Alright, I'm hashing an image. And as you all know, hashing an image takes FOREVER. So I'm taking 100 samples of the image, evenly spaced out. Here's the code.
#define NUM_HASH_SAMPLES 100
#implementation UIImage(Powow)
-(NSString *)md5Hash
{
NSData *data = UIImagePNGRepresentation(self);
char *bytes = (char*)malloc(NUM_HASH_SAMPLES*sizeof(char));
for(int i = 0; i < NUM_HASH_SAMPLES; i++)
{
int index = i*data.length/NUM_HASH_SAMPLES;
bytes[i] = (char)(data.bytes[index]); //Operand of type 'const void' where arithmetic or pointer type is required
}
unsigned char result[CC_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH];
CC_MD5( bytes, NUM_HASH_SAMPLES, result );
return [NSString stringWithFormat:
#"%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x",
result[0], result[1], result[2], result[3],
result[4], result[5], result[6], result[7],
result[8], result[9], result[10], result[11],
result[12], result[13], result[14], result[15]
];
}
The error is on the commented line.
What am I doing wrong?
data.bytes is a void *, so it makes no sense to dereference it (or even to perform the necessary pointer arithmetic on it).
So, if you meant to take a byte out of the data, then obtain a pointer to const unsigned char and dereference that:
const unsigned char *src = data.bytes;
/* ..then, in your loop.. */
bytes[i] = src[index];
Oh, and do not cast the return value of malloc()!
According to the documentation for NSData, data.bytes returns a type of const void *. Basically, you're trying to access a pointer to void which makes no sense since void doesn't have a size.
Cast it to a char pointer and dereference it.
((const char *)data.bytes)[index]
or
*((const char *)data.bytes + index)
Edit: What I'd normally do is assign the pointer to a known data type straight away and use that instead.
I.e.
const char *src = data.bytes;
bytes[i] = src[index];
Edit2: You might also want to leave the const qualifier in as suggested by H2CO3. That way you won't accidentally write to a location you're not supposed to.
Related
I am trying to convert a nsstring with hex values into a float value.
NSString *hexString = #"3f9d70a4";
The float value should be = 1.230.
Some ways I have tried to solve this are:
1.NSScanner
-(unsigned int)strfloatvalue:(NSString *)str
{
float outVal;
NSString *newStr = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"0x%#",str];
NSScanner* scanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:newStr];
NSLog(#"string %#",newStr);
bool test = [scanner scanHexFloat:&outVal];
NSLog(#"scanner result %d = %a (or %f)",test,outVal,outVal);
return outVal;
}
results:
string 0x3f9d70a4
scanner result 1 = 0x1.fceb86p+29 (or 1067282624.000000)
2.casting pointers
NSNumber * xPtr = [NSNumber numberWithFloat:[(NSNumber *)#"3f9d70a4" floatValue]];
result:3.000000
What you have is not a "hexadecimal float", as is produced by the %a string format and scanned by scanHexFloat: but the hexadecimal representation of a 32-bit floating-point value - i.e. the actual bits.
To convert this back to a float in C requires messing with the type system - to give you access to the bytes that make up a floating-point value. You can do this with a union:
typedef union { float f; uint32_t i; } FloatInt;
This type is similar to a struct but the fields are overlaid on top of each other. You should understand that doing this kind of manipulation requires you understand the storage formats, are aware of endian order, etc. Do not do this lightly.
Now you have the above type you can scan a hexadecimal integer and interpret the resultant bytes as a floating-point number:
FloatInt fl;
NSScanner *scanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:#"3f9d70a4"];
if([scanner scanHexInt:&fl.i]) // scan into the i field
{
NSLog(#"%x -> %f", fl.i, fl.f); // display the f field, interpreting the bytes of i as a float
}
else
{
// parse error
}
This works, but again consider carefully what you are doing.
