Convert TMemoryStream to WideString in Delphi 7 - delphi

When I use this code and function in Delphi 7 an error message will be displayed :
This code convert MemoryStream content to WideString
function ReadWideString(stream: TStream): WideString;
var
nChars: LongInt;
begin
stream.Position := 0;
stream.ReadBuffer(nChars, SizeOf(nChars));
SetLength(Result, nChars);
if nChars > 0 then
stream.ReadBuffer(Result[1], nChars * SizeOf(Result[1]));
end;
procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
var
mem: TMemoryStream;
begin
mem := TMemoryStream.Create;
mem.LoadFromFile('C:\Users\User1\Desktop\wide.txt');
Memo1.Lines.Add(ReadWideString(mem));
end;
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Your code works fine as is. The problem is that the input that you pass to your function is not in the expected format.
The function that you are using expects a 4 byte integer containing the length, followed by the UTF-16 payload.
It looks like you actually have straight UTF-16 text, without the length prepended. Read that like this:
stream.Position := 0;
nChars := stream.Size div SizeOf(Result[1]);
SetLength(Result, nChars);
if nChars > 0 then
stream.ReadBuffer(Result[1], nChars * SizeOf(Result[1]));
Now, your input may contain a UTF-16 BOM. If so you'll need to decide how to handle that.
The bottom line here is that you need your code to match the input you provide.

Related

Writing tList<string> to tFileStream

I use Berlin in Windows 10. I try to save tList<string> to a file.
I know how to handle tStringlist, tStreamWriter and tStreamReader but I need to use tFileStream because the other type of data should be added.
In the following code the loop of Button2Click which reads the data raises an eOutOfMemory exception. When I allocate simple string value to _String it works well but if I put tList value to the same _String it seems that wrong data were written on the file. I can't understand the difference between _String := _List.List[i] and _String := 'qwert'.
How can I write tList<string> to tFileSteam?
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
_List: TList<string>;
_FileStream: TFileStream;
_String: string;
i: Integer;
begin
_List := TList<string>.Create;
_List.Add('abcde');
_List.Add('abcde12345');
_FileStream := TFileStream.Create('test', fmCreate);
for i := 0 to 1 do
begin
_String := _List.List[i]; // _String := 'qwert' works well
_FileStream.Write(_string, 4);
end;
_FileStream.Free;
_List.Free;
end;
procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
var
_FileStream: TFileStream;
_String: string;
i: Integer;
begin
_FileStream := TFileStream.Create('test', fmOpenRead);
for i := 0 to 1 do
begin
_FileStream.Read(_String, 4);
Memo1.Lines.Add(_String);
end;
_FileStream.Free;
end;
If you lookup in the docs what TFileStream.Write does, it tells you (inherited from THandleStream.Write):
function Write(const Buffer; Count: Longint): Longint; override;
function Write(const Buffer: TBytes; Offset, Count: Longint): Longint; override;
Writes Count bytes from the Buffer to the current position in the
resource.
Now, Buffer is untyped and as such is expected to be the memory address of the data to be written. You are passing a string variable which is a reference to the actual string data, the address of the variable holds a pointer to string data. You are therefore writing a pointer to the file.
To correct it pass the strings first character for the buffer, ....write(_string[1], ...
If you have compiler directive {$ZEROBASEDSTRINGS ON} you would use index 0.
Alternatively, typecast the string to PChar and dereference it: ....write(PChar(_String)^, ...
Then look at the second parameter, Count. As the docs say, it indicates the number of bytes to be written, specifically not characters. In Delphi 2009 and later strings are UnicodeString, so each character is 2 bytes. You need to pass the strings size in bytes.
This will write 4 characters (8 bytes) to the file stream:
_FileStream.Write(_String[1], 4 * SizeOf(Char));
or better
_FileStream.Write(PChar(_String)^, 4 * SizeOf(Char));
For reading you need to make corresponding changes, but most notable, you need to set the strings length before reading (length is counted in characters).
SetLength(_String, 4);
for i := 0 to 1 do
begin
_FileStream.Read(_String[1], 4 * SizeOf(Char));
Memo1.Lines.Add(_String);
end;
To continue with this low-level approach you could generalize string writing and reading as follows:
Add a variable to hold the length of a string
var
_String: string;
_Length: integer;
then writing
begin
...
for ....
begin
_String := _List.List[i];
_Length := Length(_String);
_FileStream.Write(_Length, SizeOf(Integer));
_FileStream.Write(PChar(_List.List[i])^, _Length * SizeOf(Char));
end;
and reading
begin
...
for ....
begin
_FileStream.Read(_Length, SizeOf(Integer));
SetLength(_String, _Length);
_FileStream.Read(_String[1], _Length * SizeOf(Char));
Memo1.Lines.Add(_String);
end;
IOW, you write the length first and then the string. On reading you read the length and then the string.

