What is DataView.setFloat32() in JavaScript?

The DataView.prototype.setFloat32() is a method in JavaScript that takes a signed 32-bit float value and sets this value at the specified byte offset from the start of the DataView object.

Syntax

The syntax of the method is as follows:

setFloat32(byteOffset : Number, value : Number, [littleEndian = false : Boolean]): void

Parameters

• byteOffset: A number specifying the byte offset from the start of the view.

• value: A signed 32-bit float that will be stored at the specified byte offset.

• littleEndian: An optional parameter specifying whether the 32-bit float is stored in the little-endian or the big-endian format

By default, the value is False, which means a big-endian value is stored.

Binary data in JavaScript and the DataView class

While many languages provide byte arrays to manipulate binary data, things work differently in JavaScript.

The most fundamental binary object in JavaScript is the ArrayBuffer, which stores a reference to a fixed-length contiguous memory space containing a raw sequence of bytes.

However, to interpret and manipulate the ArrayBuffer, we need something called view objects.

View objects

View objects do not store any data but provide different interfaces to read and write byte data in the raw buffer.

The DataView class is one such view over the ArrayBuffer that provides flexibility in interpreting the buffer.

By using DataView objects, we can access the data in any format we like and at any offset. Moreover, the format in which data is interpreted is determined at the method call time.

Syntax of DataView

The syntax to declare a DataView object is as follows:

new DataView(buffer, [byteOffset], [byteLength])

• buffer: The ArrayBuffer object containing the raw sequence of bytes.

• byteOffset: The view’s starting byte position from the ArrayBuffer's starting position. The default value is 0.

• byteLength: The byte length to be viewed from the specified byteOffset. By default, the whole buffer is viewed.

Now that we have some idea of binary data in JavaScript and declaring DataView objects, let’s look at how we can use dataView.setFloat32() in a program.

Code

Explanation

• In the example above, we declare an ArrayBuffer of 12 bytes.

• We create the object dataView using the constructor of the DataView class and passing the buffer object to it.

• We store the value of Euler’s Constant in the 32 bits after the first byte from the start of the view using the dataView.setFloat32(1, Math.E) function call.

• We verify that the value has been set successfully in the buffer using the dataView.getFloat32(1) method.