Structure Definition Tool

[faceman28208]

Is anyone aware of a tool for C++ to define system-independent
structure definition?

I am thinking of something that would allow one to define a physical
structure from which is would generate a class with appropriate set/
get members. The purpose would be to handle all the implementation
dependent issues with alignment, type size, bit field and union
implementation while at the same time reducing the error-prone coding
constructs required for such programming.

I am familar with SDL from the olde Digital Equipment. That handled
structures in a language-independent (not system) manner.

 

[mlimber]

Is anyone aware of a tool for C++ to define system-independent
structure definition?

I am thinking of something that would allow one to define a physical
structure from which is would generate a class with appropriate set/
get members. The purpose would be to handle all the implementation
dependent issues with alignment, type size, bit field and union
implementation while at the same time reducing the error-prone coding
constructs required for such programming.

I am familar with SDL from the olde Digital Equipment. That handled
structures in a language-independent (not system) manner.

CORBA? RPC? Off-topic? In answer to the last: quite likely (http://
www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/how-to-post.html#faq-5.9).

Cheers! --M

 

[Boris Kolpackov]

Hi,

Is anyone aware of a tool for C++ to define system-independent
structure definition?

I am not sure what you mean by "system-independent". Platform-
independent?

I am thinking of something that would allow one to define a physical
structure from which is would generate a class with appropriate set/
get members. The purpose would be to handle all the implementation
dependent issues with alignment, type size, bit field and union
implementation while at the same time reducing the error-prone coding
constructs required for such programming.

CodeSynthesis XSD[1] can do more of less what you want. You would define
your structure in XML Schema and the compiler will generate classes with
constructors, accessors, modifiers, etc. Normally it would also generate
XML serialization/deserialization code but this can be suppressed with
an option.

XSD is open-source (GPL + proprietary license) and cross-platform.


[1] http://www.codesynthesis.com/products/xsd/


hth,
-boris

 

[faceman28208]

XSD is open-source (GPL + proprietary license) and cross-platform.

[1]http://www.codesynthesis.com/products/xsd/

This is along the lines but in a different area than I was thinking
of. The end result is what I was thinking of but the source data is
different. I deal primarily with binary buffers rather than XML. This
could be for messaging or standard file formats, such as JPEG.

I was wondering of someone had solved the C++ programming problem of
dealing with binary data.

 

[Andre Kostur]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @u30g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:

XSD is open-source (GPL + proprietary license) and cross-platform.

[1]http://www.codesynthesis.com/products/xsd/

This is along the lines but in a different area than I was thinking
of. The end result is what I was thinking of but the source data is
different. I deal primarily with binary buffers rather than XML. This
could be for messaging or standard file formats, such as JPEG.

I was wondering of someone had solved the C++ programming problem of
dealing with binary data.

What problem? I've been dealing with binary data for many years in C++.

 

[Boris Kolpackov]

Hi,

XSD is open-source (GPL + proprietary license) and cross-platform.

[1]http://www.codesynthesis.com/products/xsd/

This is along the lines but in a different area than I was thinking
of. The end result is what I was thinking of but the source data is
different. I deal primarily with binary buffers rather than XML. This
could be for messaging or standard file formats, such as JPEG.

I was wondering of someone had solved the C++ programming problem of
dealing with binary data.

XSD can generate binary insertion operators and extraction constructors.
The mechanism is extensible in the sense that you can define your own
stream types. ACE CDR streams (CDR is a binary data representation format
used in CORBA) are supported out of the box. You will still need to define
your object model in XML Schema which is XML-centric, though.

hth,
-boris