Jake Evans
Jake Evans

Reputation: 1048

Typecasting pointer addition in Delphi

I am trying to understand how I can typecast in Delphi, similar to C/C++.

The C++ code I'm trying to convert is this;

typedef struct tagEXT2_INODE
{
    uint16_t    i_mode;     /* File mode */
    uint16_t    i_uid;      /* Low 16 bits of Owner Uid */
    uint32_t    i_size;     /* Size in bytes */
    uint32_t    i_atime;        /* Access time */
    uint32_t    i_ctime;        /* Creation time */
    uint32_t    i_mtime;        /* Modification time */
    uint32_t    i_dtime;        /* Deletion Time */
    uint16_t    i_gid;      /* Low 16 bits of Group Id */
    uint16_t    i_links_count;  /* Links count */
    uint32_t    i_blocks;       /* Blocks count */
    uint32_t    i_flags;        /* File flags */
    union {
        struct {
            uint32_t  l_i_reserved1;
        } linux1;
        struct {
            uint32_t  h_i_translator;
        } hurd1;
        struct {
            uint32_t  m_i_reserved1;
        } masix1;
    } osd1;             /* OS dependent 1 */
    uint32_t    i_block[EXT2_N_BLOCKS];/* Pointers to blocks */
    uint32_t    i_generation;   /* File version (for NFS) */
    uint32_t    i_file_acl;     /* File ACL */
//    uint32_t  i_dir_acl;      /* Directory ACL */
    uint32_t    i_size_high;            /* This is used store the high 32 bit of file size in large files */
    uint32_t    i_faddr;        /* Fragment address */
    union {
        struct {
            uint8_t l_i_frag;   /* Fragment number */
            uint8_t l_i_fsize;  /* Fragment size */
            uint16_t    i_pad1;
            uint16_t    l_i_uid_high;   /* these 2 fields    */
            uint16_t    l_i_gid_high;   /* were reserved2[0] */
            uint32_t    l_i_reserved2;
        } linux2;
        struct {
            uint8_t h_i_frag;   /* Fragment number */
            uint8_t h_i_fsize;  /* Fragment size */
            uint16_t    h_i_mode_high;
            uint16_t    h_i_uid_high;
            uint16_t    h_i_gid_high;
            uint16_t    h_i_author;
        } hurd2;
        struct {
            uint8_t m_i_frag;   /* Fragment number */
            uint8_t m_i_fsize;  /* Fragment size */
            uint16_t    m_pad1;
            uint32_t    m_i_reserved2[2];
        } masix2;
    } osd2;                 /* OS dependent 2 */
} __attribute__ ((__packed__)) EXT2_INODE;


EXT2_INODE *src;
char *inode_buffer;
int inode_index, ret = 0;

inode_buffer = (char *)malloc(4096);


src = (EXT2_INODE *)(inode_buffer + inode_index);

Could someone explain how this src can be typecasted like this? And how would I do the same operation in Delphi?

Thanks

Edit: Here is my Ext2 iNode Record; Type

  TExt2iNode = Record
    i_mode : Word;
    i_uid : Word;
    i_size : Cardinal;
    i_atime : Cardinal;
    i_ctime : Cardinal;
    i_mtime : Cardinal;
    i_dtimes : Cardinal;
    i_gid : Word;
    i_links_count : Word;
    i_blocks: Cardinal;
    i_flags : Cardinal;
    osd1 : Record
      linux1 : Record
        l_i_reserved1 : Cardinal;
      end;
      hurd1 : Record
        h_i_translator: Cardinal;
      End;
      masix1 : Record
        m_i_reserved1 : Cardinal;
      End;
    End;
    i_block: array [0..EXT2_N_BLOCKS-1] of Cardinal;
    i_generation : Cardinal;
    i_file_acl : Cardinal;
    i_size_high : Cardinal;
    i_faddr : Cardinal;

    osd2 : Record
      Linux2 : Record
        l_i_frag : Byte;
        l_i_fsize : Byte;
        i_pad1 : Word;
        l_i_uid_high : Word;
        l_i_gid_high : Word;
        l_i_reserved2 : Cardinal
      end;
      hurd2 : Record
        h_i_frag : Byte;
        h_i_fsize : Byte;
        h_i_mode_high : Word;
        h_i_uid_high : Word;
        h_i_gid_high : Word;
        h_i_author : Word;
      end;
      masix2 : Record
        m_i_frag:Byte;
        m_i_fsize : Byte;
        m_pad1 : Word;
        m_i_reserved : array[0..1] of Cardinal;
      end;
    end;
  End;

Here is my Ex2 Partition Record;

type 
  Ext2Partition = Class 
    private
      handle: THandle;
      sect_size: Integer;
      total_sectors: Int64;
      relative_sect: Int64;
      linux_name :AnsiString;

      inodes_per_group: integer;
      inode_size: integer;
      block_size: integer;
      totalGRoups: Integer;
      desc : TExt2_Group_Desc;

      last_block : Cardinal;
      inode_buffer : array of AnsiChar;
      root : Ext2File;
      buffercache : TList;
      lvol : LogicalVolume;
    public
      onview, is_valid: boolean;
    published
      Constructor Create(size, offset :int64; ssise: integer; PHandle: THandle);
      function read_inode(inum: Cardinal):Ext2File;
      function readblock(blocknum: cardinal; var buffer: array of AnsiChar):integer;
      function mount():integer;
  End;

Here is my read_inode function where the pointer calculation takes place;

function Ext2Partition.read_inode(inum: Cardinal):Ext2File;
var
  group, index, blknum: cardinal;
  inode_index : integer;
  ret: integer;
  fFile: EXt2File;
  src: TExt2iNode;
begin
  if inum = 0 then
    Result := NIL;

  SetLength(self.inode_buffer, self.block_size);

  group := (inum -1) DIV self.inodes_per_group;

  if group > self.totalGRoups then
  begin
    //ShowMessage('Error reading iNode');
    Result := -1;
  end;

  index := ((inum-1) MOD self.inodes_per_group) * self.inode_size;
  inode_index := (index MOD self.block_size);
  blknum := self.desc.bg_inode_table + (index div self.block_size);

  if blknum <> self.last_block then
    ret := readblock(blknum, self.inode_buffer);

  fFile := TExt2iNode.Create;

  //What goes here?

end;

Upvotes: 0

Views: 852

Answers (1)

Rob Kennedy
Rob Kennedy

Reputation: 163357

The code allocates a block of memory. Elsewhere, it has determined the offset of an ext2 inode structure somewhere inside that block, given by inode_index. It adds that offset to the start of the block, giving the address of the structure. The code then type-casts the result to tell the compiler that the computed char* address is really the address of that struct type.

Using a literal translation, we'd have the following Delphi declarations:

var
  inode_buffer: PAnsiChar;
  inode_index: Integer;
  src: PExt2_Inode;

Therefore, to assign src, you'd type-cast and add exactly as in the C++ code:

src := PExt2_Inode(inode_buffer + inode_index);

Most Delphi pointer types don't support such pointer arithmetic by default, but PAnsiChar is special.

Using your translation so far, where inode_buffer is an array instead of a pointer to a memory block, you'd instead have this:

src := PExt2_Inode(@inode_buffer[inode_index]);

That indexes the array, and then uses the @ operator to get the address of that array element. (In fact, you could use the same syntax if inode_buffer were my original PAnsiChar type, too.)

Upvotes: 1

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