How can I read a binary file record by record in java?

[ZigVe]

I want to fetch a binary file from server and read its records. The binary file is made in Delfy by defining a record type:

My_Record_Type = packed
record
x,y : word;
a,b; byte;
end;

The only way I have found to read this in Java is by wrapping the InputStream with a DataInputStream and read the records by using 2*readChar and 2*readByte in a while loop.

Is there another easier/faster way to do this? A way of reading record by record like in Delfi?

Thanks

[Norm]

What is a "record" in a binary file? In a text file, a record ends with a newline character.
What defines the end of a record in your binary file?

[ZigVe]

I am quite new to binary io (and java) so I don't know if Im using "record" in the right way, but in Pascal/Delphi this is called record and in C/C++ I think its called a struct.

In this case every "record/structure" consists of 6 bytes. Two bytes for "x", two for "y", then one for "a" and the last for "b". Right after the last byte of these 6 bytes, a new record starts. What will be the most efficient way to read this and store it for later use?

[Norm]

What format is the data in?
For the 2 byte values, what order are the bytes in: High, low or low high?
Read 6 bytes into an array and pick out the bytes for each variable as per their format.
Say the bytes are high, low. Something like this:
int x = (bytes[0]<<8) + (bytes[1] & 0XFF);

[ZigVe]

The order of the two bytes is little Endian, guess that corresponds to low, high? Should i wrap the InputStream in a BufferedInputStream then or just use the read method of the InputStream? Will this method be faster than using DataInputStream (dis) the following way:

dis = new DataInputStream (inputStream);
try{
while(true){
int x = littleEndianToBigEndian(dis.readChar()); //as x will hold a value in the range of 0-65535
int y = littleEndianToBigEndian(dis.readChar()); // y also range 0-65535.
byte a = readByte();
byte b = readByte();
// store the values
}
}catch(EOFException e){//end of file brakes while loop}

Whats the best way of storing the data permanently? Is it faster to read from a FileInputStream than a InputStrem from a url connection? If so I probably should stream directly to file and read the file later? I guess I should mention that I am working on an Android app.

[Norm]

Whats the best way of storing the data permanently?

Depends on what "best" means? Storage usage. Ease of access. Relations to other data. Persistence. ???

Is it faster to

I wouldn't worry about speed until it is a demonstrated problem. How many thousands of these do you plan to read?

[ZigVe]

I plan to read files of 8-12 kB. I have tested the read method listed above where I store the data in an stringbuffer and display it on screen. It takes about half a minute on a wifi connection to do this and that's a bit slow -therefore I was wondering about speed. The guy that is programming the server side told me to read it record-by-record, but as I didn't know how to do that (or what that meant) in Java, I asked here.

[ZigVe]

* "listed above" refers to the DataInputStream method. Haven't had the time to try out the method you suggested.

[Norm]

For a speed test, write a simple program that reads the data using each method/class (DataInputStream vs InputStream) and time it using System currentTimeMillis(). Run it several times to even out any OS influences.

I have no idea what delays reading a file over wifi will have.

[ZigVe]

Okey thank you for the help! I will test it out :)