istream &operator>>(istream &in, InventoryItem &item) // Serialized binary extraction
{
    char *descChar, *dateChar;
    int qty = 0;
    int descLength = 0;
    int dateLength = 0;
    double wholesale = 0.0;
    double retail = 0.0;

    // description
    in.read((char *)&descLength, sizeof(descLength)); // Read the length of the description
    descChar = new char[descLength];
    in.read(descChar, descLength);

    // dateAdded
    in.read((char *)&dateLength, sizeof(dateLength)); // Read the length of the date
    dateChar = new char[dateLength];
    in.read(dateChar, dateLength);

    // qtyOnHand
    in.read((char *)&qty, sizeof(qty));

    // wholesaleCost
    in.read((char *)&wholesale, sizeof(wholesale));

    // retailCost
    in.read((char *)&retail, sizeof(retail));

    // Store each char in a stringstream (to convert from Cstring to string)
    stringstream descSS;
    for(int i = 0; i < descLength; ++i)
    {
        descSS << descChar[i];
    }

    // Store each char in a stringstream (to convert from Cstring to string)
    stringstream dateSS;
    for(int i = 0; i < dateLength; ++i)
    {
        dateSS << dateChar[i];
    }

    item.description = descSS.str();
    item.dateAdded = dateSS.str();
    item.qtyOnHand = qty;
    item.wholesaleCost = wholesale;
    item.retailCost = retail;

    delete[] descChar;
    delete[] dateChar;
    descChar = NULL;
    dateChar = NULL;

    return in;
}

ostream &operator<<(ostream &out, const InventoryItem &item) // Serialized binary insertion
{
    // description
    int descriptionLength = item.description.length();
    out.write((char *)&descriptionLength, sizeof(descriptionLength)); // Save the length of the description
    out.write(item.description.c_str(), descriptionLength);

    // dateAdded
    int dateLength = item.dateAdded.length();
    out.write((char *)&dateLength, sizeof(dateLength)); // Save the length of the date
    out.write(item.dateAdded.c_str(), dateLength);

    // qtyOnHand
    out.write((char *)&item.qtyOnHand, sizeof(item.qtyOnHand));

    // wholesaleCost
    out.write((char *)&item.wholesaleCost, sizeof(item.wholesaleCost));

    // retailCost
    out.write((char *)&item.retailCost, sizeof(item.retailCost));

    return out;
}