Is this an EOF problem ?

I have this struct

Code:

typedef struct
{
 int  salary;
 char id[9];
 char name[12];
 char surname[15];
 char origin[15];
}record;

and i also have a binary file that includes records as the above.
I want to make a function to delete records with the desired ID. My idea was to zero those blocks of memory and write them back to bin file, so look what i've done :

Code:

void SO_deleteRecord(FILE *IO)
{
 int recsNum;
 char id[9];
 char toCmp[recSize];

 record tempRec;


      //Initialize
      rewind(IO);
      recsNum = 0;
      memset(toCmp,0,recSize);

      //Interface to read id
      printf("\n\nInsert ID : ");
      getStr(id,9);
      while(checkStr(id,ALN))
      {
        printf("ID should be consisted of letters and numbers.\n");
        printf("Insert ID : ");
        getStr(id,9);
      }

      puts("\n");

      //Search for this record
      while(fread(&tempRec,1,recSize,IO) == recSize)
      {
        if((memcmp(&tempRec,toCmp,recSize) != 0)&&(strcmp(tempRec.id,id) == 0))
        {
          //Set all block to 0
          memset(&tempRec,0,recSize);

          //Move back one record
          fseek(IO,-recSize,SEEK_CUR);

          //Write it back to file
          fwrite(&tempRec,1,recSize,IO);

          printf("%d record with ID = %s has been deleted.\n",++recsNum,id);
        }
      }

      puts("\n");

      //If no record found
      if(recsNum == 0)
        printf("Record with ID = %s hasn't been found.\n\n",id);
}

My algorithm follows those steps :
1 While you can read from file (not EOF)
2 If record isn't empty (zero bytes)
3 Turn it to zero bytes and then
4 Move file pointer back one record (to write to the specific position)
5 Write the empty block (zero bytes) to file

The problem is in the bold text and especially is that the loop runs for ever if the record is located near the end.

If the record is located near the beginning it works fine, so i suppose the problem is the end of file.

Any ideas whats wrong ?

Thanks in advance !!

I don't think this is an EOF issue.
Throw a printf in at the beginning of the loop to see what data it is reading:

Code:

while(fread(&tempRec,1,recSize,IO) == recSize)
      {
printf("->%s<-\n",tempRec.id); fflush(stdout);
        if((memcmp(&tempRec,toCmp,recSize) != 0)&&(strcmp(tempRec.id,id) == 0))
        {

Originally Posted by MK27

I don't think this is an EOF issue.
Throw a printf in at the beginning of the loop to see what data it is reading:

I did that and it prints a range of records all the time.
ex

.....
ID : N111111
Surname : PAPPAS
Name : PETER
Origin : BOSTON
Salary : 19169

ID : Z111111
Surname : DIMAS
Name : KOSTAS
Origin : ATHENS
Salary : 15724

ID : F111111
Surname : TSARTA
Name : MARIA
Origin : THIVA
Salary : 11478

.....

But every time those records are different.

Extra question : while(fread(&tempRec,1,recSize,IO) == recSize) shouldn't terminate loop when reach the end of file anyway ?

Originally Posted by ch4

Extra question : while(fread(&tempRec,1,recSize,IO) == recSize) shouldn't terminate loop when reach the end of file anyway ?

Definitely it would terminate the loop at EOF. I don't see why your loop doesn't work the way you want, since altho while you set the file pointer back, it should end up at the end after writing.

You said in the OP that the loop "runs forever"; presumably the number of records is not infinite, so can you not tell from the debug content (ie the printf) of the loop what it is actually doing?

It's actually prints the message in the loop "XXXX record with ID = * has been deleted" and the bin file is getting bigger and bigger.

Look my search function which is working fine.

