How to convert last 4 bytes in an array to an integer?

Question

If I have an Uint8Array array in JavaScript, how would I get the last four bytes and then convert that to an int? Using C# I would do something like this:

int count = BitConverter.ToInt32(array, array.Length - 4);

Is there an inequivalent way to do this using JavaScript?

Answer 1

Access the underlying ArrayBuffer and create a new TypedArray with a slice of its bytes:

var u8 = new Uint8Array([1,2,3,4,5,6]); // original array
var u32bytes = u8.buffer.slice(-4); // last four bytes as a new `ArrayBuffer`
var uint = new Uint32Array(u32bytes)[0];

If the TypedArray does not cover the entire buffer, you need to be a little trickier, but not much:

var startbyte = u8.byteOffset + u8.byteLength - Uint32Array.BYTES_PER_ELEMENT;
var u32bytes = u8.buffer.slice(startbyte, startbyte + Uint32Array.BYTES_PER_ELEMENT);

This works in both cases.

If the bytes you want fit in the alignment boundary of your underlying buffer for the datatype (e.g., you want the 32-bit value of bytes 4-8 of the underlying buffer), you can avoid copying the bytes with slice() and just supply a byteoffset to the view constructor, as in @Bergi's answer.

Below is a very-lightly-tested function that should get the scalar value of any offset you want. It will avoid copying if possible.

function InvalidArgument(msg) {
    this.message = msg | null;
}

function scalarValue(buf_or_view, byteOffset, type) {
    var buffer, bufslice, view, sliceLength = type.BYTES_PER_ELEMENT;
    if (buf_or_view instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
        buffer = buf_or_view;
        if (byteOffset < 0) {
            byteOffset = buffer.byteLength - byteOffset;
        }
    } else if (buf_or_view.buffer instanceof ArrayBuffer) {
        view = buf_or_view;
        buffer = view.buffer;
        if (byteOffset < 0) {
            byteOffset = view.byteOffset + view.byteLength + byteOffset;
        } else {
            byteOffset = view.byteOffset + byteOffset;
        }
        return scalarValue(buffer, view.byteOffset + byteOffset, type);
    } else {
        throw new InvalidArgument('buf_or_view must be ArrayBuffer or have a .buffer property');
    }
    // assert buffer instanceof ArrayBuffer
    // assert byteOffset > 0
    // assert byteOffset relative to entire buffer
    try {
        // try in-place first
        // only works if byteOffset % slicelength === 0
        return (new type(buffer, byteOffset, 1))[0]
    } catch (e) {
        // if this doesn't work, we need to copy the bytes (slice them out)
        bufslice = buffer.slice(byteOffset, byteOffset + sliceLength);
        return (new type(bufslice, 0, 1))[0]
    }
}

You would use it like this:

// positive or negative byte offset
// relative to beginning or end *of a view*
100992003 === scalarValueAs(u8, -4, Uint32Array)
// positive or negative byte offset
// relative to the beginning or end *of a buffer*
100992003 === scalarValue(u8.buffer, -4, Uint32Array)