Delphi Change Hex Address on file

I wanna over delphi change hex adress 15 character,
I follow like this a way but I didnt get success,
BlockRead(F,arrChar,1); //read all to the buf
CloseFile(F); //close file
IMEI:=Form1.Edit1.Text; //get the number
Form1.Memo1.Lines.Add('new IMEI is'+IMEI); //output
for i:=524288 to 524288+15 do /
arrChar[i]:=IMEI[i-524287];
Do this with a file stream.
var
Stream: TFileStream;
....
Stream := TFileStream.Create(FileName, fmOpenWrite);
try
Stream.Position := $080000;
Stream.WriteBuffer(IMEI, SizeOf(IMEI));
finally
Stream.Free;
end;
I'm assuming that IMEI is an fixed length array of bytes of length 15 but your code attempts to write 16 bytes so it would appear that you are suffering from a degree of confusion.
In your code, your variable IMEI is a string. Which is not an array of bytes. Please don't make that classic mistake of regarding a string as an array of bytes.
You might declare an IMEI type like this:
type
TIMEI = array [0..14] of Byte;
Then you might write a function to populate such a variable from text:
function TextToIMEI(const Text: string): TIMEI;
var
ResultIndex, TextIndex: Integer;
C: Char;
begin
if Length(Text) <> Length(Result) then
raise SomeExceptionClass.Create(...);
TextIndex := low(Text);
for ResultIndex := low(Result) to high(Result) do
begin
C := Result[TextIndex];
if (C < '0') or (C > '9') then
raise SomeExceptionClass.Create(...);
Result[ResultIndex] := ord(C);
inc(TextIndex);
end;
end;
You might then combine this code with that above:
procedure WriteIMEItoFile(const FileName: string; FileOffset: Int64; const IMEI: TIMEI);
var
Stream: TFileStream;
begin
Stream := TFileStream.Create(FileName, fmOpenWrite);
try
Stream.Position := FileOffset;
Stream.WriteBuffer(IMEI, SizeOf(IMEI));
finally
Stream.Free;
end;
end;
Call it like this:
WriteIMEItoFile(FileName, $080000, TextToIMEI(Form1.Edit1.Text));
Although it looks a bit odd that you are explicitly using the Form1 global variable. If that code executes in a method of TForm1 then you should use the implicit Self variable.

Unicode string and TStringStream

Delphi 2009 and above uses unicode strings for their default string type. To my understanding unicode char is actually 16 bit value or 2 bytes (note: I understand there is possibility of 3 or 4 bytes char, but let's consider the most usual case). However I found that TStringStream is not very reliable to manipulating this strings. For example, TStringStream.Size property returns the length of the string, while I think it should return the byte count of the contained string. Okay, you can adjust it on your own, but the thing that really confused me the most is: TStringStream does not read from or write to a buffer reliably.
Please check the following code (it's a DUnit test and always fail). Please let me know where the problem is (I was using D2010 when testing the code).
procedure TestTCPackage.TestStringStream;
const
cCount = 10;
cOrdMaxChar = Ord(High(Char));
var
B: Pointer;
SW, SR: TStringStream;
T: string;
i, j, k : Integer;
vStrings: array [0..cCount-1] of string;
begin
RandSeed := GetTickCount;
for i := 0 to cCount - 1 do
begin
j := Random(100) + 1;
SetLength(vStrings[i], j);
for k := 1 to j do
// fill string with random char (but no #0)
vStrings[i][k] := Char(Random(cOrdMaxChar-1) + 1);
end;
for i := 0 to cCount - 1 do
begin
SW := TStringStream.Create(vStrings[i]);
try
GetMem(B, SW.Size * SizeOf(Char));
try
SW.Read(B^, SW.Size * SizeOf(Char));
SR := TStringStream.Create;
try
SR.Write(B^, SW.Size * SizeOf(Char));
SR.Position := 0;
// check the string in the TStringStream with original value
Check(SR.DataString = vStrings[i]);
finally
SR.Free;
end;
finally
FreeMem(B);
end;
finally
SW.Free;
end;
end;
end;
Note: I already tried to use an instance of TMemoryStream as intermediary from reading/writing the buffer and use CopyFrom of the TStringStream to read the content of that TMemoryStream with same failing effect.
Unicode strings aren't for data storage; use TBytes for that. TStringStream uses its associated encoding (the Encoding property) for encoding strings passed in with WriteString, and decoding strings read out with ReadString or the DataString property.
After reading this post (and thanks to Serg who provided the answer to that question) and Barry Kelly's answer, I have found the problem. TStringStream is actually using ASCII/ansistring encoding by default. So even if your default string type is unicode, unless you spesifically tell it to, it won't use unicode encoding. Personally I think it's strange. Maybe for making it easier to convert old codes.
So you have to specifically set the encoding of the TStringStream to TEncoding.Unicode to manipulate unicode string properly.
Here is my modified code which passes DUnit test is:
procedure TestTCPackage.TestStringStream;
const
cCount = 10;
cOrdMaxChar = Ord(High(Char));
var
B: Pointer;
SW, SR: TStringStream;
i, j, k : Integer;
vStrings: array [0..cCount-1] of string;
begin
RandSeed := GetTickCount;
for i := 0 to cCount - 1 do
begin
j := Random(100) + 1;
SetLength(vStrings[i], j);
for k := 1 to j do
// fill string with random char (but no #0)
vStrings[i][k] := Char(Random(cOrdMaxChar-1) + 1);
end;
for i := 0 to cCount - 1 do
begin
SW := TStringStream.Create(vStrings[i], ***TEncoding.Unicode***);
try
GetMem(B, SW.Size);
try
SW.ReadBuffer(B^, SW.Size);
SR := TStringStream.Create('', ***TEncoding.Unicode***);
try
SR.WriteBuffer(B^, SW.Size);
SR.Position := 0;
// check the string in the TStringStream with original value
Check(SR.DataString = vStrings[i]);
finally
SR.Free;
end;
finally
FreeMem(B);
end;
finally
SW.Free;
end;
end;
end;
Last note: Unicode does bite! :D

