How do I get a pointer to an array of pointers to buffers

[rodent1]

Hi,

I need to call a c++ dll and pass to it a pointer to an array of pointers to buffers. The DLL will then fill the buffers with GUID strings. But it seems that my array pointer is not valid.

This is the latest of what I have tried:

Dim $sJobIDs[100], $structJobIdsPtrs[100], $StructJobID, $JobIDsPtr
;
for $i=0 to UBound($sJobIDs) - 1
$sJobIDs[$i]="                                  " ;enough space for a GUID
$StructJobID = ByteStructFromString($sJobIDs[$i]) ;turn this string into a char array in a C++ structure
$structJobIdsPtrs[$i] = DllStructGetPtr($StructJobID) ;store the pointer to the char array structure
Next
; get a pointer to the first item in the array of pointers
$JobIDsPtr = DllStructGetPtr(DllStructCreate("ptr", $structJobIdsPtrs[0]))
msgbox(0,"","pointer value = " & $JobIDsPtr)
Func ByteStructFromString ( byref $TheString )
Dim $struct = DllStructCreate ( "byte[" & StringLen ( $TheString ) & "]" )
DllStructSetData ( $struct, 1, StringToBinary ( $TheString ) )
Return $struct
EndFunc

But when I display the value of $JobIDsPtr, I get a zero. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Edited January 19, 2012 by rodent1

[jaberwacky]

$StructJobID needs to store a struct so use DllStructCreate(Struct [,Pointer]).

[JohnOne]

Could be something to do with OS arch maybe I'm not certain about that.

But on my win 7 32 bit, I get the value of a pointer in the msgbox.

[kylomas]

But on my win 7 32 bit, I get the value of a pointer in the msgbox.

as do I on my Win7 64bit machine (running autoit as 32 bit)

kylomas

[jaberwacky]

on this line

$structJobIdsPtrs[$i] = DllStructGetPtr($StructJobID) ;store the pointer to the char array structure

he is getting the pointer of a dllstruct, but $StructJobID isn't a dllstruct. Am I wrong?

[JohnOne]

ByteStructFromString() func is returning a struct, so that is fine (I think)

[kylomas]

@LaCastiglione,

I'm not sure that it is any more complicated than

Local $structjobidsptrs = DllStructCreate("ptr[100]")
Local $ptr_jobIDptrs    = DllStructGetPtr($structjobidsptrs)

kylomas

[JohnOne]

"ptr[100]"

Is that valid?

[AdmiralAlkex]

@rodent1

That's not how you create an array of something. As the helpfile tell you on the page for DllStructCreate();

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

now the second element is an array of 128 chars. Couple that knowledge with DllStructGetPtr() and you're finished. Actually, looking at ByteStructFromString() it seems you know all this.

on this line

$structJobIdsPtrs[$i] = DllStructGetPtr($StructJobID) ;store the pointer to the char array structure

he is getting the pointer of a dllstruct, but $StructJobID isn't a dllstruct. Am I wrong?

And what do you think DllStructCreate() returns?

EDit:

@kylomas

Probably something like that.

@JohnOne

I'm not sure if you don't know how DllStructCreate() works or is trying to make a clever remark that 100 is too much/not the right amount.

Edited January 20, 2012 by AdmiralAlkex

[rodent1]

I like the simplicity of Kylomas's solution,

Local $structjobidsptrs = DllStructCreate("ptr[100]")
Local $ptr_jobIDptrs    = DllStructGetPtr($structjobidsptrs)

but it does not allocate the memory needed for the API to fill the data. I tried it as a long shot anyway. The API did not fill it.

I have a API description to go by:

Description :

Retrieves a list of job IDs of the jobs currently on the server.

The job_list array needs to be created and populated with pointers to buffers for the job IDs before calling this function.

the maximum size of each job ID is 256

C prototype :

HarmResult JOBM_getJobList(

HarmSessionHandle *session,

int32 skip,

int32 max,

char **job_list /* [] */,

int32 *num_jobs,

HarmNBTicket *nbticket)

so I start by creating the buffers, then put them in cstructs, get a pointer to those, populate my array of pointers, put the array of pointers into a cstruct, but then I fail to get a pointer to it

dim $struct_JobID ; stuct to hold GUIDs returned by API call
Dim $ptr_JobIds[100] ; struct containing an array of pointers to job ID string buffers
 for $i=0 to UBound($ptr_JobIds) - 1
  $struct_JobID = DllStructCreate("char[256]"); allocate memory for a 256 byte string struct
  $ptr_JobIds[$i] = DllStructGetPtr($struct_JobID); store a pointer to the job ID struct
 Next
 ; put the array $ptr_JobIds into a structure
 Dim $struct_ptr_JobIds = DllStructCreate("ptr", $ptr_JobIds)
 ; get a pointer to $struct_ptr_JobIds
 Dim $ptr_struct_ptr_JobIds = DllStructGetPtr($struct_ptr_JobIds)
 MsgBox(0,'Debug line ' & @ScriptLineNumber,'$ptr_struct_ptr_JobIds: I get a 0 value here!' & @lf & $ptr_struct_ptr_JobIds)
 ; put that pointer into a pointer struct
 Dim $struct_ptr_struct_ptr_JobIds = DllStructCreate("ptr", $ptr_struct_ptr_JobIds)
 Dim $ptr_ptr_JobIdPtrs = DllStructGetPtr($struct_ptr_struct_ptr_JobIds)

The command DllStructGetPtr($struct_ptr_JobIds) returns a 0.

I am a newbie in this area and appreciate all the help!

[Shaggi]

autoit arrays != c arrays. you need to create a dllstruct for 100 ptrs, and fill each with a ptr to a created dllstruct, like this:

const $MAX_BUF = 0xFF
$job_list = dllstructcreate("ptr[100]") ; char ** job_list = (char**) malloc(100 * sizeof(char*));
const $p_job_list = dllstructgetptr($job_list)

for $i = 1 to 100 ; for(int i = 0; i < 100; ++i) {
      dllstructsetdata($job_list, _ ;job_list[i] =
                $i, _
                dllstructgetptr( _
                dllstructcreate("char[" & $MAX_BUF & "]"))) ; (char*) malloc(MAX_BUF * sizeof(char));
next; }

consolewrite("job_list is located at: " & $p_job_list & @CRLF)