HTH
I think a better solutions is a workaround like this :
-(float) getFloat:(NSInteger*)pIndex
{
NSInteger index = *pIndex;
NSData* data = [self subDataFromIndex:&index withLength:4];
*pIndex = index;
uint32_t hostData = CFSwapInt32BigToHost(*(const uint32_t *)[data bytes]);
return *(float *)(&hostData);;
}
Where your parameter is an NSData which rapresents the number in HEX format, and the input parameter is a pointer to the element of NSData.
So basically you are trying to make an NSString to C's float, there's an old fashion way to do that!
NSString* hexString = #"3f9d70a4";
const char* cHexString = [hexString UTF8String];
long l = strtol(cHexString, NULL, 16);
float f = *((float *) &l);
// f = 1.23
for more detail please see this answer
I have function to convert an integer into byte array (for iPhone). To add dynamicity I have allocate the array using malloc. But I think this will leak memory. What's best way to manage this memory,
+ (unsigned char *) intToByteArray:(int)num{
unsigned char * arr = (unsigned char *)
malloc(sizeof(num) * sizeof(unsigned char));
for (int i = sizeof(num) - 1 ; i >= 0; i --) {
arr[i] = num & 0xFF;
num = num >> 8;
}
return arr;
}
When calling,
int x = 500;
unsigned char * bytes = [Util intToByteArray:x];
I want to avoid the call free(bytes) since, the calling function do not know or explicitly knows, the memory is allocated and not freed.
A few things:
The char type (and signed char and unsigned char) all have a size of 1 by definition, so sizeof(unsigned char) is unnecessary.
It looks like you just want to get the byte representation of an int object, if this is the case, it is not necessary to allocate more space for it, simply take the address of the int and cast it to a pointer to unsigned char *. If the byte order is wrong you can use the NSSwapInt function to swap the order of the bytes in the int and then take the address and cast to unsigned char *. For example:
int someInt = 0x12345678;
unsigned char *bytes = (unsigned char *) &someInt;
This cast is legal and reading from bytes is legal up until sizeof(int) bytes are read. This is accessing the “object representation”.
If you insist on using malloc, then you simply need to pass the buffer to free when you are done, as in:
free(bytes);
The name of your method does not imply the correct ownership of the returned buffer. If your method returns something that the caller is responsible for freeing, it is conventional to name the method using new, copy, or sometimes create. A more suitable name would be copyBytesFromInt: or something similar. Otherwise you could have the method accept a pre-allocated buffer and call the method getBytes:fromInt:, for example:
+ (void) getBytes:(unsigned char *) bytes fromInt:(int) num
{
for (int i = sizeof(num) - 1 ; i >= 0; i --) {
bytes[i] = num & 0xFF;
num = num >> 8;
}
}
You could wrap your bytes into a NSData instance:
NSData *data = [NSData dataWithBytesNoCopy:bytes length:sizeof(num) freeWhenDone:YES];
Make sure your method follows the usual object ownership rules.
Just call free(bytes); when you are done with the bytes (either at the end of method or in dealloc of the class)
since you want to avoid the free call, you could wrap your byte[] in a NSData object:
NSData *d = [NSData dataWithBytesNoCopy:bytes length:num freeWhenDone:YES];
The conventional way of handling this is for the caller to pass in an allocated byte buffer. That way the caller is responsible for freeing it. Something like:
int x = 500;
char *buffer = malloc(x * sizeof(char));
[Util int:x toByteArray:buffer];
…
free(buffer);
I would also consider creating an NSData to hold the bytes, this would take care of memory management for you, while still allowing you to alter the byte buffer:
+ (NSData *) intToByteArray:(int)num {
unsigned char * arr = (unsigned char *)
malloc(sizeof(num) * sizeof(unsigned char));
for (int i = sizeof(num) - 1 ; i >= 0; i --) {
arr[i] = num & 0xFF;
num = num >> 8;
}
return [NSData dataWithBytesNoCopy:arr length:num freeWhenDone:YES];
}
How can I enumerate NSString by pulling each unichar out of it? I can use characterAtIndex but that is slower than doing it by an incrementing unichar*. I didn't see anything in Apple's documentation that didn't require copying the string into a second buffer.
