reading a file of this type

hey people, im having a really big problem with this, ive tried alsorts but im not very good at C

I have a file that was writen in this format, i can open it with notpad but its a bit unreadable!

here is how the file is made up!



First, 8 bytes of header:

Code:

---


struct TrackRecordHeader

{

        unsigned int        version;                        // version == 0x0000000a

        unsigned int        trackRecordCount;                // Number of track records stored in file

};

---

Then all the track records follow in succession. Here's how one track record looks:

Code:

---


struct TrackRecordEntry

{

        unsigned int        playerNameLength;                // Number of bytes in player name

        wchar                playerName[??];                        // Name of player, 2 bytes per character (wide-character format)

        unsigned int        carNameLength;                        // Number of bytes in car name

        char                carName[??];                        // Name of car, 1 byte per character

        FILETIME        dateTime;                        // Date & time when record was made, see <windows/wtypes.h>

        float                time;                                // Record time, measured in seconds

};

---

The FILETIME structure is defined in the standard Windows SDK. A look in MSDN yields the following information:



The FILETIME structure is a 64-bit value representing the number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1601.

Code:

---


        typedef struct _FILETIME { // ft

            DWORD dwLowDateTime;

            DWORD dwHighDateTime;

        } FILETIME;

---

... so you should be able to manipulate the FILETIME structure with standard Win32 API calls.







Then all the checkpoint records follow, as a linear stream of floats:

Code:

---


        unsigned int        numberOfCheckpointTimes;                // Number of checkpoint times that follow

        float                checkpointTimes[??];                        // All the checkpoint times, measured in seconds

---

could anybody help on how i would open this file and view it in a normal text or ascii!

Thanks guys!

fopen() the file in binary mode
fread() the structures
printf() the data in the structure

thanks for the info, but im having problems!!!

c:\program files\miracle c\test\test.c: line 8: Parse Error, expecting `']'' or `NUMBER'
'float checkpointTimes [??]'

Dunno what that is about!!!
and wchar is not recognised

im sorry if i sound stupid but im learning as you read this!

o and how do i fread structs?

Sorry

please help

Stu

First step is get a better compiler than that miracle toy
Try www.compilers.net, and get say bloodshed dev-c++

woooooooo, still getting errors witht he [??] bit
and the wchar bit!

This seems so hard todo but i really wanna crack it!

plese anybody can you help as much as posible!

thanks
stu

The wchar might be fixed with a wchar_t and #include <wchar.h>

Code:

---

struct TrackRecordEntry
{
  unsigned int  playerNameLength;
  wchar_t      playerName[??];
  unsigned int  carNameLength;
  char          carName[??];
  FILETIME      dateTime;
  float        time;
};

---

As the error you encountered indicates, you need to either specify as having an unknown size ([]), or specify a size (using a number). You cannot declare an array like this.

Code:

---

char carName[??];

---

I believe that it is implied that the length member preceding the array member is the length of the subsequent array. But the value contained in the file will not be known to the compiler at compile time. You might change the arrays to pointers and dynamically allocate memory to them given their lengths.

Code:

---

struct TrackRecordEntry
{
  unsigned int  playerNameLength;
  wchar_t      *playerName;
  unsigned int  carNameLength;
  char        *carName;
  FILETIME      dateTime;
  float        time;
};

---

At some point, it will benefit you greatly to post your own code that you are developing (pruned reasonably to demonstrate any issues), not just some structure definitions. Attaching a sample file might also be beneficial after compilation is successful.

thanks for the info mate, really appreciate it!

Here is what ive come up with so far!

Sorted out getting the file to open in Binary mode!
the code that wsa suggested for [??] worked fine! :)

but im still having problems with the FILETIME bit
Parse error before DWORD and FILETIME here is my code, lol i know its not doing much or anything but like i said before im learning!

Code:

---

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

typedef struct _FILETIME { // ft
            DWORD dwLowDateTime;
            DWORD dwHighDateTime;
        } FILETIME;

unsigned int        numberOfCheckpointTimes;                // Number of checkpoint times that follow
float                *checkpointTimes;                        // All the checkpoint times, measured in seconds

struct TrackRecordHeader
{
        unsigned int        version;                        // version == 0x0000000a
        unsigned int        trackRecordCount;                // Number of track records stored in file
};

struct TrackRecordEntry
{
  unsigned int  playerNameLength;
  wchar_t      *playerName;
  unsigned int  carNameLength;
  char        *carName;
  FILETIME      dateTime;
  float        time;
};

int main() {
  FILE *file; /* declare a FILE pointer */

  file = fopen("1.rec", "rb");
  /* open a text file for reading */

  if(file==NULL) {
    printf("Error: can't open file.\n");
    /* fclose(file); DON'T PASS A NULL POINTER TO fclose !! */
    return 1;
  }
  else {
    printf("File opened. Now closing it...\n");
        fclose(file);
    return 0;
  }
}

---

Now i need to work out how to fread the strucs! lol im so poo at this! :P

Thanks guys!

right sorted the FILETIME bit of this, hehe making progress!!!!

