help...I wanna read a file and then make changes and save it

Hi there!

I'm trying to read a file in...it actually is a prefs file for another program. When i open it in a txt reader it looks like garbage. when I open it with this file viewer called hackmaster it tells me that the file is ascii. How do I open the file and make sense of it?

Thanx!

-Deano

what is the extension *.txt, *.cmd, *.???

use open namefile for binary as #1
or open namefile for input as #1

depending the extension but is binary your read the line
and the line convert to ascii

there is no extension on the file....it is just called UserData I am really ignorant on the whole issue. Here is what it looks like in a when i open it with wordpad:


ÿãÏÿü

like I said it looks like a bunch of garbage.

when I open it in the other viewer...i get this info about the file:

TYPE: ASCII
OFFSET: 00000000

i know i'm probably not making any sense cause i don't really know what i'm talking about. If you could bear with me i'd really appreciate it...i've pretty much hit a wall with this.

btw...you can message me on AIM @ remote4177 thanks again!

ALSO...i found a piece of c code that does the read part of what i am trying to do. Here it is:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#define USERDATA_NAME_OFFSET 0x211
#define USERDATA_LOGIN_OFFSET 0x299
#define USERDATA_PASSWORD_OFFSET 0x2BD
#define USERDATA_PRIVS_OFFSET 0x004

/***************************************/
#define CAN_DOWNLOAD_FILES 0x00000020
#define CAN_UPLOAD_FILES 0x00000040
#define CAN_UPLOAD_ANYWHERE 0x40000000
#define CAN_DELETE_FILES 0x00000080
#define CAN_RENAME_FILES 0x00000010
#define CAN_MOVE_FILES 0x00000008
#define CAN_COMMENT_FILES 0x08000000
#define CAN_CREATE_FOLDERS 0x00000004
#define CAN_DELETE_FOLDERS 0x00000002
#define CAN_RENAME_FOLDERS 0x00000001
#define CAN_MOVE_FOLDERS 0x00008000
#define CAN_COMMENT_FOLDERS 0x04000000
#define CAN_VIEW_DROP_BOXES 0x02000000
#define CAN_MAKE_ALIASES 0x01000000
/***************************************/
#define CAN_CREATE_USERS 0x00000200
#define CAN_DELETE_USERS 0x00000100
#define CAN_READ_USERS 0x00800000
#define CAN_MODIFY_USERS 0x00400000
#define CAN_GET_USER_INFO 0x80000000
#define CAN_DISCONNECT_USERS 0x00020000
#define CANNOT_BE_DISCONNECT 0x00010000
/***************************************/
#define CAN_READ_NEWS 0x00080000
#define CAN_POST_NEWS 0x00040000
/***************************************/
#define CAN_READ_CHAT 0x00004000
#define CAN_SEND_CHAT 0x00002000
/***************************************/
#define CAN_USE_ANY_NAME 0x20000000
#define DONT_SHOW_AGREEMENT 0x10000000


/**************prototypes***************/
FILE *open_userdata_file(char *filename_p);
void close_userdata_file(FILE *userdata_file_p);
void get_account_name(char *name,FILE *userdata_file_p);
void get_account_login(char *login,FILE *userdata_file_p);
void get_account_password(char *password,FILE *userdata_file_p);
void get_account_privs(int *privsdata,FILE *userdata_file_p);

void main(int argc,char *argv[])
{
FILE *userdata_file;
char name[256];
char login[256];
char password[256];
int privsdata;

if (argc<2)
printf("Usage:\n<path to userdata file>\n");
else
{
userdata_file = open_userdata_file(argv[1]);
get_account_name(name,userdata_file);
get_account_login(login,userdata_file);
get_account_password(password,userdata_file);
printf("Decoding: %s\n",argv[1]);
printf("*-------------------------------*\n");
printf("| Hotline UserData Decoder 0.4 |\n")
printf("*-------------------------------*\n");
printf("| Name: %-23s |\n",name);
printf("| Login: %-22s |\n",login);
printf("| Password: %-19s |\n",password);
printf("*-------------------------------*\n");
printf("| Account Access: |\n");
printf("*-------------------------------*\n");
get_account_privs(&privsdata,userdata_file);
printf("*-------------------------------*\n");
close_userdata_file(userdata_file);
}
return;
}