Something like this would be ideal:
for (unichar c in string) { ... }
or
unichar* ptr = (unichar*)string;
You can speed up -characterAtIndex: by converting it to it's IMP form first:
NSString *str = #"This is a test";
NSUInteger len = [str length]; // only calling [str length] once speeds up the process as well
SEL sel = #selector(characterAtIndex:);
// using typeof to save my fingers from typing more
unichar (*charAtIdx)(id, SEL, NSUInteger) = (typeof(charAtIdx)) [str methodForSelector:sel];
for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {
unichar c = charAtIdx(str, sel, i);
// do something with C
NSLog(#"%C", c);
}
EDIT: It appears that the CFString Reference contains the following method:
const UniChar *CFStringGetCharactersPtr(CFStringRef theString);
This means you can do the following:
const unichar *chars = CFStringGetCharactersPtr((__bridge CFStringRef) theString);
while (*chars)
{
// do something with *chars
chars++;
}
If you don't want to allocate memory for coping the buffer, this is the way to go.
Your only option is to copy the characters into a new buffer. This is because the NSString class does not guarantee that there is an internal buffer you can use. The best way to do this is to use the getCharacters:range: method.
NSUInteger i, length = [string length];
unichar *buffer = malloc(sizeof(unichar) * length);
NSRange range = {0,length};
[string getCharacters:buffer range:range];
for(i = 0; i < length; ++i) {
unichar c = buffer[i];
}
If you are using potentially very long strings, it would be better to allocate a fixed size buffer and enumerate the string in chunks (this is actually how fast enumeration works).
I created a block-style enumeration method that uses getCharacters:range: with a fixed-size buffer, as per ughoavgfhw's suggestion in his answer. It avoids the situation where CFStringGetCharactersPtr returns null and it doesn't have to malloc a large buffer. You can drop it into an NSString category, or modify it to take a string as a parameter if you like.
-(void)enumerateCharactersWithBlock:(void (^)(unichar, NSUInteger, BOOL *))block
{
const NSInteger bufferSize = 16;
const NSInteger length = [self length];
unichar buffer[bufferSize];
NSInteger bufferLoops = (length - 1) / bufferSize + 1;
BOOL stop = NO;
for (int i = 0; i < bufferLoops; i++) {
NSInteger bufferOffset = i * bufferSize;
NSInteger charsInBuffer = MIN(length - bufferOffset, bufferSize);
[self getCharacters:buffer range:NSMakeRange(bufferOffset, charsInBuffer)];
for (int j = 0; j < charsInBuffer; j++) {
block(buffer[j], j + bufferOffset, &stop);
if (stop) {
return;
}
}
}
}
The fastest reliable way to enumerate characters in an NSString I know of is to use this relatively little-known Core Foundation gem hidden in plain sight (CFString.h).
NSString *string = <#initialize your string#>
NSUInteger stringLength = string.length;
CFStringInlineBuffer buf;
CFStringInitInlineBuffer((__bridge CFStringRef) string, &buf, (CFRange) { 0, stringLength });
for (NSUInteger charIndex = 0; charIndex < stringLength; charIndex++) {
unichar c = CFStringGetCharacterFromInlineBuffer(&buf, charIndex);
}
If you look at the source code of these inline functions, CFStringInitInlineBuffer() and CFStringGetCharacterFromInlineBuffer(), you'll see that they handle all the nasty details like CFStringGetCharactersPtr() returning NULL, CFStringGetCStringPtr() returning NULL, defaulting to slower CFStringGetCharacters() and caching the characters in a C array for fastest access possible. This API really deserves more publicity.
The caveat is that if you initialize the CFStringInlineBuffer at a non-zero offset, you should pass a relative character index to CFStringInlineBuffer(), as stated in the header comments:
The next two functions allow fast access to the contents of a string, assuming you are doing sequential or localized accesses. To use, call CFStringInitInlineBuffer() with a CFStringInlineBuffer (on the stack, say), and a range in the string to look at. Then call CFStringGetCharacterFromInlineBuffer() as many times as you want, with a index into that range (relative to the start of that range). These are INLINE functions and will end up calling CFString only once in a while, to fill a buffer. CFStringGetCharacterFromInlineBuffer() returns 0 if a location outside the original range is specified.
