public static String readString(DataInput di,int charsToRead) throws IOException {
  final byte[] buf=new byte[charsToRead];
  di.readFully(buf);
  return new String(buf);
}

public static String readString ( DataInput di , int charsToRead ) throws IOException { final byte [ ] buf = new byte [ charsToRead ] ; di . readFully ( buf ) ; return new String ( buf ) ; }
read a string of a specified number of ascii bytes
