On 16 February 2018 at 16:38, Esteban Lorenzano <[email protected]> wrote:

> hi,
>
> “casting” is not necessary in general since is just a way to tell the C
> compiler that a pointer is form a certain type (but is always a pointer,
> and in machine code is always the same).
>
> So, here you will do something like this:
>
> Iterator >> asCollectionOfType: aTypeName
>         | result address typeClass |
>
>         result := OrderedCollection new.
>         address := ExternalAddress new.
>         typeClass := FFIExternalType resolveType: aTypeName.
>         [self iterator_next: address]
>                 whileTrue: [ result add: (typeClass fromHandle: address) ].
>

Perhaps this is a bit about discover-ability.  People with C experience may
naturally search for "cast".  If I Spotter search for..... cast #i
it turns up only four... "broadcast" under Socket class

If that was instead like...  (typeClass castFromHandle: address)
then people may be more likely to find it themselves.

cheers -ben




>    ^result
>
> Iterator >> iterator_next: data
>         ^ self ffiCall: #(Boolean iterator_next (Iterator self, void**
> data))
>
> now… you have a problem if your type if your type is an “atomic” type,
> like int, long, etc. because those values are passed “by value” and not by
> pointer, so you will need to decode them.
> in this case, I would implement a  method extension (probably it worths to
> add it to UFFI):
>
> FFIExternalType class >> valueFromHandle: anAddress
>         ^ self new handle: anAddress at: 1 “This is used for structures,
> but we can reuse them :)"
>
> FFIExternalReference class >> valueFromHandle: anAddress
>         ^ self fromHandle: anAddress
>
> FFIExternalStructure class >> valueFromHandle: anAddress
>         ^ self fromHandle: anAddress
>
> So your function will be like something like this:
>
> Iterator >> asCollectionOfType: aTypeName
>         | result address typeClass |
>
>         result := OrderedCollection new.
>         address := ExternalAddress new.
>         typeClass := FFIExternalType resolveType: aTypeName.
>         [self iterator_next: address]
>                 whileTrue: [ result add: (typeClass valueFromHandle::
> address) ].
>    ^result
>
> and voilà, you have your cast :)
>
> Esteban
>
> ps: (some errors can be found here, since I’m “programming at mail
> client”, but you get the idea ;) )
>
> > On 15 Feb 2018, at 19:59, Egor Scorik <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm trying to play with new UFFI system. It looks much easier then
> > NativeBoost, but unfortunately its hard to find any docs or examples.
> > I have problem with casting void* (ExternalAddress) into smalltalk
> object if
> > there is no hardcoded type in ffi method. And I really dislike the idea
> of
> > making many ffi methods, one for each required type.
> > In this example i can't understand how to make something like `address
> > castTo: type`
> >
> > FFIExternalObject subclass: #Iterator
> >
> > Iterator >> asCollectionOfType: aTypeName
> >       | result address type |
> >
> >       result := OrderedCollection new.
> >       address := ExternalAddress new.
> >       type := FFIExternalType resolveType: aTypeName.
> >       [self iterator_next: address] whileTrue: [
> >               result add: (address castTo: type).
> >       ].
> >    ^result
> >
> > Iterator >> iterator_next: data
> >       ^ self ffiCall: #(Boolean iterator_next (Iterator self, void**
> data))
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html
> >
>
>
>

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