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digitalmars.D - Odd behaviour with dynamic array within a struct

reply Brad Beveridge <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> writes:
Hi all.  I am working with DMD 0.98 on linux.  I've just run across
something that is a little non-intuitive.  An anonymous struct within a
struct (or class) will allocate storage, and allow you to use members
within that struct - this is expected.  However, a named struct within a
struct will not allocate storage, but its members are still happily
accessible.  This more or less gives the effect of a union.  Is this
intended or a nasty side-effect?  This took me a while to understand - I
think it's a bit of a trap for new D programmers.  Comments?

There is some example code below.

Cheers
Brad

//version=ok;  // uncomment to fix
struct A 
{
    version(ok){
        struct _fileData{
            int someval;
        }
        _fileData fileData;
    } else {
        struct fileData{
            int someval;
        }
    }
    int [] data;
}

void printInfo(A a)
{
    printf("addr %x sizeof %i\n", &a, a.sizeof);
    printf("someval %i\n", a.fileData.someval);
    printf("length of data %i\n", a.data);
}

int main(char[][] arg)
{
    int [] d;
    A a;
    a.fileData.someval=66;
    printInfo(a);
    a.data.length= 550;
    printInfo(a);
    return 0;
}
Aug 08 2004
parent reply "Walter" <newshound digitalmars.com> writes:
It's a bug.

"Brad Beveridge" <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:cf4n0j$2odm$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 Hi all. I am working with DMD 0.98 on linux. I've just run across
 something that is a little non-intuitive. An anonymous struct within a
 struct (or class) will allocate storage, and allow you to use members
 within that struct - this is expected. However, a named struct within a
 struct will not allocate storage, but its members are still happily
 accessible. This more or less gives the effect of a union. Is this
 intended or a nasty side-effect? This took me a while to understand - I
 think it's a bit of a trap for new D programmers. Comments?

 There is some example code below.

 Cheers
 Brad

 //version=ok; // uncomment to fix
 struct A
 {
 version(ok){
 struct _fileData{
 int someval;
 }
 _fileData fileData;
 } else {
 struct fileData{
 int someval;
 }
 }
 int [] data;
 }

 void printInfo(A a)
 {
 printf("addr %x sizeof %i\n", &a, a.sizeof);
 printf("someval %i\n", a.fileData.someval);
 printf("length of data %i\n", a.data);
 }

 int main(char[][] arg)
 {
 int [] d;
 A a;
 a.fileData.someval=66;
 printInfo(a);
 a.data.length= 550;
 printInfo(a);
 return 0;
 }
Aug 08 2004
parent reply Brad Beveridge <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> writes:
OK, cool.  What will the fixed behaviour be like?  I think I would
personally prefer that named structs within structs act just like anon
structs & allocate storage.  For those of you wondering why this is useful,
consider this trivial example.
struct BMP
{
  struct fileData
  {
    uint width;
    uint height;
  }
  char [] data;
}

BMP bmp;
file.readExact(&bmp, bmp.fileData.sizeof)
bmp.data.length = bmp.fileData.width * bmp.fileData.height;

Now if there was some way to breakout the internal struct names as if
fileData were anonymous, I would be really happy.  Actually, thinking about
it I guess I could actually have fileData as anonymous and use
bmp.data.offset as the read in length.

Cheers
Brad

Walter wrote:


 It's a bug.
 
 "Brad Beveridge" <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> wrote in message
 news:cf4n0j$2odm$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 Hi all. I am working with DMD 0.98 on linux. I've just run across
 something that is a little non-intuitive. An anonymous struct within a
 struct (or class) will allocate storage, and allow you to use members
 within that struct - this is expected. However, a named struct within a
 struct will not allocate storage, but its members are still happily
 accessible. This more or less gives the effect of a union. Is this
 intended or a nasty side-effect? This took me a while to understand - I
 think it's a bit of a trap for new D programmers. Comments?

 There is some example code below.

 Cheers
 Brad
Aug 08 2004
next sibling parent reply Brad Beveridge <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> writes:
Hmm, I don't know what I was thinking with this offset business, is there
anyway I can find how far from the start of a structure a particular member
is?  I thought I had seen the struct.member.offset property before.

Brad
Aug 08 2004
parent reply "Walter" <newshound digitalmars.com> writes:
structname.member.offset ought to do it.

"Brad Beveridge" <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:cf74pf$bco$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 Hmm, I don't know what I was thinking with this offset business, is there
 anyway I can find how far from the start of a structure a particular




 is?  I thought I had seen the struct.member.offset property before.

 Brad
Aug 09 2004
parent Brad Beveridge <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> writes:
Yep - that worked.  I was trying to use structure_instance.member.offset.
Thanks.

Brad


Walter wrote:

 structname.member.offset ought to do it.
 
 "Brad Beveridge" <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> wrote in message
 news:cf74pf$bco$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 Hmm, I don't know what I was thinking with this offset business, is there
 anyway I can find how far from the start of a structure a particular




 is?  I thought I had seen the struct.member.offset property before.

 Brad
Aug 09 2004
prev sibling parent "Walter" <newshound digitalmars.com> writes:
Anonymous structs allocate storage, named structs simply create a name for a
type.

"Brad Beveridge" <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:cf74c7$bau$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 OK, cool.  What will the fixed behaviour be like?  I think I would
 personally prefer that named structs within structs act just like anon
 structs & allocate storage.  For those of you wondering why this is




 consider this trivial example.
 struct BMP
 {
   struct fileData
   {
     uint width;
     uint height;
   }
   char [] data;
 }

 BMP bmp;
 file.readExact(&bmp, bmp.fileData.sizeof)
 bmp.data.length = bmp.fileData.width * bmp.fileData.height;

 Now if there was some way to breakout the internal struct names as if
 fileData were anonymous, I would be really happy.  Actually, thinking




 it I guess I could actually have fileData as anonymous and use
 bmp.data.offset as the read in length.

 Cheers
 Brad

 Walter wrote:


 It's a bug.

 "Brad Beveridge" <brad.beveridge somewhere.com> wrote in message
 news:cf4n0j$2odm$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 Hi all. I am working with DMD 0.98 on linux. I've just run across
 something that is a little non-intuitive. An anonymous struct within a
 struct (or class) will allocate storage, and allow you to use members
 within that struct - this is expected. However, a named struct within a
 struct will not allocate storage, but its members are still happily
 accessible. This more or less gives the effect of a union. Is this
 intended or a nasty side-effect? This took me a while to understand - I
 think it's a bit of a trap for new D programmers. Comments?

 There is some example code below.

 Cheers
 Brad
Aug 09 2004