error: identifier "byte" is undefined.

A friend gave me some code to add to my project but I fail to compile it, probably because of the definition of byte(or BYTE, I don't know) as a variable. Here is the code that won't compile, and below are the errors from the compiler.

parser.cpp

Code:

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Parser
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

#include "parser.h"

char		Parser::token[MAXTOKEN];			// buffer for tokens
int			Parser::scriptline;
const byte *Parser::buffer;
const byte *Parser::buf_start;
const byte *Parser::buf_end;


void Parser::StartParseBuffer(const byte *buff, const int size)
{
	buf_start = buffer = buff;
	buf_end = buff + size;
	scriptline = 1;
}

void Parser::StartParseString(const char *string)
{
	buf_start = buffer = (byte *) string;
	buf_end = (byte *) string + strlen(string);
	scriptline = 1;
}

// if crossline is false, GetToken returns false when a line break is found
// GetToken(true) returns 0 only if end of file
// GetToken(false) returns 0 if line break or end of file
bool Parser::GetToken(bool crossline)
{
	char *token_p;

	if (!buffer) return 0;
	if (buffer == buf_end) return 0;

	*token = 0;	// init to zero

	// skip space
skipspace:
	while (*buffer <= 32 || *buffer == '\n')
	{
		// no se si \n, \t y \r son menores que 32, pero supongo que sí
		if (*buffer == '\n') ++scriptline;
		if (buffer >= buf_end)
		{
			if (!crossline)
			{
				//gConsole->InsertLine("Line %i is incomplete", scriptline);
			}
			return 0;
		}

		if (!crossline)
		{
			if (*buffer == '\n')
			{
				--scriptline;
				return 0;
			}
		}
		++buffer;
	}

	if (buffer >= buf_end) return 0;

	// # // comments
	if (*buffer == '#' ||
		(buffer[0] == '/' && buffer[1] == '/'))
	{
		while (*buffer++ != '\n')
		{
			if (buffer >= buf_end) return 0;
		}
		++scriptline;
		if (!crossline) return 0;
		goto skipspace;
	}

	// /* */ comments
	if (buffer[0] == '/' && buffer[1] == '*')
	{
		buffer += 2;
		while (buffer[0] != '*' &&
			buffer[1] != '/')
		{
			++buffer;
			if (buffer >= buf_end)
			{
				//print error here
				return 0;
			}
			if (*buffer == '\n') ++scriptline;
		}
		buffer += 2;
		goto skipspace;
	}

	// copy token
	token_p = token;

	if (*buffer == '"')
	{
		// quoted token
		++buffer;
		while (*buffer != '"')
		{
			*token_p++ = *buffer++;
			if (buffer == buf_end) break;
			if (token_p == &token[MAXTOKEN])
			{
				//Print Error here.
			}
		}
		++buffer;
	}
	else
	{
		// regular token
		if (*buffer == '{' ||
			*buffer == '}')
		{
			*token_p++ = *buffer++;
			*token_p = 0;
			return 1;
		}
		while (*buffer > 32 &&
			*buffer != '\n' &&
			*buffer !='{' &&
			*buffer !='}')
		{
			*token_p++ = *buffer++;
			if (buffer == buf_end) break;
			if (token_p == &token[MAXTOKEN])
			{
				//Print error here.
			}
		}
	}

	*token_p = 0;

	return 1;
}

int Parser::GetOffset(void)
{
	return (int) (buffer - buf_start);
}

void Parser::GoTo(const int offset)
{
	buffer = buf_start + offset;

}

parser.h

Code:

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Parser
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

#ifndef __PARSER_H__
#define __PARSER_H__

//#include "files.h"

#define MAXTOKEN			1024

/**
* Parser class.
* The parser class provides methods to parse files. This is specially used
* for shaders parsing.
*/
class Parser
{
public:
	static void StartParseBuffer(const byte *buffer, const int size);
	static void StartParseString(const char *string);

	static bool GetToken(bool crossline);
	static int GetOffset(void);
	static void GoTo(const int offset);

	static char token[MAXTOKEN];				/**< buffer for tokens */
	static int scriptline;

protected:

	static const byte *buffer;
	static const byte *buf_start;
	static const byte *buf_end;
};

#endif	/* __PARSER_H__ */

ERRORS

Code:

Compiling...
parser.cpp
Parser\parser.h(20): error: identifier "byte" is undefined
   static void StartParseBuffer(const byte *buffer, const int size);
                                      ^
Parser\parser.h(32): error: identifier "byte" is undefined
   static const byte *buffer;
                ^
Parser\parser.h(33): error: identifier "byte" is undefined
   static const byte *buf_start;
                ^
Parser\parser.h(34): error: identifier "byte" is undefined
   static const byte *buf_end;
                ^
Parser\parser.cpp(9): error: identifier "byte" is undefined
  const byte *Parser::buffer;
        ^
Parser\parser.cpp(10): error: identifier "byte" is undefined
  const byte *Parser::buf_start;
        ^
Parser\parser.cpp(11): error: identifier "byte" is undefined
  const byte *Parser::buf_end;
        ^
Parser\parser.cpp(14): error: identifier "byte" is undefined
  void Parser::StartParseBuffer(const byte *buff, const int size)
                                      ^
Parser\parser.cpp(23): error: identifier "byte" is undefined
   buf_start = buffer = (byte *) string;
                         ^
Parser\parser.cpp(23): error: expected an expression
   buf_start = buffer = (byte *) string;
                               ^
Parser\parser.cpp(23): error: expected a ";"
   buf_start = buffer = (byte *) string;
                                 ^
Parser\parser.cpp(24): error: expected an expression
   buf_end = (byte *) string + strlen(string);
                    ^
Parser\parser.cpp(24): error: expected a ";"
   buf_end = (byte *) string + strlen(string);
                      ^
compilation aborted for Parser\parser.cpp (code 2)

PS: If you find any other mistake or anything that needs to be changed(including a way to get rid of the goto) please let me know.

Your friend gave you some pretty crappy code. It sounds like you already understand that goto should not have been used. Likewise, using a #define when a const definition could've been used is also wrong. I looked over the code, and I couldn't find a definition of byte. So, no surprise, byte is undefined. Your friend might have forgotten to give you another library that contains the definition of byte. If I were you, though, I'd write the code myself.

change byte to unsigned char and you'll be fine.

Yeah, I think unsigned char should fix it, what puzzle me is the fact that byte is shown on Visual Studio as a keyword just like int, char or any other kind of variable.

Originally posted by Hulag
Yeah, I think unsigned char should fix it, what puzzle me is the fact that byte is shown on Visual Studio as a keyword just like int, char or any other kind of variable.

On VS .NET? byte will show like other keywords because the IDE is apparently not smart enough to only highlight keywords in the language you're using. byte is a keyword in C#, but not in C++. You're probably missing a typedef (or, given the nature of that code, a #define).