I don't think you can do this. NSString is an abstract interface to a multitude of classes that make no guarantees about the internal storage of the character data, so it's entirely possible there is no character array to get a pointer to.
If neither of the options mentioned in your question are suitable for your app, I'd recommend either creating your own string class for this purpose, or using raw malloc'ed unichar arrays instead of string objects.
This will work:
char *s = [string UTF8String];
for (char *t = s; *t; t++)
/* use as */ *t;
[Edit] And if you really need unicode characters then you have no option but to use length and characterAtIndex. From the documentation:
The NSString class has two primitive methods—length and characterAtIndex:—that provide the basis for all other methods in its interface. The length method returns the total number of Unicode characters in the string. characterAtIndex: gives access to each character in the string by index, with index values starting at 0.
So your code would be:
for (int index = 0; index < string.length; index++)
{
unichar c = [string characterAtIndex: index];
/* ... */
}
[edit 2]
Also, don't forget that NSString is 'toll-free bridged' to CFString and thus all the non-Objective-C, straight C-code interface functions are usable. The relevant one would be CFStringGetCharacterAtIndex
I'm trying to read in and parse an xml document in an iPhone app. I begin parsing and then use the override method:
static void startElementSAX(void *ctx, const xmlChar *localname, const xmlChar *prefix, const xmlChar *URI,
int nb_namespaces, const xmlChar **namespaces, int nb_attributes, int nb_defaulted, const xmlChar **attributes)
I then try to convert the attributes to a string with:
NSString *str1 = [[NSString alloc] initWithCString:attributes encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
Why does the attributes parameter have two ** in front of it. And why when trying to extract the data and convert it to a string with the above code do I get the warning:
passing argument 1 of 'initWithCString:encoding:' from incompatible pointer type.
The documentation for libxml's start element callback states that the pointer is to an array that hold 5 values for each attribute (the number of attributes is returned in nb_attributes). This means that every 5th value in the array is a new attribute item.
The five items for each attribute are:
localname (the name of the attribute)
prefix (the namespace of the attribute)
URI
[start of] value (a pointer to the start
of the xmlChar string for the value)
end [of value] (a pointer to the end of the
xmlChar string for the value)
So you need to step through the array, get each value out of the items for the first attribute, then use the start value pointer to get the xmlChar string that is length = end - start. Then start over with the next attribute till you read in nb_attributes worth.
If that makes your head ache then I strongly suggest you switch to Apple's NSXMLParser (link may require login, or use this link NSXMLParser). In which case you would get the attributes as an NSDictionary. To get all the attributes out of it you could do the following:
for (NSString *attributeName in [attributeDict allKeys]) {
NSString *attributeValue = [attributeDict objectForKey:attributeName];
// do something here with attributeName and attributeValue
}
If you have access to the iPhone developer site then look at the example SeismicXML.
The sample is great except for two things:
you need to bump 'i' by 5 after each loop since there are 5 items for each attribute.
doing strlen() on both begin and end is expensive; it's easier to simply subtract begin from end
for (int i = 0; i < nb_attributes*5; i += 5)
{
const char *attr = (const char *)attributes[i];
const char *begin = (const char *)attributes[i + 3];
const char *end = (const char *)attributes[i + 4];
int vlen = end - begin;
char val[vlen + 1];
strncpy(val, begin, vlen);
val[vlen] = '\0';
NSLog(#"attribute %s = '%s'", attr, val);
}
The accepted answers explanation is correct, but it's helpful to view some example code too. Here is just one way to extract the value from the attributes, at least it works when I tested it. I'm far from being a C guru though.
for (int i = 0; i < nb_attributes; i += 5) {
const char *attr = (const char *)attributes[i];
const char *begin = (const char *)attributes[i + 3];
const char *end = (const char *)attributes[i + 4];
int vlen = strlen(begin) - strlen(end);
char val[vlen + 1];
strncpy(val, begin, vlen);
val[vlen] = '\0';
NSLog(#"attribute %s: %d = %s", attr, i, val);
}
NSXMLParser is nice, but from what I can tell, it downloads the entire XML before processing. Using libxml it can read in chunks at a time. It allows greater flexibility, but higher learning curve.
