Writing Data to an NSOutputStream in Swift 3

Martin R, thank you for your answer. That was a foundation for a complete solution. Here it is:

extension OutputStream {

    /// Write String to outputStream
    ///
    /// - parameter string:                The string to write.
    /// - parameter encoding:              The String.Encoding to use when writing the string. This will default to UTF8.
    /// - parameter allowLossyConversion:  Whether to permit lossy conversion when writing the string.
    ///
    /// - returns:                         Return total number of bytes written upon success. Return -1 upon failure.

    func write(_ string: String, encoding: String.Encoding = String.Encoding.utf8, allowLossyConversion: Bool = true) -> Int {
        if let data = string.data(using: encoding, allowLossyConversion: allowLossyConversion) {
            var bytesRemaining = data.count
            var totalBytesWritten = 0

            while bytesRemaining > 0 {
                let bytesWritten = data.withUnsafeBytes {
                    self.write(
                        $0.advanced(by: totalBytesWritten),
                        maxLength: bytesRemaining
                    )
                }
                if bytesWritten < 0 {
                    // "Can not OutputStream.write(): \(self.streamError?.localizedDescription)"
                    return -1
                } else if bytesWritten == 0 {
                    // "OutputStream.write() returned 0"
                    return totalBytesWritten
                }

                bytesRemaining -= bytesWritten
                totalBytesWritten += bytesWritten
            }

            return totalBytesWritten
        }

        return -1
    }
}

NSData had a bytes property to access the bytes. The new Data value type in Swift 3 has a withUnsafeBytes() method instead, which calls a closure with a pointer to the bytes.

So this is how you write Data to an NSOutputStream (without casting to NSData):

let data = ... // a Data value
let bytesWritten = data.withUnsafeBytes { outputStream.write($0, maxLength: data.count) }

---

Remarks: withUnsafeBytes() is a generic method:

/// Access the bytes in the data.
///
/// - warning: The byte pointer argument should not be stored and used outside of the lifetime of the call to the closure.
public func withUnsafeBytes<ResultType, ContentType>(_ body: @noescape (UnsafePointer<ContentType>) throws -> ResultType) rethrows -> ResultType

In the above call, both ContentType and ResultType are automatically inferred by the compiler (as UInt8 and Int), making additional UnsafePointer() conversions unnecessary.

outputStream.write() returns the number of bytes actually written. Generally, you should check that value. It can be -1 if the write operation failed, or less than data.count when writing to sockets, pipes, or other objects with a flow control.

Just use this extension:

Swift 5

extension OutputStream {
  func write(data: Data) -> Int {
    return data.withUnsafeBytes {
      write($0.bindMemory(to: UInt8.self).baseAddress!, maxLength: data.count)
    }
  }
}

And for InputStream

extension InputStream {
  func read(data: inout Data) -> Int {
    return data.withUnsafeMutableBytes {
      read($0.bindMemory(to: UInt8.self).baseAddress!, maxLength: data.count)
    }
  }
}

Swift 4

extension OutputStream {
  func write(data: Data) -> Int {
    return data.withUnsafeBytes { write($0, maxLength: data.count) }
  }
}
extension InputStream {
  func read(data: inout Data) -> Int {
    return data.withUnsafeMutableBytes { read($0, maxLength: data.count) }
  }
}