[RESOLVED] Help with "Put"ing a UDT

[Teseng]

Type CustType
Name as String
Data() as Integer
Dim Flags as Byte
Dim Flags2 as Byte
Dim Flags2 as Byte
Data2() as Integer
End Type

Dim Custs(5) as CustType

This is basically what i have in VB6, i write it to a file using

Put FileNum, , Custs

The problem is, i need to read this from another program, which is not coded in VB6, so i cant just use the same structure and use "get".

Can anyone help me read this file (for now, from VB6, but pretending i dont have the structure, just reading the integers and stuff one at a time)

I can get the Name, but the array of Integers, i cant figure out how it stores these in the file. Any help?

[Milk]

Can you post the file you want to read. It would really help if we could see it.

Are you are Opening the files for Random or Binary?

Are Data and Data2 always the same size or dynamic? If dynamic how does the file indicate the size?

[bpd]

How dynamic arrays (and other stuff) are stored is [mostly] explained in the documentation of the Put Statement.

One of the key pieces of information is that saving a dynamic array writes a leading "descriptor" (which requires "2 + 8 * NumberOfDimensions" bytes) before the actual data. The first two bytes of the "descriptor" is the # of dimensions; and for each dimension, the first two bytes of the 8-byte "dimension descriptor" is the number of elements in that dimension. And since you already know the datatype of each element (Integer), you know how many bytes each array element uses (2 for an Integer). But if you didn't know the datatype (or if the datatype were Variant), that info is also stored (I leave it as an exercise for the reader ).

To inspect a file, I'd suggest using a hex editor, such as XVI32. It'll make it easier to verify the contents and validate your understanding.

[Teseng]

Ah, the descriptor stuff is what i was looking for! Thanks very much guys.