The '**' notation means "pointer to a pointer." In C/C++, a "string" is represented by an array of characters. An array is actually just a pointer under the covers, so a string in C/C++ can actually be declared as either "char[]" or "char*". The [] notation compiles down to a pointer to an array.
A common example of this is the typical "main" function in C/C++:
int main(int argc, char **argv)
Which is equivalent to:
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
argv is an array of char* "strings" (the command-line arguments to the program).
I can't provide an example at the moment, but it looks like you need to iterate over attributes to access the individual strings. For example, attributes[0] would be the first attribute string (an xmlChar*). You should be able to convert each individual attribute to an NSString.
const xmlChar **namespaces is an array of CStrings (int nb_namespaces tells you how many). If you want each namespace as an NSString, you could do something like the following:
NSMutableArray *namespaces = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
int i;
for (i = 0; i < nb_namespaces; i++) {
NSString *namespace = [[NSString alloc] initWithCString:attributes[i] encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
[namespaces addObject:namespace];
}
The initWithCString method is expecting xmlChar *, which is a pointer to an xmlChar (the first char in a CString).
xmlChar ** means pointer to a pointer to an xmlChar (the first char in the first CString).
I'm trying to use a function that has the following signature to sign a HTTP request:
extern void hmac_sha1(const unsigned char *inText, int inTextLength, unsigned char* inKey, const unsigned int inKeyLength, unsigned char *outDigest);
And this is the method I wrote to use it:
- (NSString *)sign: (NSString *)stringToSign {
NSString *secretKey = #"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";
const unsigned char *inText = (unsigned char *)[stringToSign UTF8String];
int inTextLength = [stringToSign length];
unsigned char *inKey = (unsigned char *)[secretKey UTF8String];
const unsigned int inKeyLength = (unsigned int)[secretKey length];
unsigned char *outDigest;
hmac_sha1(inText, inTextLength, inKey, inKeyLength, outDigest);
NSString *output = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(const char *)outDigest];
return output;
}
The problem is I'm sure this is not the way I'm supposed to do this casting, as inside this hmac_sha1 function I get a EXC_BAD_ACCESS exception.
Since I am new to Objective-C and have close to no experience in C (surprise!) I don't really know what to search for. Any tips on how I can start solving this?
Thanks in advance!
BTW, I got the reference for this function here in stackoverflow.
It looks like the problem is not with the casting, but with outDigest. The fifth argument to hmac_sha1 should point to an already allocated buffer of size 20 bytes (I think).
If you change the line that says
unsigned char *outDigest;
to say
#define HMACSHA1_DIGEST_SIZE 20
void *outDigest = malloc(HMACSHA1_DIGEST_SIZE);
That should get you past the crash inside hmac_sha1.
Then you've got the problem of converting the data at outDigest into an NSString. It looks like hmac_sha1 will put 20 bytes of random-looking data at outDigest, and not a null terminated UTF-8 string, so stringWithUTF8String: won't work. You might want to use something like this instead if you have to return an NSString:
NSString *output = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytesNoCopy:outDigest
length:HMACSHA1_DIGEST_SIZE
encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding
freeWhenDone:YES];
I don't think NSString is really the right type for the digest, so it might be worth changing your method to return an NSData if you can.
This wasn't part of your question but it's a bug nonetheless, you shouldn't use -length to get the byte count of an UTF8 string. That method returns the number of Unicode characters in the string, not the number of bytes. What you want is -lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding:.
NSUInteger byteCount = [stringToSign lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
Also be aware that the result does not account for a terminating NULL character.
Are you sure you don't need to allocate some memory for outDigest before calling hmac_sha1? Since you pass in a pointer, rather than a pointer to a pointer, there's no way that the memory can be allocated inside the routine.