Problem referencing structure elements by pointer

Hi folks,

I feel a little guilt coming here and only asking questions - hard for me to contribute to the community here much at the moment as I'm on a steep learning curve. A big thanks for all of the help I've had here so far. Hope you don't mind me asking further questions...

I'm building a set of functions which are intended to read a set of configuration data from a .conf text-based file into a structure. I want a "getConfDataFromFile" function to fill the configuration structure such that I can use it something like this:-

Code:

---

struct configurationOptions thisProcessConfig;
if ( getConfDataFromFile(&thisProcessConfig) ) {
 doYourThing();
} else {
 bail("Couldn't load configuration file");
}

---

So far I have the following piece of code. The getStringFromConf and getIntFromConf have been tested and appear to work succesfully. My problem is with the loadConfigurationOptionsFromFile function, which gives the following errors on compile attempt:-

Code:

---

includes/configuration.h:45: error: request for member ‘host’ in something not a structure or union
includes/configuration.h:46: error: request for member ‘host’ in something not a structure or union
includes/configuration.h:50: error: request for member ‘port’ in something not a structure or union
includes/configuration.h:51: error: request for member ‘port’ in something not a structure or union

---

... etc (they all fail).

This is the full code, with the function causing me a problem highlighted in red:-

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <string.h>

#include "defines.h"

/* A structure to hold all of our configuration data */
typedef struct  {
        char        host[16];
        int                port;
        char        adminHost[16];
        int                adminPort;
        int                logLevel;
        int                selfConsumeMode;
        ushort        queueSize;
        char        pidFilePath[120];
        int                persistMessages;
} configurationOptions;


/* Load up config options from conf file to supplied structure */
int loadConfigurationOptions(struct configurationOptions *suppliedStructure) {
       
        /* We need at least a host and port for the queue and for admins */
        if (!getStringFromConf("host", suppliedStructure.host, sizeof suppliedStructure.host)) {
                return(0);
        }
       
        suppliedStructure.port = getIntFromConf("port");
        if (suppliedStructure.port == 0) {
                return(0);
        }
       
        if (!getStringFromConf("adminhost", suppliedStructure.adminHost, sizeof suppliedStructure.adminHost)) {
                return(0);
        }
       
        suppliedStructure.adminPort = getIntFromConf("adminport");
        if (suppliedStructure.adminPort == 0) {
                return(0);
        }

        /* Anything missing from here on is non-critical and we'll use defaults if we can't load */
        suppliedStructure.logLevel = getIntFromConf("loglevel");
        if (suppliedStructure.logLevel == 0) {
                suppliedStructure.logLevel = LOG_LEVEL_DEFAULT;
        }

        /* Defaults to zero (off) if the int fails to load */
        suppliedStructure.selfConsumeMode = getIntFromConf("selfconsume");

        suppliedStructure.queueSize = getIntFromConf("queuesize");
        if (suppliedStructure.queueSize == 0) {
                suppliedStructure.queueSize = QUEUE_SIZE;
        }
       
        /* Maximum size of an IPC V queue is 65535 */
        if (suppliedStructure.queueSize > 65535) {
                suppliedStructure.queueSize = QUEUE_SIZE;
        }
       
        if ( !getStringFromConf("pidfilepath", suppliedStructure.pidFilePath, sizeof (suppliedStructure.pidFilePath-1)) ) {
                strcpy(suppliedStructure.pidFilePath, PID_FILE_PATH);
        }

        return(1);
}

int getStringFromConf(const char * searchkey, char *resultValue, size_t resultSize) {
        int result, i = 0;
        char c[120];
        FILE *f = NULL;
        f = fopen(CONF_FILE_PATH, "r");
        if (f != NULL)  {

                while ( fgets(c, 120, f) != NULL ) {
                        char *sep = "=";
                        char *key, *value = "";
                        key = strtok(c, sep);
                        value = strtok(NULL, sep);

                        if ( (value != NULL) && (strcmp(key, searchkey) == 0) ) {
                                if ( strlen(value) > resultSize-1 ) {
                                        result = 0;
                                        strncpy(resultValue, CONF_FILE_BUFFERSIZE_ERROR, resultSize);
                                } else {
                                        strncpy(resultValue, value, resultSize);

                                        /* remove any newlines */
                                        for ( i = 0; i < 119; i++ ) {
                                            if ( resultValue[i] == '\n' ) {
                                                resultValue[i] = '\0';
                                                break;
                                            }
}
                                        result = 1;
                                }
                        }
                }

                fclose(f);

        } else {
                result = 0;
                strncpy(resultValue, CONF_FILE_NOTFOUND_ERROR, resultSize);
        }
        return result;
}

/* Only to be used to fetch positive ints */
int getIntFromConf(const char * searchkey) {
        /* Returns either an positive integer value or -1 in event of error */
        char charValue[10];
        int j = -1;

        if ( getStringFromConf(searchkey, charValue, 9) ) {
                j = atoi(charValue);
        }
        return j;
}

---

Full code posted for completeness, although I have a feeling that my problem lies in the way that I'm trying to reference the supplied structure by pointer.

