diff --git a/Foundation/include/Poco/BinaryReader.h b/Foundation/include/Poco/BinaryReader.h
index 3454741be..2318f9b87 100644
--- a/Foundation/include/Poco/BinaryReader.h
+++ b/Foundation/include/Poco/BinaryReader.h
@@ -164,6 +164,12 @@ public:
 		/// Returns the byte-order used by the reader, which is
 		/// either BIG_ENDIAN_BYTE_ORDER or LITTLE_ENDIAN_BYTE_ORDER.
 
+	void setExceptions(std::ios_base::iostate st = (std::istream::failbit | std::istream::badbit));
+		/// Sets the stream to throw exception on specified state (default failbit and badbit);
+
+	std::streamsize available() const;
+		/// Returns the number of available bytes in the stream.
+
 private:
 	std::istream&  _istr;
 	bool           _flipBytes; 
@@ -176,14 +182,14 @@ class BasicMemoryBinaryReader : public BinaryReader
 	/// A convenient wrapper for using Buffer and MemoryStream with BinaryReader.
 {
 public:
-	BasicMemoryBinaryReader(Buffer<T>& data, StreamByteOrder byteOrder = NATIVE_BYTE_ORDER):
+	BasicMemoryBinaryReader(const Buffer<T>& data, StreamByteOrder byteOrder = NATIVE_BYTE_ORDER):
 		BinaryReader(_istr, byteOrder),
 		_data(data),
 		_istr(data.begin(), data.capacity())
 	{
 	}
 
-	BasicMemoryBinaryReader(Buffer<T>& data, TextEncoding& encoding, StreamByteOrder byteOrder = NATIVE_BYTE_ORDER):
+	BasicMemoryBinaryReader(const Buffer<T>& data, TextEncoding& encoding, StreamByteOrder byteOrder = NATIVE_BYTE_ORDER):
 		BinaryReader(_istr, encoding, byteOrder),
 		_data(data),
 		_istr(data.begin(), data.capacity())
@@ -194,11 +200,6 @@ public:
 	{
 	}
 
-	Buffer<T>& data()
-	{
-		return _data;
-	}
-
 	const Buffer<T>& data() const
 	{
 		return _data;
@@ -215,7 +216,7 @@ public:
 	}
 
 private:
-	Buffer<T>& _data;
+	const Buffer<T>& _data;
 	MemoryInputStream _istr;
 };
 
@@ -268,6 +269,18 @@ inline BinaryReader::StreamByteOrder BinaryReader::byteOrder() const
 }
 
 
+inline void BinaryReader::setExceptions(std::ios_base::iostate st)
+{
+	_istr.exceptions(st);
+}
+
+
+inline std::streamsize BinaryReader::available() const
+{
+	return _istr.rdbuf()->in_avail();
+}
+
+
 } // namespace Poco
 
 
diff --git a/Foundation/testsuite/src/BinaryReaderWriterTest.cpp b/Foundation/testsuite/src/BinaryReaderWriterTest.cpp
index 351ca4119..17efb046f 100644
--- a/Foundation/testsuite/src/BinaryReaderWriterTest.cpp
+++ b/Foundation/testsuite/src/BinaryReaderWriterTest.cpp
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ void BinaryReaderWriterTest::read(BinaryReader& reader)
 void BinaryReaderWriterTest::testWrappers()
 {
 	bool b = false; char c = '0'; int i = 0;
-	Buffer<char> buf(64);
+	Buffer<char> buf(2 * sizeof(bool) + sizeof(char) + 2 * sizeof(int));
 
 	MemoryBinaryWriter writer(buf);
 	writer << true;
@@ -265,8 +265,18 @@ void BinaryReaderWriterTest::testWrappers()
 	reader >> b; assert (b);
 	reader >> b; assert (!b);
 	reader >> c; assert ('a' == c);
+	assert(reader.available() == sizeof(i) * 2);
 	reader >> i; assert (1 == i);
+	assert(reader.available() == sizeof(i));
 	reader >> i; assert (-1 == i);
+	assert(reader.available() == 0);
+
+	reader.setExceptions(std::istream::eofbit);
+	try
+	{
+		reader >> i;
+		fail ("must throw on EOF");
+	} catch(std::exception&) { }
 }