Writing structures of vectors / std::string into binary file

Hi,

I am using the following structures

struct KeyValPair
{
std::string Key;
std::string Value
};

struct Properties
{
std::string PropertyName;
vector <KeyValPair > PropVal;
};

struct MainComponent
{
std::string MainName;
vector < Properties > Properties;
};

Now in my mail program, I have defined

vector < MainComponent > objComponent;

and I am storing say 10 components values inside this one.
I want these values of the 10 components the next time I execute the program. So the only option I have is to write to file as binary data right ??

Can someone show me how this can be achieved ?

I tried the FILE *fp; thingy and the fwrite and fread
E.g.
FILE*fp;
fp = fopen("c:\\Component.dat","wb");
fwrite(&objComponent,sizeof(objComponent),2,fp);

But i am getting errors. I dont know how to fill parameters for the fwrite since it contains vectors which can be variable.

I am forced to use only standard C++ libraries as this is part of a helper class for a bigger program.

Please do help me.... I am also googling since morning but without much success..

thanks in anticipation.

Also i would be delighted if someone would post with code examples to my program.

You don't have to use FILE and probably shouldn't, as it's not really the "C++ way".You can use ofstream to write data to a file, and ifstream to read from a file.

Code:

---

std::ofstream stream;
stream.open("test.txt");
if(stream.fail())
        throw std::runtime_error("Couldn't open test.txt.");
stream << "blah";
stream.close();

---

When you have non-POD data (example std::string), there is
no easy way to read/write unformatted (binary). Basically, you
need to do it individually for each data member. I have
a few routines to aid in doing this. I can't post the actual codes,
but I can post some slightly simplified versions (which I have
not tested, but will give you an idea).

A) First, to read/write binary std::strings:

Code:

---

bool WriteUnformatted_string(std::ostream & out , const std::string & s)
{
    std::string::size_type n = s.size();
    out.write( reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&n) , sizeof(n) );

    if (n > 0)
    {
        out.write( s.c_str() , n );
    }

    return !out.bad();
}


bool ReadUnformatted_string(std::istream & in , std::string & s)
{
    // Note : With the upcoming changes to the C++ standard,
    //        you will not need the intermediate vector, since
    //        a std::string will be gaurenteed to have
    //        contigous storage (at least, I saw that posted)

    std::string::size_type n;
    in.read( reinterpret_cast<char*>(&n) , sizeof(n) );

    if (n > 0)
    {
        std::vector<char> v(n);
        in.read( &v[0] , n );
        s.assign(&v[0],&v[0]+n);
    }
    else
    {
        s = "";
    }

    return !in.bad();
}

---

B) Next, to read/write unformatted non-POD vectors

Code:

---

template <typename T>
bool WriteUnformatted_vector_nonPOD(std::ostream & out , const std::vector<T> & v)
{
    size_t n = v.size();

    out.write( reinterpret_cast<char*>(&n) , sizeof(n) );

    for (int i =0; i<n; ++i)
    {
        v[i].WriteUnformatted(out);  // assumes a WriteUnformatted() member function
    }

    return !out.bad();
}

template <typename T>
bool ReadUnformatted_vector_nonPOD(std::istream & in , std::vector<T> & v)
{
    v.clear();

    size_t n;

    in.read( reinterpret_cast<char*>(&n) , sizeof(n) );

    if (n > 0)
    {
        T key_value;

        v.reserve(n);
        for (int i =0; i<n; ++i)
        {
            key_value.ReadUnformatted(in); // assumes a ReadUnformatted() member function
            v.push_back(key_value);
        }
    }

    return !in.bad();
}

---

C) Next modifying your classes

Code:

---

struct KeyValPair
{
    std::string Key;
    std::string Value;

    bool WriteUnformatted(std::ostream & out) const
    {
        WriteUnformatted_string(out,Key);
        WriteUnformatted_string(out,Value);

        return !out.bad();
    }


    bool ReadUnformatted(std::istream & in)
    {
        ReadUnformatted_string(in,Key);
        ReadUnformatted_string(in,Value);

        return !in.bad();
    }
};

struct Properties
{
    std::string PropertyName;
    std::vector <KeyValPair> PropVal;

    bool WriteUnformatted(std::ostream & out) const
    {
        WriteUnformatted_string(out,PropertyName);
        WriteUnformatted_vector_nonPOD(out,PropVal);

        return !out.bad();
    }

    bool ReadUnformatted(std::istream & in)
    {
        ReadUnformatted_string(in,PropertyName);
        ReadUnformatted_vector_nonPOD(in,PropVal);

        return !in.bad();
    }
};

struct MainComponent
{
    std::string MainName;
    std::vector < Properties > Properties;

    bool WriteUnformatted(std::ostream & out) const
    {
        WriteUnformatted_string(out,MainName);
        WriteUnformatted_vector_nonPOD(out,Properties);

        return !out.bad();
    }

    bool ReadUnformatted(std::istream & in)
    {
        ReadUnformatted_string(in,MainName);
        ReadUnformatted_vector_nonPOD(in,Properties);

        return !in.bad();
    }
};

---

D) Note: you should open files using ios::binary mode

E) None of this has been tested, but it should give you an
idea of what needs to be done.

I don't think the OP meant that the objects have to be written as binary data, rather that they were unsure if it was the only way to do it.