Simple Byte Array problem

Hi, it's been 10 years since I have had to deal with bytes. I'm a little rusty please help...

I have to fetch contents of a url (easy part), but the result is a byte array which I have to convert for use. The byte array contains int's & strings

1) Even though the byte array was created on an online machine of unknown type running unknown software, are the strings still null terminated like c?

2) as far as I'm aware int's are of variable byte length, so if I asked the company what size their int byte lengths are, would that sound a stupid question?

Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OldGit

Hi, it's been 10 years since I have had to deal with bytes. I'm a little rusty please help...

I have to fetch contents of a url (easy part), but the result is a byte array which I have to convert for use. The byte array contains int's & strings

1) Even though the byte array was created on an online machine of unknown type running unknown software, are the strings still null terminated like c?

2) as far as I'm aware int's are of variable byte length, so if I asked the company what size their int byte lengths are, would that sound a stupid question?

Thanks!

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when you "fetch" something - do you know the size of it?
then you can nul-terminate it manually

about ints - are they represented as binary or as strings as well?

in the first case you need to know how many bytes are used and the endiannel as well

in the second case - you do not need it, just convert string to int using one of available methods

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vart

when you "fetch" something - do you know the size of it?
then you can nul-terminate it manually

about ints - are they represented as binary or as strings as well?

in the first case you need to know how many bytes are used and the endiannel as well

in the second case - you do not need it, just convert string to int using one of available methods

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The order is..
int-string-string-int-int
encoded as utf-8

I know in java you can read the strings with a convenience method such as..
myString = readUTF(myBinary);

...Ah I think i have had a breakthrough, I have been imagining the byte array with each byte in its own array position such as...(psuedo)..lets say an int has two bytes...

myArray[0] = IntByteOne
myArray[1] = IntByteTwo
myArray[2] = stringByteOne
myArray[3] = stringByteTwo
myArray[4] = stringByteThree
myArray[5] = stringByteFour etc

So in my head i thought i had to know the length of bytes an int was on the sending machine. and test for null termination string by iterating through EACH element of the array.


But, I believe that may be wrong, am I right in saying the structure is more like this...

myArray[0] = IntByteOne, IntByteTwo
myArray[1] = stringByteOne,stringByteTwo, stringByteThree, stringByteFour

...in which case i do not need to know the length of int or string, as each datatype exists on its own index?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vart

in the first case you need to know how many bytes are used and the endiannel as well

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The machine its coming off is running .net is that of a standard endian type?

Wouldn't you be using htonl, htons, ntohl, ntohs for such endianness conversions?

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Originally Posted by laserlight

Wouldn't you be using htonl, htons, ntohl, ntohs for such endianness conversions?

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So with those functions you just mentioned, are you saying that the guys sending the byte array with .net would have used those functions to convert datatypes to (from microsofts site) "TCP/IP network byte order (which is big-endian)"


So i would be expecting big endian?

hmm... I recommend reading Beej's Guide to Network Programming.

*Thread moved to Networking/Device Communication forum*

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OldGit

The order is..
int-string-string-int-int
encoded as utf-8

I know in java you can read the strings with a convenience method such as..
myString = readUTF(myBinary);

...Ah I think i have had a breakthrough, I have been imagining the byte array with each byte in its own array position such as...(psuedo)..lets say an int has two bytes...

myArray[0] = IntByteOne
myArray[1] = IntByteTwo
myArray[2] = stringByteOne
myArray[3] = stringByteTwo
myArray[4] = stringByteThree
myArray[5] = stringByteFour etc

So in my head i thought i had to know the length of bytes an int was on the sending machine. and test for null termination string by iterating through EACH element of the array.


But, I believe that may be wrong, am I right in saying the structure is more like this...

myArray[0] = IntByteOne, IntByteTwo
myArray[1] = stringByteOne,stringByteTwo, stringByteThree, stringByteFour

...in which case i do not need to know the length of int or string, as each datatype exists on its own index?

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Was I right with this new found perception of the structure of a 'byte array' ?

if myArray is bytearray
myArray[0] is a byte, how it can store more than one byte - I do not know

PS. Net uses 32-bit ints