[Gambas-user] Arrays of Structs - how to - and curious debug message

[Brian G]

Varptr does work on the array as a whole or a scripture as a whole.
I shoved memcopy into a module called copyall
It checks the data type and calls the correct version of memcopy as needed.
So in the code you need only have one call. Gambas does allow to see what type of data you are handling.
The module entry point looks like
Sub _call( day as variant, src  as variant, length as integer) as pointer
sub StructPtr(variable as variant) as pointer
With these I am able to do most things, inside just hides the c calls.
With fast unsafe in your module or class header, the calls are close to realtime.  The code is translated into c code and then compiled linked and executed.
Hope this help
--
Thanks
Brian G Tuesday, 15 June 2021, 10:56AM -07:00 from John Anderson  johna at starflightinc.com :

>On 6/14/2021 12:34 PM, Brian G wrote:
> And one more example using embedded structures and arrays, showing how to call c fucntions with arrays and structures
> how to redefine the c call to allow muliple uses of the function with differing inputs to that function
>
> ' Gambas module file
>
> Public Struct newit
> x[20] As Byte
> End Struct
>
> Public Struct byeit
> c As Integer
> b As Float
> e[20] As Struct Newit
> End Struct
>
> Public Struct Hello
> b As Integer
> c As Integer
> d As Long
> e As Float
> f As Struct Byeit
> g[20] As Struct Byeit
> End Struct
>
> ' We will use memcpy for two purposes , get the real address of the data, actually copy the data
>
> Extern memcpy(dest As Hello, src As Hello, len As Integer) As Pointer In "libc:6"
> Extern Arraymemcpy(dest As Pointer, src As Pointer, len As Integer) As Pointer In "libc:6" Exec "memcpy"
>
> Public b As Struct Hello
> Public c[20] As Struct Hello
>
> Public Sub Main()
> b.b = 43
> 'Static xx As Struct Hello
>
> Dim a As Variant = b
> Dim e As Hello = c[1]  ' these just set pointers
> Dim f As Hello = c[2]
> Dim g As Hello = c[3]
> g.d = 500
> g.e = 3.67
> c[3].g[0].e[0].x[0] = 32
> ' Calc Struct length do pointer math c[1]-c[0]
> Dim iStructLen As Integer = memcpy(c[1], c[1], 0) - memcpy(c[0], c[0], 0)
>
> Print "Struct len = "; iStructLen, "Dest Values before copy ", f.d, f.e, f.g[0].e[0].x[0]
> 'Copy one entry to another
> memcpy(f, g, iStructLen)
> Print c[2].d, c[2].e, c[2].g[0].e[0].x[0] ' g = c[3] f = c[2]
> a.b = 45
>
> Print a.b, b.b
> ' Display the actual address Of Each element And root
> Print memcpy(a, a, 0), memcpy(b, b, 0), arraymemcpy(VarPtr(c), VarPtr(c), 0), memcpy(e, e, 0), memcpy(f, f, 0), memcpy(g, g, 0)
> Print VarPtr(a), VarPtr(b), VarPtr(c)
> Print "Hello world"
>
> End
>
>
> "Failure is the key to success;
> each mistake teaches us something"  .. Morihei Ueshiba
> Brian G
>
>Thanks Brian, I got that response on Bugtracker too.  I guess what had 
>me fouled up is (at least until yesterday)  is that the Wiki Extern and 
>Wki How To  didn't make it very clear that you have to use the struct 
>definition to send pointer to sruct.  I interpreted the wiki as : 
>declare struct "abc" and then struct abc gets converted to pointer in 
>EXTERN function call.  I guess it makes more sense now that I see a 
>concrete example.  I thought EXTERN command would look at the instanced 
>struct name and know how to compute the pointer to data...but you have 
>to setup EXTERN call to match up to the array struct you want to send .  
>Oops.
>
>I think a good example like yours would make an excellent clarification 
>to wiki.  That would save users lots of time.
>
>There is a big distinction between copying Pointers in gambas - like 
>MySvar = MySVarArray[5]: that will work.  BUT you have just copied 
>pointers, not data contents.
>
>I need to copy data contents between array of struct to another unique 
>struct, as you are showing.
>
>As C user - It seems a little odd that there is no way in Gambas to 
>retrieve a pointer to struct array without calling C function.  But then 
>again array of structs isn't really a real array - which is the same 
>type of problem we run into with dotNet where the data has to be 
>marshaled around to and from compatible C call.  It really slows 
>everything down on dotNet when you need a lot of fast C calls.
>
>Our conversion problem is:  We've got dozens of structs and array of 
>struct.  It's not my choice - we have to interface with other vendors' C 
>code for machine controls, machine vision etc.  And we now have to 
>maintain several versions of the same EXTERN memcpy call for each struct 
>array type - each with different parameter calls to define EXTERN calls 
>for different arrays.  And Benoît says he wont be making Struct[] any 
>sort of type with built-in .Copy or .VarPtr method, etc.  OK.  That's 
>how Gambas works, and I can't change that.
>
>Without thinking too much (and is probably bad idea):  It would be cool 
>if somehow Struct[] were the parent of all storage class datatypes (and 
>if only one element in the array you ditch the square brackets) but we 
>don't have that option now, and I don't even know if that could work for 
>interpreter.  Dang.
>
>SO - We are deciding to re-evaluate the situation and see if it isn't 
>better to put everything into C anyway, and move away from GBasic 
>dialect style of storage altogether.  We have to move a lot of data 
>around fast - in between each video frame sometimes - so it might be 
>better to stick to straight C altogether - which puts our data as close 
>as possible to our control system calls.
>
>Thanks Again!!
>
>-John
>
>
>
>
>
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