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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!prls!amdimage!amdcad!amd!pesnta!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!jww
From: jww@sdcsvax.UUCP (Joel West)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac,net.sources.mac
Subject: Misinformation on C strings???
Message-ID: <1016@sdcsvax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 28-Jul-85 23:24:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcsvax.1016
Posted: Sun Jul 28 23:24:09 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 1-Aug-85 21:10:57 EDT
References: <385@utastro.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: CACI, Inc - Federal, La Jolla
Lines: 80
Keywords: C strings not broken?
Xref: linus net.micro.mac:2182 net.sources.mac:461

With regards to making C programs work (particularly under Megamax C),
the claim has been made that it is not possible to use RMaker to produce
a C string.  (For those who'v been in a cave, Lisa Pascal begins its strings
with a 1-byte length, and standard C ends its with a 0 byte).

I don't know if this is a question or an observation, but I don't think
this is really true. (OOPS).  As I had something to do with this belief,
I'm not sure what to say. :-(

For example, the recently posted SKEL goes to great length to get around
this supposed "bug":

>       v2.2.1C April 1,1985 whj:Added in-place conversion of Pascal strings
>       			       to C strings for the string resources.  Uses
> 			       new procedure "initStrRes", included in
> 			       this file.  This is a kludge required because
> 			       the RMaker program supplied does not
> 			       support C-Style strings.  v. 2.0 of Megamax C
> 			       is different in its handling of string
> 			       resources than v. 1.2, which necessitated this
> 			       change.  Strings resources must not be 
> 			       purgeable for this to work.  Also modified the
> 			       header file "qdvars.h" which was supplied with
> 			       Megamax C v. 2.0.  Use the new version in place
> 			       of the Megamax version; the interface will be
> 			       similar to the Lisa Pascal interface.
> 			       
> /*
> ############################   initStrRes   ##############################
> Changes strings in Resource Fork to NULL-terminated C formatted strings.
> All strings in Resource Fork must be unpurgeable for this to work.  Sorry.
> Perhaps this can go away when Apple provides an RMaker program that supports
> C strings.
> */
> 
> initstrres()
> {
> 	int i, numstrres;
> 	stringhandle str;
> 	numstrres = CountResources ("STR ");	/* Count the strings */
> 	for (i=1; i<=numstrres; i++)
> 	{
> 		str = GetIndResource ("STR ", i); /* Get Handle to string */
> 		ptocstr(*str);		/* Convert in place to C string */
> 	}
> }

However, with all the nifty resource editors shipped on the "May" supplement,
I thought I'd try one last time.  My "RMaker" has a fancy icon and the
"Get Info" says version 2.2, 10/18/84.  I fed it this program:

		text.exe


		type TEXT = GNRL
		 ,257
		.S
		Hello, world\00


		type TEXT = GNRL
		 ,258
		.S
		This is a simple string!\00

Nothing terribly exciting about that.  What I ended up with, according
to Redit, was two strings of resource type "TEXT", each beginning with
a capital letter and ending with $00.

Now, unless I miss my guess, Rmaker will handle C strings, albeit
manually.

	Joel West	CACI, Inc. - Federal (c/o Gould CSD)
	{decvax!sdcsvax,ihnp4!bonnie}!gould9!joel
	gould9!joel@NOSC.ARPA		(also joel@NOSC)

PS: Does anyone know a way (without writing a program) to convert
    to/from the Lisa RMAKER format (which REDIT, Dialog Creator
    use) and the MDS (Megamax) Format?  The differences seem
    primarily in the ordering of DLOG and WIND parameters.