Hello Tom

[DJLinux]

Hello Tom
is there an "ANY" datatype or how can a plugin get the address of a user defined Type (UDT).
(not registered by the plugin)

I implemented StrPtr(text$) in the API-Plugin to move the string ptr to any API call
but i need
StructPtr(NAME_OF_UDT)
or
AnyPtr(NAME_OF_UDT)

thanx Joshy

api-plugin:

type RECT
  x as integer
  Y as integer
  w as integer
  h as integer
end type
hDLL=Import("ANY.DLL")
hFunc1=Define(hDLL,API_ANY,"GetRectangle",0)
hFunc2=Define(hDLL,API_VOID,"SetRectangle",API_ANY,1)

dim MyRec as RECT
Call(hFunc1)
MyRec=GetAny() ' return UDT RECT

SetAny(MyRec)
Call(hFunc2) ' put address from RECT to the DLL

[DJLinux]

Tom are in holydays ?

[Empyrion Martyr]

i think the man might be busy. He'll answer when he's got time. Be patient

[DJLinux]

Apr 13, 2008 15:33:16 GMT -5 Empyrion Martyr said:

i think the man might be busy. He'll answer when he's got time. Be patient

now i saw he has time for offtopic talk but not for advanced developers it's not the first time.

i go and write my own native basic for mac, win and linux

thanx all for the nice time

[Tom Mulgrew]

Apr 11, 2008 23:03:24 GMT -5 DJLinux said:

Hello Tom
is there an "ANY" datatype or how can a plugin get the address of a user defined Type (UDT).
(not registered by the plugin)

I implemented StrPtr(text$) in the API-Plugin to move the string ptr to any API call
but i need
StructPtr(NAME_OF_UDT)
or
AnyPtr(NAME_OF_UDT)

thanx Joshy

api-plugin:

type RECT
  x as integer
  Y as integer
  w as integer
  h as integer
end type
hDLL=Import("ANY.DLL")
hFunc1=Define(hDLL,API_ANY,"GetRectangle",0)
hFunc2=Define(hDLL,API_VOID,"SetRectangle",API_ANY,1)

dim MyRec as RECT
Call(hFunc1)
MyRec=GetAny() ' return UDT RECT

SetAny(MyRec)
Call(hFunc2) ' put address from RECT to the DLL

It's been a while since I've sat down and tried to catch up on the questions and discussions.

You can pass pointers back and forth between plugins and BASIC code by casting them to an int. But you already know that (you did it in the ODE plugin )

The problem is you can't just copy data or pointers into BASIC structures, because Basic4GL stores data in its own format.
So it needs to be translated back and forth.

You could create some plugin functions to read/write data out of C structures that the BASIC program can call.

void DLLFUNC Func_WriteByte(IDLL_Basic4GL_Runtime &basic4gl) {
    unsigned char *addr = (unsigned char *)basic4gl.GetIntParam(2);
    unsigned char value = (unsigned char)basic4gl.GetIntParam(1);
    *addr = byte;
}

void DLLFUNC Func_WriteInt(IDLL_Basic4GL_Runtime &basic4gl) {
...

void DLLFUNC Func_ReadByte(IDLL_Basic4GL_Runtime &basic4gl) {
    unsigned char *addr = (unsigned char *)basic4gl.GetIntParam(1);
    basic4gl.SetIntResult(*addr);
}

...

Then instead of:

MyRec=GetAny() ' return UDT RECT

You would write something like:

    dim addr
    addr = GetAnyAddr()
    MyRec.x = GetInt(addr)
    MyRec.y = GetInt(addr + 4)
    MyRec.w = GetInt(addr + 8)
    MyRec.h = GetInt(addr + 12)

Does that help with what you are trying to do, or have I missed the point?

Alternatively I could have a think about allowing plugins to copy data to/from C structures without knowing the BASIC data type. It's not completely trivial though, as it would require some way for the BASIC program to tell the plugin what format the data is in and what format it needs to be in, and the compiler would have to know that the function accepts any data type.
I'm open to suggestions if you can think of any way to simplify the problem.

Cheers,
-Tom