Using Temporary Files

Hello,

I am trying to use temporary files in my C program but I am getting a Debug Assertion Failed error.
It happens when the program terminates. I am using ANSI C functions.

I am posting test code below. I have taken out all error checks for clarity.

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
FILE * tempFile;
FILE * fp;
char string[80] = {0};
long length = 0;

fp = fopen("test.txt", "r");

fseek(fp, 0l, SEEK_END);
length = ftell(fp); /*get length of file*/
fseek(fp, 0l, SEEK_SET);

tempFile = tmpfile();

fread((void *)tempFile, sizeof(char), length, fp); /*copy file to tempfile, this is the problem*/

printf("%s\n", tempFile); /*prints out whole file*/

fseek(fp, 0l, SEEK_SET);

fgets(string, 80, fp);
printf("%s\n", string);

fseek(tempFile, 0l, SEEK_SET); /*fseek returns a -1 here meaning it can't seek*/

fgets(string, 80, tempFile);
printf("%s\n", string);

fclose(fp);
fclose(tempFile);

return 0;
}

I know why the error happens, it is becuase of the fread, probably tring to free memory that isn't there,
but how else do I copy the whole file? Am I using tmpfile wrong? If so can you please direct me to the correct
way to use tmpfile.

The reason I want to do this is for file safety, I don not want the file to get corrupted if the OS crashes.
Open file, copy to buffer, close file, use buffer to parse and format data instead of the file.
Any help is very much appreciated.

Thank you,
UC.

Not sure if I know what you want but...

Code:

---

int ch;
FILE *file, *tempfile;

file = fopen("test.txt", "r");
tempfile = fopen("temp.txt", "w");

while((ch = fgetc(file)) != EOF) /* this loop does it all */
    fputc(ch, tempfile);

fclose(file);
fclose(tempfile);

---

This will write all of test.txt to temp.txt.
Also you should add error checking to the fopen's.

Thanks for your suggestion C_Coder, but that still is creating a file on the drive.
I would like to use temp files that are in memory and still use them as files with fgets() and other file functions.
The tmpfile function creates a file in memory but I can't seem to access it as a file.
The fread function copies the whole file to tempFile, I can print what tempFile is pointing to but I can't use file functions on it.

Is your way the way they do it in released programs such as IE, etc.
Or is there a other ways to do it.

Regards,
UC.

> fread((void *)tempFile, sizeof(char), length, fp); /*copy file to tempfile, this is the problem
You're dealing with two FILE*s

you fread from fp into a buffer
you fwrite to tempFile from that buffer

> but that still is creating a file on the drive
Well if you wanted safety in case of OS crash - a good job it does

>you fread from fp into a buffer
>you fwrite to tempFile from that buffer

I see, that makes sense.

>> but that still is creating a file on the drive
>Well if you wanted safety in case of OS crash - a good job it does

So do you suggest creating a duplicate of the file on the drive to work from,
instead of working from the memory?

Is it good for small files?
Is it good for large files?
Is it good for graphic files?

UC.

Quote:

---

So do you suggest creating a duplicate of the file on the drive to work from,
instead of working from the memory?

---

If you have a duplicate in memory and the OS crashes you will lose that anyway.
And you can delete one of the files with the remove function

Code:

---

int remove(char *filename);

---

So you won't end up with loads of temporary files clutterring up your hard drive:D

There's no point creating a temp version, if all you're doing is reading from it.

For writing (safely), you do
fin = fopen("in","r");
fout=fopen("out","w");

When you're all done, you remove "in", and rename "out" to "in"

Thank you for your help guys. Its working know.

fread((void *)wholeFile, sizeof(char), length, fp);
fwrite((void *)wholeFile, sizeof(char), length, tempFile);

I just wanted to read from the file and keep it memory just
incase the user would like to reload the coordinates that it contains.

Thanks again,
UC.