char [150] doesn't fit into char[150] ?

[ghostcoder]

In my current project I have a union

union IFDEntry
{
	unsigned char BYTE;
	unsigned char ASCII[150];
	unsigned short int SHORT;
	unsigned int LONG;
	Bruch RATIONAL;
	signed char SBYTE;
	unsigned char UNDEFINED;
	short int SSHORT;
	int SLONG;
	SBruch SRATIONAL;
	float FLOAT;
	double DOUBLE;
};

and a function with a pointer to an instance in memory

void ReadIFDEntry(unsigned long Entry, IFDEntry *pointer, FILE *pFile)

within the function i try to apply a unsigned char [150] variable to the ASCII "part" of the union:

unsigned char Text[150];
		
[...]
		
*pointer->ASCII = Text;

when compiling i get the following error:

error C2440: '=': 'unsigned char [150]' canno be converted into 'unsigned char'

I guess the solution is pretty easy but I have no idea at the moment.

[EVOEx]

*pointer->ASCII = Text;

Is identical to:

pointer->ASCII[0] = Text;

You're trying to set a single character to the pointer to the string, which is obviously wrong. Look into strcpy.

[grumpy]

In any event, if you want to copy arrays of char, use functions like strcpy() rather than assignment. The compiler is also required to complain about an assignment of the form "pointer->ASCII = Text;" as arrays are not copied that way.

If you want to copy strings using assignment, use the standard string type (std::string from the <string> header) instead of arrays of char.

[ghostcoder]

thank you for your replys but unfortunately both solutions didn't worked out.

if I use std:string the compiler doesn't accept this in a union structure since it has its own copy functions.

If I use strcpy() with the char array, I get the following error:

error C2664: 'strcpy': convertion of parameter 1 of 'unsigned char [150]' in 'char *' not possible

I also tried to copy the string char by char with a for-loop but i get an access violation error

[jimblumberg]

I also tried to copy the string char by char with a for-loop but i get an access violation error

That should work.

Show the code where you tried.

As you have already stated strcpy() doesn't work on unsigned char and would also require the end of string terminator. But you should checkout memcpy().

Jim

[ghostcoder]

ok first here is the code i used for the char by char methode:

for (int a = 0; a < Count; a++)
{
     fread(&Text[a], 1, 1, pFile);
    pointer->ASCII[a] = Text[a];
}

I get the following error from the debugger:

Unhandled exception at 0x0114188f in NEF_Reader.exe: 0xC0000005:
Access violation while writing at position 0x00000000. 

I also tried memcpy with following code:

memcpy(pointer->ASCII,  &Text, sizeof(Text));

but I get the following error from the debugger:

Unhandled exception at 0x66b7ed6a in NEF_Reader.exe: 0xC0000005:
Access violation while writing at position 0x00000000. 

[php]

[tabstop]

0x0000000 == NULL pointer. You've got a pointer to a structure; you appear not to have any actual structures themselves. Either you should pass in the address of an existing structure, or your Read function should malloc the space needed for a structure to exist.

[jimblumberg]

What is the value of count?
And how is "pointer" declared?

for (int a = 0; a < Count; a++)
{
     fread(&Text[a], 1, 1, pFile);
    pointer->ASCII[a] = Text[a];
}

Is it possible you are using "->" when you should be using "."?

Jim

[grumpy]

Hmmm ... I wrote too fast in my previous post. It's true that std::string cannot be used in a union, and that strcpy() does not work for unsigned char.

Check to make sure that pointer is not NULL. If it is, the address of pointer->ASCII[0] will also be NULL (albeit of different type), and writing to a NULL pointer is verboten. Regardless of whether that happens in a loop or with memcpy().

[ghostcoder]

@grumpy

i changed the pointer declaration as followed:

IFDEntry *IFD = new IFDEntry;

and give it to the function as value:

ReadIFDEntry(272, IFD, File);

the function is declared as followed:

void ReadIFDEntry(unsigned long Entry, IFDEntry *pointer, FILE *pFile)

but still I get the same error.

@jimblumberg

count has a value of 10
I'm using VC++ 2008 and if I use . instead of -> the compiler gives me an error:

 error C2228: left of ".ASCII" has to be a  class/strukture/Union .
1>        Typ is 'IFDEntry *'
1>        did you want to use '->' instead? 

[ghostcoder]

ok I found the error! While trying to initialize the value at the pointers adress I used the statement

IFD = 0;

but that didn't went to the value but the adress itself

Shame on me -.-