Code:

void SO_searchRecord(FILE *IO)
{
 int recsNum;
 char id[9];
 char toCmp[recSize];

 record tempRec;


      //Initilize
      recsNum = 0;
      rewind(IO);
      memset(toCmp,0,recSize);

      //Interface
      printf("\nInsert the ID of the record to search for : ");
      getStr(id,9);
      while(checkStr(id,ALN))
      {
        printf("ID should be consisted of letters and numbers.\n");
        printf("Insert ID : ");
        getStr(id,9);
      }

      printf("\nRecord(s) found with ID %s : ",id);

      //Start to search
      while(fread(&tempRec,1,recSize,IO) == recSize)
      {
        if((memcmp(&tempRec,toCmp,recSize) != 0)&&(strcmp(tempRec.id,id) == 0))
        {
          puts("\n");
          fprintf(stdout,"-------%d-------\n",++recsNum);
          fprintf(stdout,"ID : %s \n",tempRec.id);
          fprintf(stdout,"Surname : %s \n",tempRec.surname);
          fprintf(stdout,"Name : %s \n",tempRec.name);
          fprintf(stdout,"Origin : %s \n",tempRec.origin);
          fprintf(stdout,"Salary : %d \n",tempRec.salary);
        }
      }

      //If no record found
      if(recsNum == 0)
        puts("None\n");
}

It's working the same way !!!!

Originally Posted by ch4

It's actually prints the message in the loop "XXXX record with ID = * has been deleted" and the bin file is getting bigger and bigger.

Oops! It sounds like fwrite is appending the data, so by moving back, you insert an empty record in front of the one you meant to zero out. Over and over again.

I actually haven't done this for sure so I can't give you a tested solution*. Maybe start a new thread and ask how to use fwrite to overwrite rather than append; it might be as simple as an argument to fopen().

Probably you want to write a short test program using a throw away file while you figure this overwrite vs. insert issue out.

*or at least I don't remember this issue

Yes thats true !!!
You're amazing on finding the problem, but how to overwrite ??

I'll google it and if no result i'll create a new thread.

Thanks MK27 you rock !!!

This is how I overwrite a binary record:

I don't understand why you would want to write out an empty record. Mark it deleted, and go on.

Code:

/***************************************************************************/

void delSR()

{
   record stud;
   fpos_t filepos;
   int ch, j=0;
   long long int num;
   clrscr();
   rewind(fp);
   gotoxy(35,2);printf("\n\nDELETE STUDENT RECORD. Enter student to be deleted.");
   printf("\n\nStudent number   = ");
   scanf("%lld", &num);

   while( fread (&stud,sizeof(stud),1,fp) )
   {
      if(num==stud.snum)
      {
         j++;
         printf("\n\nStudent found: \n\n");
         printf("\nStudent number    =  %lld", stud.snum);
         printf("\nPassword          =  %s", stud.password);
         printf("\nName              =  %s, %s %s", stud.lname, stud.fname, stud.mi);
         printf("\nBirthdate         =  %s", stud.bday);
         printf("\nCourse            =  %s", stud.course);


         printf("\n\n\nAre you sure you want to delete the above student record(s)? Y if yes\n\n");
         ch=toupper(getche());

         if(ch=='Y')
         {
            filepos = ftell(fp);
            filepos -= sizeof(stud);
            fseek(fp,filepos,SEEK_SET);
            stud.snum = -1;  //indicating a deleted record
            fwrite(&stud,sizeof(stud),1,fp);

            printf("\n\nStudent record deleted... ");
         }
         else
            printf("\n\nNo Record Deleted...");
      }
   } 
   if(j == 0)
      printf("\n\nThat Record Was Not Found...");
   getch();

}

The actual data isn't changed, except the -1 value that is put into the field for student number.

After many deletions, if the additions don't "take up" enough records, then your program can compress the data, and eliminate all or most of the deleted records (your choice).

It's good to have some empty records though.

If you'd like to see the pseudo code for the compression function, let me know.

Fortunately i had to do one exercise with two different ways.
The first one i've already finished, works the same with your idea, namely i use three $ for an empty (useless) record by using strcpy(tempRec.id,"$$$") and write it back to file.

But i have to do the same exercise with one more different way, so i decided to use zero blocks and now i can't write empty blocks and that's why they appended and not overwritten.

To sum up, thank you for your reply and if you have a new idea to accomplish my exe let me now please.

[SOLVED]

I've tried the same code in a linux machine (Ubuntu 8.10) and works perfect.

Previous the code had been compiled in a solaris machine and gcc hadn't been updated to the latest version, so i suppose that was the problem.

[/SOLVED]

Thank everyone