/** @file FileUtil.h
 * 
 * @author  Robert Fourer,  Jun Ma, Kipp Martin, 
 * @version 1.0, 10/05/2005
 * @since   OS1.0
 *
 * \remarks
 * Copyright (C) 2005, Robert Fourer, Jun Ma, Kipp Martin,
 * Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago.
 * All Rights Reserved.
 * This software is licensed under the Common Public License. 
 * Please see the accompanying LICENSE file in root directory for terms.
 * 
 */
 
#ifndef FILEUTIL_H
#define FILEUTIL_H


#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>

/*!  \class FileUtil
 *  \brief class used to make it easy to read and write files.
 * 
 * @author Robert Fourer, Jun Ma, Kipp Martin
 * @version 1.0, 03/14/2004
 * @since OS 1.0
 * 
 * \remarks
 * <p>The <code>FileUtil</code> class contains methods for reading
 * and writing files from strings used by many classes in the
 * Optimization Services (OS) framework. </p>
 *
 */
class FileUtil{
public:
	public:
	
	/** the class constructor */	
	FileUtil();
	
	/** the class destructor */
	~FileUtil();
	
   	/**
   	 * read a file and return contents as a string. 
   	 * 
   	 * @param fname holds the name of the file. 
   	 * @return the file contents as a sring. 
   	 */	
	std::string getFileAsString(const  char* fname);
	
   	/**
   	 * read a file and return contents as a char pointer. 
   	 * 
   	 * @param fname holds the name of the file. 
   	 * @return the file contents as a char pointer. 
   	 */	
	char* getFileAsChar(const  char* fname);
	
   	/**
   	 * write a file from an input string. 
   	 * 
   	 * @param fname holds the name of the file to be written.
   	 * @param thestring holds the string to be written to the file. 
   	 * @return true if file successfuly written. 
   	 */	
	bool writeFileFromString(char* fname, std::string thestring);
	
   	/**
   	 * write a file from an input string. 
   	 * 
   	 * @param fname holds the name of the file to be written.
   	 * @param thestring holds the string to be written to the file. 
   	 * @return true if file successfuly written. 
   	 */	
	bool writeFileFromString(std::string fname, std::string thestring);
	
   	/**
   	 * write a file from an input char pointer. 
   	 * 
   	 * @param fname holds the name of the file to be written.
   	 * @param ch holds a pointer to a char array to be written to the file. 
   	 * @return true if file successfuly written. 
   	 */	
	bool writeFileFromChar(char* fname, char* ch);
};//class FileUtil
#endif