import java.io.*;

public abstract class PersistentObject
{
    protected int ID;
	final boolean DEBUG = false;
    
    public abstract void persist( DataOutputStream file );
    public abstract void retrieve(DataInputStream file);
    protected void writeField( DataOutputStream file, String temp ) 
    {
        for ( int i = 0; i < temp.length(); i++ )
        {
			try
			{
				file.writeByte( temp.charAt(i) );
			}catch(IOException e){}
        }
		try
		{
	        file.writeByte( '°' );
		}catch(IOException e){}
    }
        
    protected String readNextField( DataInputStream file)
    {
        byte ch = 0;
        String field = new String("");
        
		try
		{
			while ((ch = file.readByte()) != (byte)('°') )
			{
				if (DEBUG) System.out.println("read char: " + (char)ch );
				field += (char)ch;
			}
		}
		catch( EOFException eof ) { return null; }
		catch( IOException e) {}

		if ( DEBUG ) System.out.println("read field: " + field );
		
		return field;
    }
    
	public void setID( int i )
	{  ID = i;  }
	
	public int getID()
	{  return ID;  }
}