Extending Pipes, context.getInputValue() to support read of binary file data

[Charles Earl <ch...@gmail.com>]

Hi,
I'm trying to extend the pipes interface as defined in Pipes.hh to support the read of binary input data. 
I believe that would mean extending the getInputValue() method of context to return char *, which would be buffer containing binary data.
I'm guessing the best way  to do this would be to use a custom InputFormat on the java side that would have BytesWritable values.
Does this sound reasonable, and are there examples around?
C