QuickBuffer

A simple library for easily handling bytes and bits.

Reading/writing buffers

QuickBuffer provides extendable classes for reading/writing byte buffers.
The class BufferReader is used for reading buffers whilst BufferWriter is used for writing them.
One could add additional functionality by deriving said classes.

Writing

Let's start off by writing a buffer to read from later.

BufferWriter writer = new BufferWriter();
writer.TextEncoding = Encoding.Unicode;

writer.WriteBool(true);
writer.WriteString("test");
writer.WriteInt(1337);

byte[] output = writer.ToArray();

Reading

Let's now read from the buffer we just created.

BufferReader reader = new BufferReader(output);
reader.TextEncoding = Encoding.Unicode;

bool b = reader.ReadBool();
string str = reader.ReadString(8); // ReadString() takes in an amount of bytes to read. We have to do the original length x2 because of the unicode encoding
int i = reader.ReadInt();

Bits

C#'s default BitArray class can be a pain to use. QuickBuffer therefore adds the additional classes BitBuffer and BitList.

BitBuffers

The BitBuffer class is basically a BitArray with more functionality, such as reversing the bits.

BitBuffer buffer = new BitBuffer(new byte[] { 1, 3, 3, 7 }); // create a BitBuffer from the passed byte array
buffer.Or(new BitArray(new byte[] { 1, 2, 3, 4 })); // OR them with another byte array

byte[] output = buffer.ToBytes(); // convert the result back into a byte array
BitBuffer extractedBits = buffer.CopyBits(1, 4); // Copies 4 bits starting from an offset of 1

buffer.ToBitArray(); // converting BitBuffers into BitArrays is easy as they just wrap around them.

BitLists

The BitList class is basically the same as a BitBuffer but with the extra functionality from the standard List class.

BitList list = new BitList(new byte[] { 1, 3, 3, 7 });
list.RemoveRange(6, 7); // Remove 7 bits starting from an offset of 6

byte[] output = list.ToBytes(); // Convert the bits into a byte array
BitBuffer buffer = list.ToBitBuffer(); // Convert the list into a BitBuffer