/// <summary>
/// Convert the object into a binary representation of a DataField
/// </summary>
/// <param name="obj">The object to encode.</param>
/// <returns>The bytes representing the object in DataFrame format.</returns>
/// <exception cref="ArgumentException">if the object cannot be encoded - type not supported</exception>
public static byte[] Encode(object obj)
{
return(DataField.Encode(obj, DataField.GetType(obj)));
}
/// <summary>
/// The constructor for the most common use case, Name-Value pair
/// </summary>
/// <param name="name">The name of this DataField</param>
/// <param name="obj">The object value to encode</param>
/// <exception cref="ArgumentException">If the name is not valid or the object type is not supported</exception>
public DataField(string name, object obj)
{
this.name = DataField.NameCheck(name);
type = DataField.GetType(obj);
value = DataField.Encode(obj, type);
}
/// <summary>
/// Create a DataField with a specified name, type and value.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// <para>It is possible to use this to force a data field into a specific type even if the value is null.</para>
/// </remarks>
/// <param name="name">The name of this DataField</param>
/// <param name="type">The type code representing the type of data held.</param>
/// <param name="value">The encoded value of the field. An empty array is equivalent to a null value.</param>
/// <exception cref="ArgumentException">If there are problems with the name</exception>
public DataField(string name, byte type, byte[] value)
{
this.name = DataField.NameCheck(name);
this.type = type;
this.value = value;
}
/// <summary>
/// Create a DataField for the specific object.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="obj">The object to use as the value of the field</param>
/// <exception cref="ArgumentException">If the object type is not supported</exception>
public DataField(object obj)
{
type = DataField.GetType(obj);
value = DataField.Encode(obj, type);
}
/// <summary>
/// Convenience constructor for a frame wrapping the given field.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="field">the field to place in this frame </param>
public DataFrame(DataField field) : this()
{
fields.Add(field);
}
