dmi_writer_initialize
Synopsis
#include <opendmi/writer.h>
bool dmi_writer_initialize(
dmi_writer_t *writer,
dmi_buffer_t *buffer,
size_t offset,
ssize_t length);Description
The dmi_writer_initialize function sets the writer up over the range
beginning at offset within buffer. The cursor is positioned at the
beginning of the range, which the data is written into and past: a range
beginning at the end of the buffer appends to it, and one beginning within
the data written already writes over it.
A writer writes bytes into a range of a dmi_buffer_t, which holds them,
the way dmi_reader_t reads them out of one. What the bytes stand for is of
no concern to the writer: the caller writes the structures, the entry points
and whatever else the data is made of. Writing the values of a structure is
what dmi_encoder_t does over a writer, see dmi_encoder_initialize.
A range of a length of its own is one which something else follows, such as
a record of a declared length or an area of a fixed size, and the writer
refuses to write past it rather than writing over whatever comes next. A
negative length gives a range bounded by nothing but the data itself.
The writer holds no memory of its own, so there is nothing to destroy: the data belongs to the buffer and outlives the writers of it.