711408 - nsIBinaryInputStream and nsIBinaryOutputStream should be able to read/write signed values

Status: REOPENED

(Core :: XPCOM, defect)

Description

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

read8/16/32/64 methods in nsIBinaryInputStream all return the bytes as unsigned integers. Signed versions are needed.

Thankfully, xpconnect provides us with bug 711404, fixing my case.

Comment 1

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

I don't understand this bug.  The writing code writes unsigned integers.  The reading code reads unsigned integers.  What's the issue?

Comment 2

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

I used it to read a file (third-party file) in a binary format that contains signed integers - that file was never written our output-binary stream implementation.

If you imply that we should fix either both interfaces, or nothing, I tend to agree.

__
Meanwhile, I switched to using domfiles and readAsArrayBuffer, as there are signed-int views for ArrayBuffer, and as it seems to better fit my use case in general. However, I think it's a valid use case for binary-stream as well.

Comment 3

[Nathan Froyd [:froydnj]]

I think we can close this.

Comment 4

[Dana Keeler (she/her) (use needinfo) [:keeler] (on leave)]

If a class is using nsIBinaryOuputStream/nsIBinaryInputStream to serialize its data and it has signed integer members, it shouldn't have to handle signed/unsigned conversions - that should be the job of nsIBinaryOutputStream/nsIBinaryInputStream.