Retrieving information from a pointer

[this-is-me]

I am recieving a pointer to a string from the last function in my script, and would like to know if Ejoc or another DllCall guru can tell me how to retrieve the information at the pointer given only the pointer as a return.

(excuse the messy variable names)

$flnm = @SystemDir & "\shell32.dll"
$ret = DllCall("version.dll", "int", "GetFileVersionInfoSize", "str", $flnm, "ptr", "")
$ret2 = DllCall("version.dll", "int", "GetFileVersionInfo", "str", $flnm, "int", 0, "int", $ret[0], "ptr", DllStructGetPtr(DllStructCreate("char[" & $ret[0] & "]")))
;$val = "\StringFileInfo\040904B0\CompanyName"
$val = "\StringFileInfo\040904B0\FileDescription"
$len = DllStructCreate("int")
$bufferpointer = DllStructCreate("int")
$ret3 = DllCall("version.dll", "int", "VerQueryValue", "ptr", $ret2[4], "str", $val, "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($bufferpointer), "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($len))

From the information on VerQueryValue on MSDN, $ret3[3] is recieving a pointer to a string in memory. I tried to read the string using DllStructGetData($ret3[3], 1), but that function is only designed to allow structures created with DllStructCreate to be accessed.

Does anyone specifically know a way to get the data pointed to by $ret3[3]?

[GaryFrost]

Needs some work, my brain doesn't want to wrap around the last part (reading the documentation, says a pointer to a variable that receives a pointer):

expandcollapse popup

$flnm = @SystemDir & "\shell32.dll"
$fp = DllStructCreate("char[" & StringLen($flnm) + 1 & "]")
if @error Then
    ConsoleWrite("1: Error in DllStructCreate " & @error)
    Exit
EndIf
DllStructSetData($fp,1,$flnm)
$np = DllStructCreate("ptr")
if @error Then
    DllStructDelete($fp)
    ConsoleWrite("2: Error in DllStructCreate " & @error)
    Exit
EndIf
$ret = DllCall("version.dll", "int", "GetFileVersionInfoSize", "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($fp), "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($np))
$ptr = DllStructCreate("char[" & $ret[0] & "]")
if @error Then
    DllStructDelete($fp)
    DllStructDelete($np)
    ConsoleWrite("3: Error in DllStructCreate " & @error)
    Exit
EndIf
$ret2 = DllCall("version.dll", "int", "GetFileVersionInfo", "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($fp), "int", 0, "int", $ret[0], "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($ptr))
;$val = "\StringFileInfo\040904B0\CompanyName"

$val = "\StringFileInfo\040904B0\FileDescription"

$pv = DllStructCreate("char[" & StringLen($val) + 1 & "]")
if @error Then
    DllStructDelete($fp)
    DllStructDelete($np)
    DllStructDelete($ptr)
    ConsoleWrite("4: Error in DllStructCreate " & @error)
    Exit
EndIf
DllStructSetData($pv,1,$val)
$len = DllStructCreate("int")
if @error Then
    DllStructDelete($fp)
    DllStructDelete($np)
    DllStructDelete($ptr)
    DllStructDelete($pv)
    ConsoleWrite("5: Error in DllStructCreate " & @error)
    Exit
EndIf
;~ struct VS_FIXEDFILEINFO { 
;~   DWORD dwSignature; 
;~   DWORD dwStrucVersion; 
;~   DWORD dwFileVersionMS; 
;~   DWORD dwFileVersionLS; 
;~   DWORD dwProductVersionMS; 
;~   DWORD dwProductVersionLS; 
;~   DWORD dwFileFlagsMask; 
;~   DWORD dwFileFlags; 
;~   DWORD dwFileOS; 
;~   DWORD dwFileType; 
;~   DWORD dwFileSubtype; 
;~   DWORD dwFileDateMS; 
;~   DWORD dwFileDateLS; 
;~ };
$bufferpointer = DllStructCreate("ptr")
if @error Then
    DllStructDelete($fp)
    DllStructDelete($np)
    DllStructDelete($ptr)
    DllStructDelete($pv)
    DllStructDelete($len)
    ConsoleWrite("6: Error in DllStructCreate " & @error)
    Exit
EndIf
$ret3 = DllCall("version.dll", "int", "VerQueryValue", "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($ptr), "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($pv), "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($bufferpointer), "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($len))
DllStructDelete($fp)
DllStructDelete($np)
DllStructDelete($ptr)
DllStructDelete($pv)
DllStructDelete($len)
; not sure how to go about getting the data here yet
DllStructDelete($bufferpointer)

Gary

Edited August 3, 2005 by gafrost

[this-is-me]

That's what I found too. It is essentially a pointer to a pointer type from what I gather. I can see no immediate way to get the information without sending the $bufferpointer to a function (though who knows which one) that inserts the string pointed to into another string that we can specify with a DllStructCreate. It beats me which api would be used to do that.

example pseudocode

$bufferpointer = {return from above code}

$string = DllStructCreate("char[" & DllStructGetSize($bufferpointer) & "]")

$return = DllCall(StringCopy("str",$string,$ptr, $bufferpointer))

DllStructGetData($return[1],1) would then be exactly what I need.

Edited August 3, 2005 by this-is-me

[Valik]

Add this:

$thedata = DllStructCreate("char[" & DllStructGetData($len, 1) & "]", DllStructGetData($bufferpointer, 1))
ConsoleWrite(DllStructGetData($thedata, 1) & @CR)

After this:

$ret3 = DllCall("version.dll", "int", "VerQueryValue", "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($ptr), "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($pv), "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($bufferpointer), "ptr", DllStructGetPtr($len))

And RTFM why I don't subsequently DllStructDelete() it.

[herewasplato]

RTFM - Read The Fantastic Manual

Kudos to the many contributors to the manual!

(Sorry, I've just been waiting to post that for a while now.)

[this-is-me]

Thanks to Valik for getting the answer for me on this one.