Serialize a variable length structure

[hatemtaleb]

Hello, I want to serialize structure like this: struct FRAME{ int Len;// size of Text following char Text[]; } ; the problem is that this is not a fixed length variable! how could I read the structures after being serialized? Thanks

[_Superman_]

Read 4 bytes first to get the length value. Now read the number of bytes identified by length.

«_Superman_» I love work. It gives me something to do between weekends.

[Stuart Dootson]

The way it's usually done is something like this:

• Read Len from whatever you're reading from
• Allocate a buffer of size Len + sizeof Len bytes.
• Copy Len into the first sizeof Len bytes of the buffer
• Read Len bytes into the buffer after the copied value of Len
• Cast the buffer pointer to FRAME* and return it

Let's presume you're reading from a C FILE:

FRAME* ReadFRAME(FILE* file)
{
int Len;
fread((void*)&Len, sizeof(Len), 1, file);
char* space = (char*)malloc(Len + sizeof(Len));
FRAME* gotFrame = (FRAME*)space;
gotFrame->Len = Len;
fread((void*)gotFrame->Text, 1, Len, file);
return gotFrame;
}

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p