convert long to pointer to char array

Hi there,

I have created a function which accepts a pointer to a char array (unsigned char *insert) and inserts the corresponding byte values into a file (char *fname) at a specified position(unsigned long pos) with length(unsigned long insertlen). this appears to work ok. Does such a routine already exist ?

Anyway, this is part of a much larger program to build a database of repeating words/sequences in a file and their corresponding file positions. . . . . . .

However, I also need to insert a long into positions within the file, so I tried to convert it to a pointer to a char array, which is where errors occur, either in conversion or when *longvar is passed into the insertintofile function. For efficiency, I don't really want to split the long variable into 4 unsigned char's then to a pointer to an unsigned char array eg. *sequence in void main():

Code:

//this code causes the program to halt
unsigned char *longvar=reinterpret_cast<unsigned char*>(wordpos); //wordpos=long var of file position of sequence
insertintofile("testfile.dat", longvar, 10, sizeof(long));

This is the insertintofile test program & function:

Code:

#include <iostream> //used for console input/output
#include <fstream> //used for file input/output
#include <io.h> //used to enable filelength checking
#include <conio.h> //used to enable getch() function

using namespace std;

void insertintofile(char *fname, unsigned char *insert, unsigned long pos, unsigned long insertlen);

void main () {
unsigned char *sequence=new unsigned char[4];
*sequence=97;
*(sequence+1)=98;
*(sequence+2)=99;
*(sequence+3)=100;
insertintofile("testfile.txt", sequence, 10, 4);
}

void insertintofile(char *fname, unsigned char *insert, unsigned long pos, unsigned long insertlen) {
fstream orig;
fstream temp;
orig.open(fname, ios::in | ios::out | ios::binary);
temp.open("tempfile.dat", ios::out | ios::trunc | ios::binary);
orig.seekg(pos, ios::beg);
char ch=0;
while (orig.get(ch)) temp.put(ch);
temp.close();
orig.clear();
orig.seekp(pos, ios::beg);
for (unsigned long insertpos=0; insertpos<insertlen; insertpos++) {
int belter=*(insert+insertpos);
cout << "belter=" << belter;
orig.put(belter);
}
temp.open("tempfile.dat", ios::in | ios::binary);
while (temp.get(ch)) orig.put(ch);
orig.close();
temp.close();
remove("tempfile.dat");
}

Any help would be appreciated,
thanks
Gary

I don't understand well what is the problem, if you use a long pointer, it would just be ok, the pointer, once converted will be treated as a unsigned char * and will be written normally, if not, there probably something I missed.

To write a long using your insertintofile function:

Code:

long num = 0x64636261;
insertintofile("testfile.txt", reinterpret_cast<char *>(&num), 10, sizeof(long));

Or you can take your original function, and make a new function to write a long:

Code:

void insertintofile(char *fname, long insert, unsigned long pos) {
fstream orig;
fstream temp;
orig.open(fname, ios::in | ios::out | ios::binary);
temp.open("tempfile.dat", ios::out | ios::trunc | ios::binary);
orig.seekg(pos, ios::beg);
char ch=0;
while (orig.get(ch)) temp.put(ch);
temp.close();
orig.clear();
orig.seekp(pos, ios::beg);
orig.write(reinterpret_cast<char *> (&insert), sizeof(long));
temp.open("tempfile.dat", ios::in | ios::binary);
while (temp.get(ch)) orig.put(ch);
orig.close();
temp.close();
remove("tempfile.dat");
}

>void main ()

Oh, and don't use void main(), use int main(). Read the programming faq here for why.

Swoopy - you're a genius. I used your first suggestion - converting the long variable within the function call, like this:

Code:

unsigned long filepos=1684234849;
insertintofile("testfile.txt", reinterpret_cast<unsigned char *>(&filepos), 10, sizeof(long));

The above unsigned long value converts into 97,98,99,100 ie. when the file it is inserted into is read in Notepad as a textfile, the letters 'abcd' have effectively been inserted into file positions 10 to 13. I only used ascii values for testing purposes.

Eg. text file:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

becomes:

abcdefghijabcdklmnopqrstuvwxyz

This means I can keep my function unchanged - you see I want to use it not only to insert file positions represented by an unsigned long, but also to insert sequences (which may be from 2 bytes to thousands or more (in theory) ). The whole program I'm building is a compression program (ouch) - more for experience really!!

Once again - thanks for your help.

Gaz

Gaz, I figured you probably wanted to leave the function unchanged. You indicated in the first post you would be inserting various data. I'm glad passing the long's address plus the casting worked. Have fun with the compression program .

Swoopy