uk.ac.starlink.fits

Class StringEncoder

java.lang.Object

uk.ac.starlink.fits.StringEncoder

public abstract class StringEncoder
extends Object

Serializes String values to byte arrays suitable for output into FITS table columns.

Since:

20 Mar 2026

Author:

Mark Taylor

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
static StringEncoder	DEFAULT Default instance.
static StringEncoder	SQUASH_TO_ASCII Writes one byte per code point; non-ASCII code points are represented by a replacement character.

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Modifier	Constructor and Description
protected	StringEncoder(String name) Constructor.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
abstract int	copyToBytes(String txt, byte[] buf) Encodes the given string into an existing byte array.
abstract byte[]	toBytes(String txt) Encodes the given string into a new byte array.
String	toString()

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

SQUASH_TO_ASCII

public static final StringEncoder SQUASH_TO_ASCII

Writes one byte per code point; non-ASCII code points are represented by a replacement character.

DEFAULT

public static final StringEncoder DEFAULT

Default instance.

Constructor Detail

StringEncoder

protected StringEncoder(String name)

Constructor.

Parameters:

name - encoder name

Method Detail

toBytes

public abstract byte[] toBytes(String txt)

Encodes the given string into a new byte array.

Parameters:

txt - string to encode, not null

Returns:

new array containing encoded text

copyToBytes

public abstract int copyToBytes(String txt,
                                byte[] buf)

Encodes the given string into an existing byte array. The encoding will be truncated if the supplied buffer is too short.

Parameters:

txt - string to encode, not null

buf - buffer to receive encoded text

Returns:

number of bytes written to buffer

toString

public String toString()

Overrides:

toString in class Object