How to serialize "char*" which is a pointer to a byte array to my header?

[Ali Marandi]

Hello,
I want to serialize and deserialize "char*" which is a pointer to a
byte array to my header (I mean it does not point to a null terminated
string and it is just a pointer to an array of characters). It seems
that we cannot serialize a pointer to the header. So would you please
help me how can I serialize "char*" to my header?

Best Regards,
Ali.

[Guillaume Rémy]

Hi,

Of course you can serialize and deserialize a char*, but you have to know your array size. Assuming you char* is named m_str, its length is named m_lg, and that your header contains only this pointer, the following code will serialize and deserialize it:

void

YourHeader::Serialize (Buffer::Iterator start) const

{

  Buffer::Iterator it = start;

  for (uint i=0;i<m_lg;i++)

  {

    it.WriteU8 (m_str[i]);

  }

}

uint32_t

YourHeader::Deserialize (Buffer::Iterator start)

{

  Buffer::Iterator it = start;

  if (m_str) delete m_str;

  m_str = new char[m_lg];

  for  (uint i=0;i<m_lg;i++)

  {

    m_str[i] = it.ReadU8 ();

  }

  return GetSerializedSize ();

}

Regards,

Guillaume

[Lalith Suresh]

Hello Ali,

In real world networks, it makes no sense to serialise a pointer into a header because the address pointed to by the pointer has no meaning in the context of another node in the network. I would recommend serialising all the bytes that the char * is pointing to into the header.

If you really insist on sending a char * across, serialise the address as a 32 or 64 bit unsigned integer depending on your machine's architecture.

 

Best Regards,
Ali.

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Lalith Suresh

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Instituto Superior Técnico
www.lalith.in

[Guillaume Rémy]

Hi lalith,

It has indeed no sense to put just the pointer in the header, it is the reason why I assumed he want to put all the chars pointed by its pointer in the header (he precised it is an array of char). Then, the code I gave doesn't serialize the address contained in the pointer, but the objects pointed by the pointer.

Regards,

Guillaume

[Ali Marandi]

Thank you very much my friends :-).