diff --git a/src/Server/buftest.cxx b/src/Server/buftest.cxx
index f7bbe0547..46bddf47e 100644
--- a/src/Server/buftest.cxx
+++ b/src/Server/buftest.cxx
@@ -1,19 +1,11 @@
 #include "message.hxx"
 
-main(int argc, char **argv)
+void dumpmessage(string msg)
 {
-	FGMPSMessageBuf	buf1, buf2;
+	FGMPSMessageBuf	buf;
 
-	buf1.clr();
-	buf1.put(fgmps_som8, true);
-	buf1.put(1);
-	for (int i=0; i<256; i++) {
-		buf1.put(fgmps_uchar, true);
-		buf1.put(i);
-	}
-	buf1.put(fgmps_eom, true);
-
-	buf2.set(buf1.str());
+	buf.set(msg);
+	buf.ofs(0);
 
 	bool done=false;
 	while (!done) {
@@ -29,17 +21,17 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		double			vald;
 		string			vals;
 		printf("dump: ");
-		for (int i=0; i<16; i++) printf("%02x ", buf2.peek(i));
+		for (int i=0; i<16; i++) printf("%02x ", buf.peek(i));
 		printf("\n");
 		try {
-			int tag = buf2.get(true);
+			int tag = buf.get(true);
 			switch (tag) {
 			case fgmps_som8:
-				mid8 = *(unsigned char *)buf2.read1();
+				mid8 = *(unsigned char *)buf.read1();
 				printf("Start Message ID = %02x\n", mid8);
 				break;
 			case fgmps_som16:
-				mid16 = *(unsigned int *)buf2.read2();
+				mid16 = *(unsigned int *)buf.read2();
 				printf("Start Message ID = %04x\n", mid16);
 				break;
 			case fgmps_eom:
@@ -47,28 +39,102 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 				done = true;
 				break;
 			case fgmps_uchar:
-				uval8 = *(unsigned char *)buf2.read1();
+				uval8 = *(unsigned char *)buf.read1();
 				printf("uchar = %02x\n", uval8);
 				break;
 			case fgmps_uint:
-				uval16 = *(unsigned int *)buf2.read2();
+				uval16 = *(unsigned int *)buf.read2();
 				printf("uint = %04x\n", uval16);
 				break;
 			case fgmps_ulong:
-				uval32 = *(unsigned long *)buf2.read4();
+				uval32 = *(unsigned long *)buf.read4();
 				printf("ulong = %08lx\n", uval32);
 				break;
 			case fgmps_ulonglong:
-				uval64 = *(unsigned long long *)buf2.read8();
+				uval64 = *(unsigned long long *)buf.read8();
 				printf("ulonglong = %16llx\n", uval64);
 				break;
+			case fgmps_char:
+				val8 = *(char *)buf.read1();
+				printf("char = %02x\n", val8);
+				break;
+			case fgmps_int:
+				val16 = *(int *)buf.read2();
+				printf("int = %04x\n", val16);
+				break;
+			case fgmps_long:
+				val32 = *(long *)buf.read4();
+				printf("long = %08lx\n", val32);
+				break;
+			case fgmps_longlong:
+				val64 = *(long long *)buf.read8();
+				printf("longlong = %16llx\n", val64);
+				break;
+			case fgmps_float:
+				valf = buf.readf();
+				printf("float = %f\n", valf);
+				break;
+			case fgmps_double:
+				vald = buf.readd();
+				printf("double = %g\n", vald);
+				break;
+			case fgmps_string:
+				uval8 = buf.get();
+				vals = buf.reads(uval8);
+				printf("string = %s\n", vals.c_str());
+				break;
 			default:
 				printf("Unknown prefix = %02x\n", tag);
 				done = true;
 				break;
 			}
 		} catch (FGMPSDataException e) {
+			printf("Data Exception\n");
 			done = true;
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+	FGMPSMessageBuf	buf;
+
+	unsigned char		uval8;
+	unsigned int		uval16;
+	unsigned long		uval32;
+	unsigned long long	uval64;
+	char			val8;
+	int			val16;
+	long			val32;
+	long long		val64;
+	float			valf;
+	double			vald;
+	string			vals;
+
+	buf.clr();
+	buf.put(fgmps_som8, true);
+	buf.put(1);
+	for (int i=0; i<256; i++) {
+		buf.put(fgmps_uchar, true);
+		buf.put(i);
+	}
+	buf.put(fgmps_eom, true);
+	dumpmessage(buf.str());
+
+	buf.clr();
+	buf.put(fgmps_som8, true);	buf.put(1);
+
+	uval8  = 251;		buf.put(fgmps_uchar, true);	buf.write1(&uval8);
+	uval16 = 34567;		buf.put(fgmps_uint, true);	buf.write2(&uval16);
+	uval32 = 1345678901;	buf.put(fgmps_ulong, true);	buf.write4(&uval32);
+	//uval64 = 9999999999;	buf.put(fgmps_ulonglong, true);	buf.write8(&uval64);
+	val8   = -120;		buf.put(fgmps_char, true);	buf.write1(&val8);
+	val16  = -17890;	buf.put(fgmps_int, true);	buf.write2(&val16);
+	val32  = -1345678901;	buf.put(fgmps_long, true);	buf.write4(&val32);
+	//val64  = -9999999999;	buf.put(fgmps_longlong, true);	buf.write8(&val64);
+	valf   = 2 * 3.14;	buf.put(fgmps_float, true);	buf.writef(valf);
+	vald   = 3 * 3.1415927;	buf.put(fgmps_double, true);	buf.writed(vald);
+	vals   = "hi there";	buf.put(fgmps_string, true);	buf.writes(vals);
+	buf.put(fgmps_eom, true);
+	dumpmessage(buf.str());
+}
diff --git a/src/Server/messagebuf.cxx b/src/Server/messagebuf.cxx
index f5ff9f218..b63509e25 100644
--- a/src/Server/messagebuf.cxx
+++ b/src/Server/messagebuf.cxx
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ void FGMPSMessageBuf::writed(double data)
 
 void FGMPSMessageBuf::writes(string data)
 {
+	put(data.length());
 	for (int i=0; i<data.length(); i++) put(data[i]);
 }