flip().position(23).limit(42);

Summary

Public Constructors
Buffer()
Public Methods
final int capacity()
Returns this buffer's capacity.
final Buffer clear()
Clears this buffer.
final Buffer flip()
Flips this buffer.
final boolean hasRemaining()
Tells whether there are any elements between the current position and the limit.
final int limit()
Returns this buffer's limit.
final Buffer limit(int newLimit)
Sets this buffer's limit.
final Buffer position(int newPosition)
Sets this buffer's position.
final int position()
Returns this buffer's position.
final int remaining()
Returns the number of elements between the current position and the limit.
final Buffer rewind()
Rewinds this buffer.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object

Public Constructors

public Buffer ()

Public Methods

public final int capacity ()

Returns this buffer's capacity.

Returns
  • The capacity of this buffer

public final Buffer clear ()

Clears this buffer. The position is set to zero, the limit is set to the capacity, and the mark is discarded.

Invoke this method before using a sequence of channel-read or put operations to fill this buffer. For example: 

 buf.clear(); // Prepare buffer for reading
 in.read(buf); // Read data

This method does not actually erase the data in the buffer, but it is named as if it did because it will most often be used in situations in which that might as well be the case.

Returns
  • This buffer

public final Buffer flip ()

Flips this buffer. The limit is set to the current position and then the position is set to zero. If the mark is defined then it is discarded.

After a sequence of channel-read or put operations, invoke this method to prepare for a sequence of channel-write or relative get operations. For example: 

 buf.put(magic); // Prepend header
 in.read(buf); // Read data into rest of buffer
 buf.flip(); // Flip buffer
 out.write(buf); // Write header + data to channel

Returns
  • This buffer

public final boolean hasRemaining ()

Tells whether there are any elements between the current position and the limit.

Returns
  • true if, and only if, there is at least one element remaining in this buffer

public final int limit ()

Returns this buffer's limit.

Returns
  • The limit of this buffer

public final Buffer limit (int newLimit)

Sets this buffer's limit. If the position is larger than the new limit then it is set to the new limit. If the mark is defined and larger than the new limit then it is discarded.

Parameters
newLimit The new limit value; must be non-negative and no larger than this buffer's capacity
Returns
  • This buffer
Throws
IllegalArgumentException If the preconditions on newLimit do not hold

public final Buffer position (int newPosition)

Sets this buffer's position. If the mark is defined and larger than the new position then it is discarded.

Parameters
newPosition The new position value; must be non-negative and no larger than the current limit
Returns
  • This buffer
Throws
IllegalArgumentException If the preconditions on newPosition do not hold

public final int position ()

Returns this buffer's position.

Returns
  • The position of this buffer

public final int remaining ()

Returns the number of elements between the current position and the limit.

Returns
  • The number of elements remaining in this buffer

public final Buffer rewind ()

Rewinds this buffer. The position is set to zero and the mark is discarded.

Invoke this method before a sequence of channel-write or get operations, assuming that the limit has already been set appropriately. For example: 

 out.write(buf); // Write remaining data
 buf.rewind(); // Rewind buffer
 buf.get(array); // Copy data into array

Returns
  • This buffer