Passing std::ofstream object as argument to class method - c++

Question

As previous questions have been answered, the way to pass a std::ofstream object as a function argument seems to be to instead pass a reference: std::ofstream&.
Whilst this solution compiles, the resulting output is not equivalent to creating an std::ofstream object within the method then calling write().
The code below does not give the correct output:
In main.cpp:
std::ofstream file(path + "output.stubs");
stub->writeRaw(file); //stub is a pointer to an object of class Stub
file.close();
In Stub.cpp:
void Stub::writeRaw(std::ofstream& file) {
file.write((char*)this, sizeof(*this));
}
The correct output is given by both changing Stub.cpp to:
void Stub::writeRaw(void) {
std::ofstream file(path + "output.stubs");
file.write((char*)this, sizeof(*this));
file.close();
}
or writing the object to the file in main instead of calling a class method.
Any help on this behaviour would be greatly appreciated!
EDIT
Some context for the class Stub:
Stub.hpp
#pragma once
#include <iostream>
#include <ios>
#include <fstream>
#include "constants.hpp"
#include "DataTypes.hpp"
class Stub {
private:
StubHeader header;
StubIntrinsicCoordinates intrinsic;
StubPayload payload;
public:
Stub(void);
virtual ~Stub(void);
StubHeader getHeader(void);
StubIntrinsicCoordinates getIntrinsicCoordinates(void);
StubPayload getPayload(void);
void setHeader(StubHeader stub_header);
void setIntrinsicCoordinates(StubIntrinsicCoordinates stub_intrinsic);
void setPayload(StubPayload stub_payload);
void print(void);
void writeRaw(std::ofstream& file);
};
And the relevant data types are defined as follows:
struct StubHeader {
uint8_t bx;
uint8_t nonant;
};
struct StubIntrinsicCoordinates {
uint8_t strip;
uint8_t column;
int crossterm;
};
struct StubPayload {
bool valid;
int r;
int z;
int phi;
int8_t alpha;
int8_t bend;
uint8_t layer;
bool barrel;
bool module;
};
EDIT 2
The (toy) code to read the stub is as follows:
std::ifstream r(path + "output.stubs");
Stub s;
r.read((char*)&s, sizeof(s));
s.print();
Only one stub is written to the file as this was a test of functionality. The print function for the Stub class is as follows:
void Stub::print(void) {
std::cout << "----- Header -----" << '\n';
std::cout << "bx: " << std::dec << (int)header.bx << '\n';
std::cout << "nonant: " << std::dec << (int)header.nonant << '\n';
std::cout << "----- Intrinsic Coordinates -----" << '\n';
std::cout << "strip: " << std::dec << (int)intrinsic.strip << '\n';
std::cout << "column: " << std::dec << (int)intrinsic.column << '\n';
std::cout << "crossterm: " << std::dec << (int)intrinsic.crossterm << '\n';
std::cout << "----- Payload -----" << '\n';
std::cout << "valid: " << std::boolalpha << payload.valid << '\n';
std::cout << "r: " << std::dec << (int)payload.r << '\n';
std::cout << "z: " << std::dec << (int)payload.z << '\n';
std::cout << "phi: " << std::dec << (int)payload.phi << '\n';
std::cout << "alpha: " << std::dec << (int)payload.alpha << '\n';
std::cout << "bend: " << std::dec << (int)payload.bend << '\n';
std::cout << "layer: " << std::dec << (int)payload.layer << '\n';
std::cout << "barrel: " << std::boolalpha << payload.barrel << '\n';
std::cout << "module: " << std::boolalpha << payload.module << "\n\n";
}
EDIT 3
For completeness and transparency, please find below the exact code for main.cpp:
int main(int argc, char const *argv[]) {
Geometry g;
g.generateModuleLUTs();
g.generateCorrectionLUTs();
std::vector<std::array<Stub*, PAYLOAD_WIDTH> > all_stubs;
std::vector<Module> modules = g.getData();
for (int i = 0; i < LINK_NUMBER; i++) {
LinkGenerator link_gen;
LinkFormatter link_formatter(link_gen.run());
StubFormatter stub_formatter(link_formatter.run(), i);
std::array<Stub*, PAYLOAD_WIDTH> stubs = stub_formatter.run(modules);
CoordinateCorrector coordinate_corrector(stubs);
all_stubs.push_back(coordinate_corrector.run());
}
std::ofstream f(path + "output.stubs");
all_stubs[0][0]->writeRaw(f);
all_stubs[0][0]->print();
std::ifstream r(path + "output.stubs");
Stub s;
r.read((char*)&s, sizeof(s));
s.print();
return 0;
}

Answer 1

The bug in the code was that I was not calling file.close() before constructing the std::ifstream object to read the file again. This was the cause of the unexpected behaviour.
Writing a class to file using this seems to be valid, although it is important that you are careful and know exactly what you want to write to a file.
Thank you to everyone who commented and helped to answer this question!