FILE *open_userdata_file(char *filename_p)
{
FILE *userdata_file_p;
//possibly check for correct file type?
if ((userdata_file_p = fopen(filename_p,"rb"))==NULL)
{
printf("ERROR: File %s could not be opened.\n",*filename_p);
exit;
}
return userdata_file_p;
}

void get_account_name(char *name,FILE *userdata_file_p)
{
unsigned long length;

length=0;
fseek(userdata_file_p,USERDATA_NAME_OFFSET,0);
length = fgetc(userdata_file_p);
fread(name,1,length,userdata_file_p);
name[length]=0;
return;
}

void get_account_login(char *login,FILE *userdata_file_p)
{
unsigned long length;

length=0;
fseek(userdata_file_p,USERDATA_LOGIN_OFFSET,0);
length = fgetc(userdata_file_p);
fread(login,1,length,userdata_file_p);
login[length]=0;
return;
}

void get_account_password(char *password,FILE *userdata_file_p)
{
unsigned long length;
unsigned long counter;

length=0;
fseek(userdata_file_p,USERDATA_PASSWORD_OFFSET,0);
length = fgetc(userdata_file_p);
fread(password,1,length,userdata_file_p);
for(counter=0;counter<length;counter++)
{
//printf("Decoding: %d to %d\n",password[counter],255-password[counter]);
password[counter]=255-password[counter];
}
password[length]=0;
return;
}

void get_account_privs(int *privsdata,FILE *userdata_file_p)
{
fseek(userdata_file_p,USERDATA_PRIVS_OFFSET,0);
fread(privsdata,1,4,userdata_file_p);
//printf("Debug: %d\n",*privsdata);
if (*privsdata&CAN_DOWNLOAD_FILES)
printf("| Can Download Files |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_UPLOAD_FILES)
printf("| Can Upload Files |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_UPLOAD_ANYWHERE)
printf("| Can Upload Anywhere |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_DELETE_FILES)
printf("| Can Delete Files |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_RENAME_FILES)
printf("| Can Rename Files |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_MOVE_FILES)
printf("| Can Move Files |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_COMMENT_FILES)
printf("| Can Comment Files |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_CREATE_FOLDERS)
printf("| Can Create Folders |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_DELETE_FOLDERS)
printf("| Can Delete Folders |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_RENAME_FOLDERS)
printf("| Can Rename Folders |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_MOVE_FOLDERS)
printf("| Can Move Folders |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_COMMENT_FOLDERS)
printf("| Can Comment Folders |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_VIEW_DROP_BOXES)
printf("| Can View Drop Boxes |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_MAKE_ALIASES)
printf("| Can Make Aliases |\n");
/*************************************/
if (*privsdata&CAN_CREATE_USERS)
printf("| Can Create Users |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_DELETE_USERS)
printf("| Can Delete Users |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_READ_USERS)
printf("| Can Read Users |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_MODIFY_USERS)
printf("| Can Modify Users |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_GET_USER_INFO)
printf("| Can Get User Info |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_DISCONNECT_USERS)
printf("| Can Disconnect Users |\n");
if (*privsdata&CANNOT_BE_DISCONNECT)
printf("| Cannot Be Disconnected |\n");
/*************************************/
if (*privsdata&CAN_READ_NEWS)
printf("| Can Read News |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_POST_NEWS)
printf("| Can Post News |\n");
/*************************************/
if (*privsdata&CAN_READ_CHAT)
printf("| Can Read Chat |\n");
if (*privsdata&CAN_SEND_CHAT)
printf("| Can Send Chat |\n");
/*************************************/
if (*privsdata&CAN_USE_ANY_NAME)
printf("| Can Use Any Name |\n");
if (*privsdata&DONT_SHOW_AGREEMENT)
printf("| Don't Show Agreement |\n");
return;
}

void close_userdata_file(FILE *userdata_file_p)
{
fclose(userdata_file_p);
//add error checking
return;
}

[Edited by deano on 04-08-2000 at 11:42 AM]