Files help

Hi i´m doing a program that requires sending a message with the lenght of the file and it´s content. How can i do this. I know how to send the content of the file, if the file contains characters, but how can i do this if the file can be of any tipe, like jpg or gif.

You can read the file as a binary file into a buffer..and then send it byte by byte.

Tanks but can you be more especific.
I do this:

Code:

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File *fp;
fp = fopen("...", "rb");

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and then wath? i have to read the file and save is content in some place, but how can i do that.

For reading the file in binary mode, you can use the function fread()
IIRC, its syntax is fread(void *ptr,size_t size,int num,FILE* source);
here,
1) ptr is the buffer where the data is to be read into,
2) size is the size of each item read (in bytes)
3) num is the number of items to be read.
4) source is the pointer to the input stream.

Go through the tutorials on the site if you aren't familiar with pointers and arrays.

Also, for sending the data, you can use two methods..
1) read the whole file into a buffer and then send it.
2) read certain number of bytes into the buffer, send them and continue this way till the file ends.

Personally i prefer method 2 as it is better and saves space as well as time.

Ok i have done something like this

Code:

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int array[file_lenght];

fread(array,sizeof(int), file_length, file);

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i want to do this to read jpg files, the problem is i dont know the lenght of the file so how can i know it

well, to know the length/size of the file you can use these functions fseek() and ftell(). make the file pointer to point at the last element and the call ftell. u will get the size. sample code

Code:

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fseek(fp,0,SEEK_END);  // making the fuile pointer point at last

size = ftell(fp);

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ssharish2005

Ok i´ve done something like this.

Code:

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FILE *fp;

if(fp != NULL) {
  fseek(fp,0,SEEK_END);
  bytes = ftell(fp);
  int array[bytes];
  fread(array, sizeof(int), bytes, fp);
}

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Now i want to to print the file content, how can i do it.

The same way you print anything.


Quzah.

I guess you need to work more with arrays and pointers before you jump into file I/O
1) int array[bytes] . Variable length arrays are not allowed in C.
2) fseek(fp,0,SEEK_END); This will set the file pointer to the end of the file, no use reading from the end now, is there? nothing that is wanted will be read into the buffer.
3) The fopen() call is missing.

You need to have more experience with C before jumping into file I/O.

Quote:

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I guess you need to work more with arrays and pointers before you jump into file I/O
1) int array[bytes] . Variable length arrays are not allowed in C.
2) fseek(fp,0,SEEK_END); This will set the file pointer to the end of the file, no use reading from the end now, is there? nothing that is wanted will be read into the buffer.
3) The fopen() call is missing.

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This is just a piece of my code. The fopen() call is there. And why cannot
i make this int array[bytes] . bytes its an int.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by maritos

This is just a piece of my code. The fopen() call is there. And why cannot
i make this int array[bytes] . bytes its an int.

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You can, only if you have a C99 compiler. If you don't, it is illegal in C. In otherwords, before C99, you could not have arrays declared whose size was dependant on another variable.


Quzah.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by maritos

Ok i´ve done something like this.

Code:

---

FILE *fp;

if(fp != NULL) {
  fseek(fp,0,SEEK_END);
  bytes = ftell(fp);
  int array[bytes];
  fread(array, sizeof(int), bytes, fp);
}

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Now i want to to print the file content, how can i do it.

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Are you sure you want to try to read sizeof(int) * bytes bytes from the file? Wouldn't bytes bytes be what you want?