BitStream

Stream wrapper to read/write bits and other data types

Introduction

Bitstreams unlike streams using BinaryReader and BinaryWriter use the stream at bit level, allowing read/write bits

This library project attempts to add bit manipulation to a stream while using known Stream, BinaryReader and BinaryWriter class methods

Usage

Initialize a BitStream using a Stream or byte[] int the constructor

//Using Stream stream;
BitStream bitstream = new BitStream(stream);
//Using byte[] bytes;
BitStream bitstream = new BitStream(bytes);

You can set the BitStream to use most-significant bit or less-significant bit as bit 0, by default LSB is used

//Using Stream stream and LSB;
BitStream bitstream = new BitStream(bytes);
//Using Stream stream and MSB;
BitStream bitstream = new BitStream(bytes,true);

After reading/writing the stream use GetStream() to get the stream or GetStreamData() to get a byte[] of the data in the stream

Features

Seeking, advancing and returning bits

Seeking in a BitStream uses Seek(long offset, int bit) to specify the stream position

Using bit >= 8 will increase the offset automatically

Using AdvanceBit() and ReturnBit() allows moving the bit offset forward or backwards by one

You can also use indexer [long offset, int bit] to Seek the specified offset and get a bool that specifies if the seeked offset is inside the stream

if (bitstream[0xE8, 0])
{
	bitstream.ReadBytes(128);
}

Reading/Writing bits

Reading a bit is easy using ReadBit() method, it returns a Bit which can be assigned to a byte, int or bool

Bit bit = bitstream.ReadBit();
byte b = bitstream.ReadBit();
int i = bitstream.ReadBit();
bool boolean = bitstream.ReadBit();

Writing a bit using WriteBit(Bit bit) is also possible with byte, int and bool

bitstream.WriteBit(1);
bitstream.WriteBit(b);
bitstream.WriteBit(i);
bitstream.WriteBit(true);

BitStream can also read/write arrays of Bits with ReadBits(int length) and WriteBits(Bit[] bits) methods

Reading/Writing data types

Just like BinaryReader and BinaryWriter can read/write data types like int, bool and string, BitStream can read/write this data types, currently these are supported:

byte (Can specify number of bits)
sbyte (Can specify number of bits)
byte[]
bool (Reading/Writing byte)
short
ushort
int
uint
long
ulong
24bit int/uint
48bit long/ulong
char
string

Character Encoding

BitStream allows setting a character encoding on constructor BitStream([Stream stream OR byte[] buffer], Encoding encoding, [bool MSB = false]) or using the method SetEncoding(Encoding encoding) to read/write characters

Shifts

BitStream can do bitwise and circular shifts on current position byte using bitwiseShift(int bits, bool leftShift) and circularShift(int bits, bool leftShift) or using the current bit position create a byte and use it using bitwiseShiftOnBit(int bits, bool leftShift) and circularShiftOnBit(int bits, bool leftShift) methods

Bitwise Operators

BitStream can do bitwise operations AND,OR,XOR and NOT at byte and bit level

NuGet

NuGet package is available here https://www.nuget.org/packages/rubendal.BitStream

rubendal/BitStream