Storing and reading different types to/from an array

[Jay]

I'm trying to store a sequence of operations and values of different types into a single array. It's
a sequence of command word bytes, and a sequence of one or more values (as determined by the command
word) which might be int or double or char (again defined by the command word).

For example, a command byte "MULDBL" would be followed by 2 doubles (each 8 bytes each). This might
be followed by the command byte STRING would be followed by a byte (indicating the length of the
string) and them by some chars.

MULDBL, STRING, and many other command bytes would be part of an enum.

I can do this in C by storing everything in a char array, and using pointers and casts to write the
data into the array, and later read it from the array. How would I do this in C#?

[Roman Wagner]

Why don't you define an interface like ICommand? And than implement
this
interface for your commands like MulDbl : ICommand and so on.

[Jay]

Thanks for your reply Roman, but Interfaces are currently too advanced for me since I'm a relative
beginner to C#.

I'm trying to convert a C++ programme to C#, so a solution that doesn't involve too much radical
change would be good.

Jay
"Roman Wagner" <ro**********@g mail.comwrote in message
news:11******** ************@w3 g2000hsg.google groups.com...
Why don't you define an interface like ICommand? And than implement
this
interface for your commands like MulDbl : ICommand and so on.

[DeveloperX]

On 16 Aug, 09:55, "Jay" <nospamwrote:

Thanks for your reply Roman, but Interfaces are currently too advanced for me since I'm a relative
beginner to C#.

I'm trying to convert a C++ programme to C#, so a solution that doesn't involve too much radical
change would be good.

Jay

"Roman Wagner" <roman.wag...@g mail.comwrote in message

news:11******** ************@w3 g2000hsg.google groups.com...
Why don't you define an interface like ICommand? And than implement
this
interface for your commands like MulDbl : ICommand and so on.

There are loads of ways you can convert types in C#. Here are some
examples:

double d = 1.123456;
string s;
int i = 9;
string to double:
s = "1.123456";
d = double.Parse(s) ; //in framework 2 you can also look at TryParse.

double to string
s = d.ToString("0.0 0"); //"0.00" is a format string, there are loads
of options for this.

double to int
d = double.MaxValue ;
i = (int)d; // This cast will work, but double.MaxValue is much bigger
than an int can hold so it will truncate.

As you can see the types have both static and non static methods and
you can use casts.

Any use?

[Claire]

Hello Jay,

Look at MemoryStreams with binarywriters/textwriters

MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(st ream);
writer.Write((i nt)3);
stream.getbuffe r()
"Jay" <nospamwrote in message
news:eY******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP05.phx.gbl...

I'm trying to store a sequence of operations and values of different types
into a single array. It's
a sequence of command word bytes, and a sequence of one or more values (as
determined by the command
word) which might be int or double or char (again defined by the command
word).

For example, a command byte "MULDBL" would be followed by 2 doubles (each
8 bytes each). This might
be followed by the command byte STRING would be followed by a byte
(indicating the length of the
string) and them by some chars.

MULDBL, STRING, and many other command bytes would be part of an enum.

I can do this in C by storing everything in a char array, and using
pointers and casts to write the
data into the array, and later read it from the array. How would I do this
in C#?

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

On Aug 16, 9:55 am, "Jay" <nospamwrote:

Thanks for your reply Roman, but Interfaces are currently too advanced
for me since I'm a relative beginner to C#.

I'm trying to convert a C++ programme to C#, so a solution
that doesn't involve too much radical change would be good.

I would *strongly* recommend that you take the interface approach.
Interfaces aren't that hard to learn, and you'll need to know about
them anyway.

It's a short term hit to make the code much cleaner in the long term.

Jon

[Jay]

Thanks for your replies everyone.

John: "I would *strongly* recommend that you take the interface approach." OK, I will have another
look at the chapter on Interfaces in my C# book tonight.

Claire: "Look at MemoryStreams with binarywriters/textwriters". If Interfaces still elude me, I will
look into this.

Jay
"Jay" <nospamwrote in message news:eY******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP05.phx.gbl...
I'm trying to store a sequence of operations and values of different types into a single array. It's
a sequence of command word bytes, and a sequence of one or more values (as determined by the command
word) which might be int or double or char (again defined by the command word).

For example, a command byte "MULDBL" would be followed by 2 doubles (each 8 bytes each). This might
be followed by the command byte STRING would be followed by a byte (indicating the length of the
string) and them by some chars.

MULDBL, STRING, and many other command bytes would be part of an enum.

I can do this in C by storing everything in a char array, and using pointers and casts to write the
data into the array, and later read it from the array. How would I do this in C#?

[=?Utf-8?B?dG9ueSBsb2Nr?=]

Declare an Arraylist, each location takes an object, which can be an enum, a
double, a string of characters, or anything else you can think of. Since you
will always know what you are taking out of the arraylist, you can cast the
object you get back to the right type. You will find the whole process
actually far simpler than the C equivalent.

"Jay" wrote:

I'm trying to store a sequence of operations and values of different types into a single array. It's
a sequence of command word bytes, and a sequence of one or more values (as determined by the command
word) which might be int or double or char (again defined by the command word).

For example, a command byte "MULDBL" would be followed by 2 doubles (each 8 bytes each). This might
be followed by the command byte STRING would be followed by a byte (indicating the length of the
string) and them by some chars.

MULDBL, STRING, and many other command bytes would be part of an enum.

I can do this in C by storing everything in a char array, and using pointers and casts to write the
data into the array, and later read it from the array. How would I do this in C#?

[Jay]

I'm afraid that after reading my C# book, Interfaces still haven't clicked, and timescales dictate
that I must use one of the other two suggestions: ArrayList or MemoryStream.

Am I right in saying that MemoryStream is faster (since ArrayList uses objects)?

Jay

"Jay" <nospamwrote in message news:eY******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP05.phx.gbl...
I'm trying to store a sequence of operations and values of different types into a single array. It's
a sequence of command word bytes, and a sequence of one or more values (as determined by the command
word) which might be int or double or char (again defined by the command word).

For example, a command byte "MULDBL" would be followed by 2 doubles (each 8 bytes each). This might
be followed by the command byte STRING would be followed by a byte (indicating the length of the
string) and them by some chars.

MULDBL, STRING, and many other command bytes would be part of an enum.

I can do this in C by storing everything in a char array, and using pointers and casts to write the
data into the array, and later read it from the array. How would I do this in C#?