public class

PipedInputStream

extends InputStream
java.lang.Object
   ↳ java.io.InputStream
     ↳ java.io.PipedInputStream

Class Overview

Receives information from a communications pipe. When two threads want to pass data back and forth, one creates a piped output stream and the other one creates a piped input stream.

Summary

Constants
int PIPE_SIZE The size of the default pipe in bytes.
Fields
protected byte[] buffer The circular buffer through which data is passed.
protected int in The index in buffer where the next byte will be written.
protected int out The index in buffer where the next byte will be read.
Public Constructors
PipedInputStream()
Constructs a new unconnected PipedInputStream.
PipedInputStream(PipedOutputStream out)
Constructs a new PipedInputStream connected to the PipedOutputStream out.
Public Methods
synchronized int available()
Returns an estimated number of bytes that can be read or skipped without blocking for more input.

Unlike most streams, PipedInputStream returns 0 rather than throwing IOException if the stream has been closed.

synchronized void close()
Closes this stream.
void connect(PipedOutputStream src)
Connects this PipedInputStream to a PipedOutputStream.
synchronized int read(byte[] bytes, int offset, int count)
Reads at most count bytes from this stream and stores them in the byte array bytes starting at offset.
synchronized int read()
Reads a single byte from this stream and returns it as an integer in the range from 0 to 255.
Protected Methods
synchronized void receive(int oneByte)
Receives a byte and stores it in this stream's buffer.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.io.InputStream
From class java.lang.Object
From interface java.io.Closeable

Constants

protected static final int PIPE_SIZE

Since: API Level 1

The size of the default pipe in bytes.

Constant Value: 1024 (0x00000400)

Fields

protected byte[] buffer

Since: API Level 1

The circular buffer through which data is passed. Data is read from the range [out, in) and written to the range [in, out). Data in the buffer is either sequential:

     { - - - X X X X X X X - - - - - }
             ^             ^
             |             |
            out           in
...or wrapped around the buffer's end:
     { X X X X - - - - - - - - X X X }
               ^               ^
               |               |
              in              out
When the buffer is empty, in == -1. Reading when the buffer is empty will block until data is available. When the buffer is full, in == out. Writing when the buffer is full will block until free space is available.

protected int in

Since: API Level 1

The index in buffer where the next byte will be written.

protected int out

Since: API Level 1

The index in buffer where the next byte will be read.

Public Constructors

public PipedInputStream ()

Since: API Level 1

Constructs a new unconnected PipedInputStream. The resulting stream must be connected to a PipedOutputStream before data may be read from it.

public PipedInputStream (PipedOutputStream out)

Since: API Level 1

Constructs a new PipedInputStream connected to the PipedOutputStream out. Any data written to the output stream can be read from the this input stream.

Parameters
out the piped output stream to connect to.
Throws
IOException if this stream or out are already connected.

Public Methods

public synchronized int available ()

Since: API Level 1

Returns an estimated number of bytes that can be read or skipped without blocking for more input.

Note that this method provides such a weak guarantee that it is not very useful in practice.

Firstly, the guarantee is "without blocking for more input" rather than "without blocking": a read may still block waiting for I/O to complete — the guarantee is merely that it won't have to wait indefinitely for data to be written. The result of this method should not be used as a license to do I/O on a thread that shouldn't be blocked.

Secondly, the result is a conservative estimate and may be significantly smaller than the actual number of bytes available. In particular, an implementation that always returns 0 would be correct. In general, callers should only use this method if they'd be satisfied with treating the result as a boolean yes or no answer to the question "is there definitely data ready?".

Thirdly, the fact that a given number of bytes is "available" does not guarantee that a read or skip will actually read or skip that many bytes: they may read or skip fewer.

It is particularly important to realize that you must not use this method to size a container and assume that you can read the entirety of the stream without needing to resize the container. Such callers should probably write everything they read to a ByteArrayOutputStream and convert that to a byte array. Alternatively, if you're reading from a file, length() returns the current length of the file (though assuming the file's length can't change may be incorrect, reading a file is inherently racy).

The default implementation of this method in InputStream always returns 0. Subclasses should override this method if they are able to indicate the number of bytes available.

Unlike most streams, PipedInputStream returns 0 rather than throwing IOException if the stream has been closed. Unconnected and broken pipes also return 0.

Returns
  • the estimated number of bytes available
Throws
IOException if an I/O error occurs

public synchronized void close ()

Since: API Level 1

Closes this stream. This implementation releases the buffer used for the pipe and notifies all threads waiting to read or write.

Throws
IOException if an error occurs while closing this stream.

public void connect (PipedOutputStream src)

Since: API Level 1

Connects this PipedInputStream to a PipedOutputStream. Any data written to the output stream becomes readable in this input stream.

Parameters
src the source output stream.
Throws
IOException if either stream is already connected.

public synchronized int read (byte[] bytes, int offset, int count)

Since: API Level 1

Reads at most count bytes from this stream and stores them in the byte array bytes starting at offset. Blocks until at least one byte has been read, the end of the stream is detected or an exception is thrown.

Separate threads should be used to read from a PipedInputStream and to write to the connected PipedOutputStream. If the same thread is used, a deadlock may occur.

Parameters
bytes the array in which to store the bytes read.
offset the initial position in bytes to store the bytes read from this stream.
count the maximum number of bytes to store in bytes.
Returns
  • the number of bytes actually read or -1 if the end of the stream has been reached.
Throws
IndexOutOfBoundsException if offset < 0 or count < 0, or if offset + count is greater than the size of bytes.
InterruptedIOException if the thread reading from this stream is interrupted.
IOException if this stream is closed or not connected to an output stream, or if the thread writing to the connected output stream is no longer alive.
NullPointerException if bytes is null.

public synchronized int read ()

Since: API Level 1

Reads a single byte from this stream and returns it as an integer in the range from 0 to 255. Returns -1 if the end of this stream has been reached. If there is no data in the pipe, this method blocks until data is available, the end of the stream is detected or an exception is thrown.

Separate threads should be used to read from a PipedInputStream and to write to the connected PipedOutputStream. If the same thread is used, a deadlock may occur.

Returns
  • the byte read or -1 if the end of the source stream has been reached.
Throws
IOException if this stream is closed or not connected to an output stream, or if the thread writing to the connected output stream is no longer alive.

Protected Methods

protected synchronized void receive (int oneByte)

Since: API Level 1

Receives a byte and stores it in this stream's buffer. This method is called by write(int). The least significant byte of the integer oneByte is stored at index in in the buffer.

This method blocks as long as buffer is full.

Parameters
oneByte the byte to store in this pipe.
Throws
InterruptedIOException if the buffer is full and the thread that has called this method is interrupted.
IOException if this stream is closed or the thread that has last read from this stream is no longer alive.