How can I remotely read binary registry data using Delphi 2010?

I am trying to remotely read a binary (REG_BINARY) registry value, but I get nothing but junk back. Any ideas what is wrong with this code? I'm using Delphi 2010:
function GetBinaryRegistryData(ARootKey: HKEY; AKey, AValue, sMachine: string; var sResult: string): boolean;
var
MyReg: TRegistry;
RegDataType: TRegDataType;
DataSize, Len: integer;
sBinData: string;
bResult: Boolean;
begin
bResult := False;
MyReg := TRegistry.Create(KEY_QUERY_VALUE);
try
MyReg.RootKey := ARootKey;
if MyReg.RegistryConnect('\\' + sMachine) then
begin
if MyReg.KeyExists(AKey) then
begin
if MyReg.OpenKeyReadOnly(AKey) then
begin
try
RegDataType := MyReg.GetDataType(AValue);
if RegDataType = rdBinary then
begin
DataSize := MyReg.GetDataSize(AValue);
if DataSize > 0 then
begin
SetLength(sBinData, DataSize);
Len := MyReg.ReadBinaryData(AValue, PChar(sBinData)^, DataSize);
if Len <> DataSize then
raise Exception.Create(SysErrorMessage(ERROR_CANTREAD))
else
begin
sResult := sBinData;
bResult := True;
end;
end;
end;
except
MyReg.CloseKey;
end;
MyReg.CloseKey;
end;
end;
end;
finally
MyReg.Free;
end;
Result := bResult;
end;
And I call it like this:
GetBinaryRegistryData(
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
'\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion',
'DigitalProductId', '192.168.100.105',
sProductId
);
WriteLn(sProductId);
The result I receive from the WriteLn on the console is:
ñ ♥ ???????????6Z ????1 ???????☺ ???♦ ??3 ? ??? ?
??
Assuming that you are already connected remotely, try using the GetDataAsString function
to read binary data from the registry.
sResult := MyReg.GetDataAsString(AValue);
You're using Delphi 2010, so all your characters are two bytes wide. When you set the length of your result string, you're allocating twice the amount of space you need. Then you call ReadBinaryData, and it fills half your buffer. There are two bytes of data in each character. Look at each byte separately, and you'll probably find that your data looks less garbage-like.
Don't use strings for storing arbitrary data. Use strings for storing text. To store arbitrary blobs of data, use TBytes, which is an array of bytes.

(Wide)String - storing in TFileStream, Delphi 7. What is the fastest way?

