Function Reference

DllStructCreate

Creates a C/C++ style structure to be used in DllCall.

DllStructCreate ( Struct [,Pointer] )

Parameters

Struct A string representing the structure to create (See Remarks).
Pointer [optional] If supplied the struct will not allocate memory but use the pointer supplied.

Return Value

Success: A variable for use with DllStruct calls.
Failure: 0.
@Error: 0 = No Error.
1 = Variable passed to DllStructCreate was not a string.
2 = There is an unknown Data Type in the string passed.
3 = Failed to allocate the memory needed for the struct, or Pointer = 0.
4 = Error allocating memory for the passed string.


Type Details
BYTE 8bit(1byte) unsigned char
BOOLEAN 8bit(1byte) unsigned char
CHAR 8bit(1byte) ASCII char
WCHAR 16bit(2byte) UNICODE wide char
short 16bit(2bytes) signed integer
USHORT 16bit(2bytes) unsigned integer
WORD 16bit(2bytes) unsigned integer
int 32bit(4bytes) signed integer
long 32bit(4bytes) signed integer
BOOL 32bit(4bytes) signed integer
UINT 32bit(4bytes) unsigned integer
ULONG 32bit(4bytes) unsigned integer
DWORD 32bit(4bytes) unsigned integer
INT64 64bit(8bytes) signed integer
UINT64 64bit(8bytes) unsigned integer
ptr 32 or 64bit unsigned integer (depending on if the x86 or x64 version of AutoIt is used)
HWND 32bit(4bytes) integer
HANDLE 32bit(4bytes) integer
float 32bit(4bytes) floating point
double 64bit(8bytes) floating point
INT_PTR, LONG_PTR, LRESULT, LPARAM 32 or 64bit signed integer (depending on if the x86 or x64 version of AutoIt is used)
UINT_PTR, ULONG_PTR, DWORD_PTR, WPARAM 32 or 64bit unsigned integer (depending on if the x86 or x64 version of AutoIt is used)
STRUCT The following datatypes will be align according to C declaration rules. See below.
ENDSTRUCT end of the collection datatypes. Padding can occurs see below.
ALIGN n bytes boundary where datatype must be aligned.

Remarks

Each data type must be separated by a semi-colon ';'.

Create arrays by adding '[size]' after the data type: DllStructCreate("int;char[128]")

An elementname can be added similar to a C-style declaration: DllStructCreate("int n;char buffer[128]").
This dataname can be used in place of the element in other DllStruct... functions. The dataname must be alphanumeric or an underscore.

If a collection of datatypes is defined as in a "struct{}" in C declaration, the "STRUCT; ...; ENDSTRUCT;" must be used.
This needs to be done to respect alignment inside the entire structure creation. No need if all datatypes are in the defined structure as an implicit structure alignment is done.

DllStructCreate("int;STRUCT;ptr;int;ENDSTRUCT;int") ; structure is 32 bytes under a Windows 64-Bit and 16 under Windows 32-Bit
DllStructCreate("int;ptr;int;int") ; structure is 24 bytes under a Windows 64-Bit and 16 under Windows 32-Bit

To use a different alignment prefix the structure with the align keyword. The default value for n is 8. Valid values are 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16. The alignment of a member will be on a boundary that is either a multiple of n or a multiple of the size of the member, whichever is smaller. This is equivalent to the #pragma pack option with the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler.

DllStructCreate("short;int") ; structure is 8 bytes, the "int" is at offset 4
DllStructCreate("align 2;short;int") ; structure is 6 bytes, the "int" is at offset 2

DllStructCreate("byte;double") ; structure is 16 bytes, the "double" is at offset 8
DllStructCreate("align 4;byte;double") ; structure is 12 bytes, the "double" is at offset 4

If a change of alignment is needed "align" can be use before the first element which need to be changed.
"align" or "align 8" leads to default alignment.

To release allocated memory just set the returned variable to 0.

The following aggregate alignment rules apply:

The alignment of an array is the same as the alignment of one of the elements of the array.

The alignment of the beginning of a structure is the maximum alignment of any individual member.
Each member within the structure is be placed at its proper alignment as defined in the previous table, which require implicit internal padding, depending on the previous member.

Structure size is an integral multiple of its alignment, which requires padding after the last member.

Related

DllCall, DllStructGetData, DllStructSetData, DllStructGetPtr, DllStructGetSize, IsDllStruct

Example


;=========================================================
;   Create the struct
;   struct {
;       int             var1;
;       unsigned char   var2;
;       unsigned int    var3;
;       char            var4[128];
;   }
;=========================================================
Local $str = "int var1;byte var2;uint var3;char var4[128]"
Local $a = DllStructCreate($str)
If @error Then
    MsgBox(0, "", "Error in DllStructCreate " & @error);
    Exit
EndIf

;=========================================================
;   Set data in the struct
;   struct.var1 = -1;
;   struct.var2 = 255;
;   struct.var3 = INT_MAX; -1 will be typecasted to (unsigned int)
;   strcpy(struct.var4,"Hello");
;   struct.var4[0]  = 'h';
;=========================================================
DllStructSetData($a, "var1", -1)
DllStructSetData($a, "var2", 255)
DllStructSetData($a, "var3", -1)
DllStructSetData($a, "var4", "Hello")
DllStructSetData($a, "var4", Asc("h"), 1)

;=========================================================
;   Display info in the struct
;=========================================================
MsgBox(0, "DllStruct", "Struct Size: " & DllStructGetSize($a) & @CRLF & _
        "Struct pointer: " & DllStructGetPtr($a) & @CRLF & _
        "Data:" & @CRLF & _
        DllStructGetData($a, 1) & @CRLF & _
        DllStructGetData($a, 2) & @CRLF & _
        DllStructGetData($a, 3) & @CRLF & _
        DllStructGetData($a, 4))

;=========================================================
;   Free the memory allocated for the struct if needed
;=========================================================
$a = 0