Ive posted my 8.c file for you to look at, i ran a compile with no errors so im happy so far!

now all i need is to fread the structs! and fprint them :P

thanks for the help so far guys! been relly good! please help more, i need this cracked! :P

>now all i need is to fread the structs!

Well, there is a little more to it. As I mentioned, the dynamic allocation will be required before you can read the arrays into memory. And by attaching a file, I meant the file you intend to read.

To give you something to chew on, here is a rather ugly example. I use foo() to create my own file in place of the one you are trying to read but didn't attach. The bar() function is where I read it back. This will be similar to the code you are developing.

Code:

---

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

void foo(const char *filename)
{
  FILE *file = fopen(filename, "wb");
  if(file)
  {
      unsigned int value = 2;
      char buffer[BUFSIZ] = "Dave_Sinkula";

      fwrite(&value, sizeof(value), 1, file);

      value = strlen(buffer);
      fwrite(&value, sizeof(value), 1, file);
      fwrite(buffer, sizeof(*buffer), value, file);

      strcpy(buffer, "cooliced");
      value = strlen(buffer);
      fwrite(&value, sizeof(value), 1, file);
      fwrite(buffer, sizeof(*buffer), value, file);

      fclose(file);
  }
}

struct sRead
{
  unsigned int  names;
  struct
  {
      unsigned int  length;
      char        *array;
  } *name;
};

void bar(const char *filename)
{
  FILE *file = fopen(filename, "rb");
  if(file)
  {
      struct sRead info;
      fread(&info.names, sizeof info.names, 1, file);
      printf("info.names = %u\n", info.names);
      info.name = malloc(info.names * sizeof(*info.name));
      if(info.name)
      {
        unsigned int u;
        for(u = 0; u < info.names; ++u)
        {
            fread(&info.name[u].length, sizeof info.name[0].length, 1, file);
            printf("info.name[%u].length = %d\n", u, info.name[u].length);
            info.name[u].array = malloc((info.name[u].length * sizeof(*info.name[0].array)) + 1);
            if(info.name[u].array)
            {
              fread(info.name[u].array, info.name[u].length, sizeof(*info.name[0].array), file);
              info.name[u].array[info.name[u].length] = '\0';
              printf("info.name[%u].array = \"%s\"\n", u, info.name[u].array);
            }
        }
      }
      fclose(file);
  }
}

int main(void)
{
  const char filename[] = "file.txt";
  foo(filename);
  bar(filename);
  return(0);
}

/* my output
info.names = 2
info.name[0].length = 12
info.name[0].array = "Dave_Sinkula"
info.name[1].length = 8
info.name[1].array = "cooliced"
*/

---

And note that I'm sloppy and didn't free the memory that was dynamically allocated, nor did I check return values for success of fread and fwrite.

hey thanks dave for the code and the advice, sorry i didnt post the file i want to view but here it is!

and dont worry about your sloppy coding! its helping me alot!

thanks again!

hey guys, still not got much further, im a little stuck on using the fread() with strucs, ive been over you example a million times but i cant seem to grasp it, is there anyway witch you could comment on what bits do what!

thanks guys again!

Stu:p

Quote:

---

Originally posted by cooliced
hey guys, still not got much further, im a little stuck on using the fread() with strucs, ive been over you example a million times but i cant seem to grasp it, is there anyway witch you could comment on what bits do what!

thanks guys again!

Stu:p

---

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>

struct
{
    char name[10];  // Person's Name
    char addr[10];  // Person's Address
} person;          // Define a person

int main ()
{
    FILE *st;
   
    st = fopen("adr.txt", "r");            // open the file
    fread(&person, sizeof(person), 1, st);  // Read the first record
          // &person        address of the structure
          // 1              number of person records to read
          // sizeof(person) size of one record
          // st            input stream

    printf(" [%s] [%s]\n", person.name, person.addr);
    fclose(st);

    return 0;
}

---