I'm using Delphi7 (non-unicode VCL), I need to store lots of WideStrings inside a TFileStream. I can't use TStringStream as the (wide)strings are mixed with binary data, the format is projected to speed up loading and writing the data ... However I believe that current way I'm loading/writing the strings might be a bottleneck of my code ...
currently I'm writing length of a string, then writing it char by char ...
while loading, first I'm loading the length, then loading char by char ...
So, what is the fastest way to save and load WideString to TFileStream?
Thanks in advance
Rather than read and write one character at a time, read and write them all at once:
procedure WriteWideString(const ws: WideString; stream: TStream);
var
nChars: LongInt;
begin
nChars := Length(ws);
stream.WriteBuffer(nChars, SizeOf(nChars);
if nChars > 0 then
stream.WriteBuffer(ws[1], nChars * SizeOf(ws[1]));
end;
function ReadWideString(stream: TStream): WideString;
var
nChars: LongInt;
begin
stream.ReadBuffer(nChars, SizeOf(nChars));
SetLength(Result, nChars);
if nChars > 0 then
stream.ReadBuffer(Result[1], nChars * SizeOf(Result[1]));
end;
Now, technically, since WideString is a Windows BSTR, it can contain an odd number of bytes. The Length function reads the number of bytes and divides by two, so it's possible (although not likely) that the code above will cut off the last byte. You could use this code instead:
procedure WriteWideString(const ws: WideString; stream: TStream);
var
nBytes: LongInt;
begin
nBytes := SysStringByteLen(Pointer(ws));
stream.WriteBuffer(nBytes, SizeOf(nBytes));
if nBytes > 0 then
stream.WriteBuffer(Pointer(ws)^, nBytes);
end;
function ReadWideString(stream: TStream): WideString;
var
nBytes: LongInt;
buffer: PAnsiChar;
begin
stream.ReadBuffer(nBytes, SizeOf(nBytes));
if nBytes > 0 then begin
GetMem(buffer, nBytes);
try
stream.ReadBuffer(buffer^, nBytes);
Result := SysAllocStringByteLen(buffer, nBytes)
finally
FreeMem(buffer);
end;
end else
Result := '';
end;
Inspired by Mghie's answer, have replaced my Read and Write calls with ReadBuffer and WriteBuffer. The latter will raise exceptions if they are unable to read or write the requested number of bytes.
There is nothing special about wide strings, to read and write them as fast as possible you need to read and write as much as possible in one go:
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
Str: TStream;
W, W2: WideString;
L: integer;
begin
W := 'foo bar baz';
Str := TFileStream.Create('test.bin', fmCreate);
try
// write WideString
L := Length(W);
Str.WriteBuffer(L, SizeOf(integer));
if L > 0 then
Str.WriteBuffer(W[1], L * SizeOf(WideChar));
Str.Seek(0, soFromBeginning);
// read back WideString
Str.ReadBuffer(L, SizeOf(integer));
if L > 0 then begin
SetLength(W2, L);
Str.ReadBuffer(W2[1], L * SizeOf(WideChar));
end else
W2 := '';
Assert(W = W2);
finally
Str.Free;
end;
end;
WideStrings contain a 'string' of WideChar's, which use 2 bytes each. If you want to store the UTF-16 (which WideStrings use internally) strings in a file, and be able to use this file in other programs like notepad, you need to write a byte order mark first: #$FEFF.
If you know this, writing can look like this:
Stream1.Write(WideString1[1],Length(WideString)*2); //2=SizeOf(WideChar)
reading can look like this:
Stream1.Read(WideChar1,2);//assert returned 2 and WideChar1=#$FEFF
SetLength(WideString1,(Stream1.Size div 2)-1);
Stream1.Read(WideString1[1],(Stream1.Size div 2)-1);
You can also use TFastFileStream for reading the data or strings, I pasted the unit at http://pastebin.com/m6ecdc8c2 and a sample below:
program Project36;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
SysUtils, Classes,
FastStream in 'FastStream.pas';
const
WideNull: WideChar = #0;
procedure WriteWideStringToStream(Stream: TFileStream; var Data: WideString);
var
len: Word;
begin
len := Length(Data);
// Write WideString length
Stream.Write(len, SizeOf(len));
if (len > 0) then
begin
// Write WideString
Stream.Write(Data[1], len * SizeOf(WideChar));
end;
// Write null termination
Stream.Write(WideNull, SizeOf(WideNull));
end;
procedure CreateTestFile;
var
Stream: TFileStream;
MyString: WideString;
begin
Stream := TFileStream.Create('test.bin', fmCreate);
try
MyString := 'Hello World!';
WriteWideStringToStream(Stream, MyString);
MyString := 'Speed is Delphi!';
WriteWideStringToStream(Stream, MyString);
finally
Stream.Free;
end;
end;
function ReadWideStringFromStream(Stream: TFastFileStream): WideString;
var
len: Word;
begin
// Read length of WideString
Stream.Read(len, SizeOf(len));
// Read WideString
Result := PWideChar(Cardinal(Stream.Memory) + Stream.Position);
// Update position and skip null termination
Stream.Position := Stream.Position + (len * SizeOf(WideChar)) + SizeOf(WideNull);
end;
procedure ReadTestFile;
var
Stream: TFastFileStream;
my_wide_string: WideString;
begin
Stream := TFastFileStream.Create('test.bin');
try
Stream.Position := 0;
// Read WideString
my_wide_string := ReadWideStringFromStream(Stream);
WriteLn(my_wide_string);
// Read another WideString
my_wide_string := ReadWideStringFromStream(Stream);
WriteLn(my_wide_string);
finally
Stream.Free;
end;
end;
begin
CreateTestFile;
ReadTestFile;
ReadLn;
end.

Resources