Any shove in the right direction would be much appreciated......

Use -> instead of . when dealing with pointers of structs. (Little more indepth than this, but this'll get you started.)

It's a pointer, so you want to dereference it first,

Code:

---

(*suppliedStructure).host

---

or the shorthand way.

Code:

---

suppliedStructure->host

---

Many thanks - that looks like it will correct my original code.

How do I do the sizeof though, if suppliedStructure->host is actually a pointer to something (in which case will sizeof not consistently be a 4 byte int)?

Thanks!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by trillianjedi

How do I do the sizeof though, if suppliedStructure->host is actually a pointer to something (in which case will sizeof not consistently be a 4 byte int)?

---

Yes, it will be the size of a pointer if you use sizeof on a pointer, but you aren't.
You are using it on a char array (host), so you're alright.

Thanks - I understand now. So the "->" actually de-references....

I'm now getting different compiler errors :-

Code:

---

includes/configuration.h:67: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type

---

Does this relate to my typing the struct in the function call parameters? I always though that was considered good practice, so I'm not sure why my compiler is complaining?

You have not defined such a thing as a struct configurationOptions. You've defined an anonymous struct (which you obviously can't use as a parameter), and you've defined configurationOptions.

What tabstop tries to explain is that there is no such thing as "struct configurationOptions", because you made the struct anonymous.
However, you did give that anonymous a name -- configurationOptions. So just type "configurationOptions" instead of "struct configurationOptions".

OK - many thanks. The code now compiles, so that's fab and I'm grateful for your help.

However, I'm left slightly confused as to why my structure is "anonymous"? My understanding (which appears incorrect) was that typedef acts to define my structure, and make it known thing rather than anonymous?

Well, what I mean is that the struct (before the typedef happens) doesn't have its own name. (Like "struct whatever".)

That's the thing.
A struct is defined as:

Code:

---

struct StructName
{
/* Contents */
}

---

In this case, the structure's name is actually StructName (but to create something of this, you have to type struct StructName).
Now we can use a typedef:

Code:

---

typedef struct StructName StructName;

---

...to give it another name.
But a struct can also be anonymous in the sense you don't give it a name:

Code:

---

struct
{
/* Contents */
}

---

Anonymous struct.
We can combine the typedef with the anonymous struct to give the anonymous struct a name, which is what you did.

OK - my intention is that this is a structure which is known as a "configurationOptions" structure. Is my typedef somehow inccorect?

Thanks again for you help.

Code:

---

typedef struct  {
        char        host[16];
        int                port;
        char        adminHost[16];
        int                adminPort;
        int                logLevel;
        int                selfConsumeMode;
        ushort        queueSize;
        char        pidFilePath[120];
        int                persistMessages;
} configurationOptions;

---

No, it's correct. It is known as "configurationOptions", not "struct configurationOptions".

Examples:
An anonymous struct:

Code:

---

struct {
    int var1;
    float var2;
} foo;

---

foo is a variable of a type that can't be named (hence anonymous).
A struct configurationOptions would be

Code:

---

struct configurationOptions {
    char host[16];
    int port;
    char etcetera;
}

---

What you have done is taken the first struct (an anonymous one) and typedef'ed it to the name "configurationOptions" (without the struct). So it's a struct that is known as configurationOptions, not as "struct configurationOptions".

Aha! Lightbulb moment.....

Thanks - you've clarified that for me greatly.

So the next natural question is have I done this the right way? So I have an anonymous structure which is typedef'd to the name configurationOptions. Taking the "struct" out of my function will let that compile.

However, the requirement for using this function is that I hand the function a pointer to the configurationsOptions anonymous structure. As it's anonymous, any declarations would be of something of unknown size wouldn't they?

Added - here's what I mean, the following code gives a "storage size of ‘tmpbuf’ isn’t known" error:-

Code:

---

        struct configurationsOptions tmpbuf;
        if ( !loadConfigurationOptions(&tmpbuf) ) {
                return(0);
        }

---

For my usage of this structure in this way, do I need to ensure that it is not anonymous ?

If the typedef is visible, that's fine -- you just need to call it "configurationOptions" (since that's the name you gave it in the typedef) instead of "struct configurationsOptions".

Edit to add: At this point, I would say, if you have most of your code referring to "struct configurationOptions" to not typedef it but make it a named struct; if it's just a few mentions, go ahead and change those mentions. There's no advantage either way (typedef vs. named struct), so do whatever causes the least amount of typing at this point.

Anonymous means it simply doesn't have a name - nothing more.
Again, remove the "struct" keyword because there is no struct named configurationsOptions. There is only something named configurationsOptions.
As long as you have a full declaration of the struct, you can do a sizeof on it.

Many thanks - all clear now and code working :)

I wouldn't recommend typedef'ing it the same as the struct name,

I tend to do, along with a lot of other people

Code:

---

typedef struct name_s
{

} name_t;

---

That way you know, name_t is a type, and name_s is a struct.

Note that there's nothing actually wrong with using the same name for the structure as you do for the typedef, it's just rather confusing. :)