I have a list of struct, with each struct having two short values and a byte value. I would like to write this to a HEX file just containing the raw data. This HEX value will get loaded onto a microcontroller.
Can anyone point me in the right direction on how to dump these values into a file.?
Let's say your struct is
struct Package {
public short First { get; private set; }
public short Second { get; private set; }
public byte Third { get; private set; }
public Package(short first, short second, byte third) : this() {
this.First = first;
this.Second = second;
this.Third = third;
}
}
Then:
void WritePackageOnWriter(Package package, BinaryWriter binaryWriter) {
binaryWriter.Write(package.First);
binaryWriter.Write(package.Second);
binaryWriter.Write(package.Third);
}
So that
// binaryWriter is BinaryWriter
// packages is IEnumerable<Package>
foreach(var package in packages) {
WritePackageOnWriter(package, binaryWriter);
}
If necessary, you can reconstitute via
Package ReadPackageFromReader(BinaryReader binaryReader) {
short first = binaryReader.ReadInt16();
short second = binaryReader.ReadInt16();
byte third = binaryReader.ReadByte();
return new Package(first, second, third);
}
I assume that by a hex file you actually mean a binary file, not a text file with hex codes.
The structure will have padding in it, so you can't just dump the list straight into a file.
Just get the values from each struct and write to the file using a BinaryWriter:
using (FileStream file = File.OpenWrite("FileName.ext")) {
using (BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(file)) {
foreach (Data data in theList) {
writer.Write(data.FirstShort);
writer.Write(data.SecondShort);
writer.Write(data.TheByte);
}
}
}
Look at this site: http://www.developerfusion.com/article/84519/mastering-structs-in-c/
I think you will want more control over your data types especially with Serialize/Deserializing your data. This will allow you to control EXACTLY how you marshall your datatypes.
Taken Directly from Mastering Structs in C#
Struct Layout
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential,
Pack = 1, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
public struct DISPLAY_DEVICE
{
public int cb;
[MarshalAs(
UnmanagedType.ByValArray,
SizeConst=32)]
public char[] DeviceName;
[MarshalAs(
UnmanagedType.ByValArray,
SizeConst=128)]
public char[] DeviceString;
public int StateFlags;
[MarshalAs(
UnmanagedType.ByValArray,
SizeConst = 128)]
public char[] DeviceID;
[MarshalAs(
UnmanagedType.ByValArray,
SizeConst = 128)]
public char[] DeviceKey;
}
Serialization
public static byte[]
RawSerialize(object anything)
{
int rawsize =
Marshal.SizeOf(anything);
IntPtr buffer =
Marshal.AllocHGlobal(rawsize);
Marshal.StructureToPtr(anything,
buffer, false);
byte[] rawdata = new byte[rawsize];
Marshal.Copy(buffer, rawdata,
0, rawsize);
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(buffer);
return rawdata;
}
Side note:
For basic serialization I would not try to roll my own I would just use built in .NET serialization: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/4abbf6k0.aspx