CODEWITHSUNDEEP
chaskellhaskell-ffi
NietzscheanAI
NietzscheanAI

Reputation: 966

Haskell function that takes and returns a 'c' array

I'm looking for a complete working example of a Haskell FFI function that conceptually has signature: ByteString -> ByteString, i.e. which:

  1. Takes as input an array of 8-bit unsigned integers which has been allocated on the 'c' heap (i.e. with a lifetime that exceeds the FFI invocation).
  2. Transforms the array into a ByteString (assuming that ByteString can't feature directly in the FFI API).
  3. Immutably transforms the ByteString in some manner (trivial example: reversing it).
  4. Returns to the invoking 'c' function the transformed ByteString (or whatever FFI representation of it is required), such that it must be deleted on the 'c' side.

A Google search reveals a variety related and/or partial information, but the devil is very much in the details here: I haven't been able to find a relevant MWE (of what one would consider an elementary FFI application) anywhere.

EDIT: One commenter has kindly pointed out that ByteString already encapsulates a pointer and a length.

That leads to some more concrete questions:

Q1. What should the corresponding 'c' function signature for ByteString -> ByteString be?

e.g. is it necessary to explicitly define ByteString on the 'c' side?

struct ByteString { uint8 * array; size_t length }; 
ByteString cfunc(ByteString arg);

It doesn't look like translating this directly yields a valid FFI call. For:

foreign export ccall cfunc ::  ByteString -> ByteString

the compiler error is "ByteString cannot be marshalled in foreign call".

Q2 Does arg have to be somehow converted to a ByteString on the Haskell side or does the fact that it's (intended to be) structurally isomorphic suffice?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 142

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