interface IFileFormat in Tinman.Terrain.Util

Base interface for classes that can read and optionally write certain file formats.

interface	IFileFormat	extends	IPleaseIncludeInBinaryThanks
		base of	FileFormat

Attributes

Description

Long description of this file format.

property	Description { get }
type	string
value	[not-null]	The description string.

Mime

The machine-readable type of this file format.

property	Mime { get }
type	string
value		The machine-readable media type or null if none.

Remarks:

For details on Media Types (aka. MIME-type), please refer to this webpage:
https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml

Name

The file format name.

property	Name { get }
type	string
value	[not-null]	The file format name.

Next

Returns the next file format.

[ThreadSafe]
property	Next { get }
type	IFileFormat
value		The next file format or null.

Remarks:

The first file format can be obtained from implementing classes. This property can be used to cycle all available file formats of the same type.

Prefix

Lengths of the binary file data prefix that identifies this file format.

property	Prefix { get }
type	int32
value	[>=0]	The file data prefix length, in bytes. If 0, there is no identifying prefix.

Type

The human-readable type of this file format (e.g. images, shapes, 3D models).

property	Type { get }
type	string
value	[not-null]	The human-readable type name.

Methods

CanRead

Can this file format object be used to read the given data?

method	CanRead (ByteBuffer data)
type	bool
params	data	[not-null]	The data to check. Must have at least Prefix remaining bytes, otherwise this method will always return false. The buffer will not be modified by this method.
returns			true if the given data is prefixed with the identifying byte sequence of this file format, false if the prefix is not present.

See also:

Prefix

---

Can this file format object be used to read the given path?

method	CanRead (string suffix, bool directory = false)
type	bool
params	suffix	[not-null]	The lower-case pathname suffix (without '.'). Will be empty if the path does not have a pathname suffix.
	directory		Does the path refer to a directory (true) or to a file (false)? Defaults to false.
returns			true if this file format can be used, false if not.

CanReadFind

Returns the first file format in the chain (see Next) that can read the given data.

method	CanReadFind (ByteBuffer data)
type	IFileFormat
params	data	[not-null]	The data to check. Must have at least Prefix remaining bytes, otherwise this method will always return false. The buffer will not be modified by this method.
returns			The found file format or null.

---

Returns the first file format in the chain (see Next) that can read the given path.

method	CanReadFind (string suffix, bool directory = false)
type	IFileFormat
params	suffix	[not-null]	The lower-case pathname suffix (without '.'). Will be empty if the path does not have a pathname suffix.
	directory		Does the path refer to a directory (true) or to a file (false)? Defaults to false.
returns			The found file format or null.

CanWrite

Can this file format object be used to write the given path?

method	CanWrite (string suffix)
type	bool
params	suffix	[not-null]	The lower-case pathname suffix (without '.'). Will be empty if the path does not have a pathname suffix.
returns			true if this file format can be used, false if not.

CanWriteFind

Returns the first file format in the chain (see Next) that can write the given path.

method	CanWriteFind (string suffix)
type	IFileFormat
params	suffix	[not-null]	The lower-case pathname suffix (without '.'). Will be empty if the path does not have a pathname suffix.
returns			The found file format or null.

PleaseIncludeInBinaryThanks

This is a method that forces the compiler / linker to include this type in the resulting binary.

method	PleaseIncludeInBinaryThanks ()
inherited	IPleaseIncludeInBinaryThanks.PleaseIncludeInBinaryThanks

Remarks:

Calling this stub method makes sure that all lazy constructor calls have been made.

To initialize everything, an application needs to call this method on its root module(s) (see TinmanModule), followed by a call to Initialize.

Exceptions:

• LicenceException:
  If initialization has failed because of missing resp. invalid licence keys.