How should I parse and check through a string? - c++

Question

Okay so I have a C++ project I want to complete which involves receiving NMEA sentences and parsing through them to check if they conform to the "grammar rules" of NMEA.
The current method I have been doing this is using if statements but this is obviously not good coding practice.
What are other methods I could use to attempt to check string sentences for specific characters and groups of characters?

Answer 1

Let us assume that you have NMEA data like this
$GPGGA,124613.90,5543.3221231,N,03739.1368442,E,1,15,0.69,147.0851,M,14.4298,M,,*54
$GPGSV,3,1,10,27,12,078,41,05,31,308,49,16,25,043,44,02,11,268,44*7E
$GPGSV,3,2,10,26,03,031,39,07,74,216,52,09,58,121,52,30,39,234,48*71
$GPGSV,3,3,10,23,30,116,46,04,37,114,47*79
$GLGSV,2,1,07,84,17,338,43,78,15,212,48,85,12,032,46,67,84,223,53*67
$GLGSV,2,2,07,77,67,195,47,76,50,047,54,66,32,144,52*5C
$GPGGA,124614.00,5543.3221239,N,03739.1368445,E,1,15,0.69,147.0864,M,14.4298,M,,*53
$GPGSV,3,1,10,27,12,078,41,05,31,308,49,16,25,043,43,02,11,268,44*79
$GPGSV,3,2,10,26,03,031,39,07,74,216,52,09,58,121,52,30,39,234,48*71
$GPGSV,3,3,10,23,30,116,46,04,37,114,47*79
$GLGSV,2,1,07,84,17,338,43,78,15,212,48,85,12,032,46,67,84,223,53*67
$GLGSV,2,2,07,77,67,195,47,76,50,047,54,66,32,144,52*5C
And if we want to extract GGA and GSV data, you may want to use the following code:
#include <string>
#include <ctime>
#include <cstring>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <iomanip>
constexpr size_t NumberOfFixQualityStrings = 9;
constexpr size_t NumberOfSatellitesPerGSVSentencePart = 4;
constexpr size_t MaxNumberOfPartsInSentence = 10;
constexpr size_t MaxTokensInSentence = 64;
constexpr size_t NumberOfFieldsInGGA = 12;
std::string fixQualityString[NumberOfFixQualityStrings]{
"invalid", "GPS fix (SPS)", "DGPS fix", "PPS fix", "Real Time Kinematic", "Float RTK",
"estimated (dead reckoning", "Manual input mode", "Simulation mode" };
// essential fix data which provide 3D location and accuracy data
struct GGA {
// Time of last satellite fix
unsigned int fixTimeInUtcHours{};
unsigned int fixTimeInUtcMinutes{};
unsigned int fixTimeInUtcSeconds{};
unsigned int fixTimeInUtcMilliSeconds{};
// Position: Lattitude
unsigned int lattitudeInDegree{};
double lattitudeInMinutes{};
std::string lattitideDirection{};
// Position: Longitude
unsigned int longitudeInDegree{};
double longitudeInMinutes{};
std::string longitudeDirection{};
// FixQuality // see dteails as string above
unsigned int fixQuality{};
std::string fixQualityString{};
// Number of satellites being tracked (can be more than shown in GSV, not all are beeing used for calculation)
unsigned int numberOfTrackedSatellites{};
// Horizontal dilution of position
double horizontalDilution{};
// Altitude, Meters, above mean sea level
double altitude{};
std::string altitudeDimension{};
// Height of geoid (mean sea level) above WGS84 ellipsoid
double goidHight{};
std::string goidHightDimension{};
};
// Detail information for satellites in satellit view (GSV)
struct SatelliteData {
std::string satellitePRNnumber{};
double elevationInDegress{};
double azimuthInDegrees{};
double snr{}; // signal noise ratio
};
// Part of a GSV sentence
struct GSVSentencePart {
size_t numberOfSentencesForFullData{};
size_t sentencePartNumber{};
size_t numberOfSatellitesInView{};
size_t numberOfSatellitesInThisPart{};
SatelliteData satelliteData[NumberOfSatellitesPerGSVSentencePart];
};
struct GSV
{
GSVSentencePart gsvSentencePart[MaxNumberOfPartsInSentence];
size_t numberOfParts{};
};
bool checksumTest(std::string& line) {
bool result{ false };
// Check, if there is a 2 digt checksum at the end and convert it to decimal
if (size_t pos{}, checkSumGiven{ std::stoul(line.substr(line.size() - 2), &pos, 16) }; pos == 2)
{
// Strip off checksum part
line = line.substr(1,line.size() - 4);
// Calculate checksum
unsigned char calculatedChecksum{ 0U }; for (const unsigned char c : line) calculatedChecksum ^= c;
// Get result
result = (calculatedChecksum == checkSumGiven);
}
return result;
}
// Split all strings into a tokens
size_t splitIntoTokens(std::string& s, std::string (&tokens)[MaxTokensInSentence]) {
// Number of converted tokens
size_t numberOfTokens{ 0 };
// First check checksum
if (checksumTest(s)) {
// Now split along each comma
for (size_t i{ 0U }, startpos{ 0U }; i < s.size(); ++i) {
// So, if there is a comma or the end of the string
if ((s[i] == ',') || (i == (s.size() - 1))) {
// Copy substring
tokens[numberOfTokens++] = s.substr(startpos, i - startpos);
startpos = i + 1;
}
}
}
return numberOfTokens;
}
GGA convertStringToGGA(std::string& s) {
GGA gga;
// Split string into tokens and check, if it worked
if (std::string tokens[MaxTokensInSentence]; splitIntoTokens(s, tokens) > NumberOfFieldsInGGA && tokens[0] == "GPGGA") {
gga.fixTimeInUtcHours = std::stoul(tokens[1].substr(0, 2));
gga.fixTimeInUtcMinutes = std::stoul(tokens[1].substr(2, 2));
gga.fixTimeInUtcSeconds = std::stoul(tokens[1].substr(4, 2));
gga.fixTimeInUtcMilliSeconds = std::stod(tokens[1].substr(6, 2))*1000.0;
gga.lattitudeInDegree = std::stoul(tokens[2].substr(0, 2));
gga.lattitudeInMinutes = std::stod(tokens[2].substr(2));
gga.lattitideDirection = tokens[3];
gga.longitudeInDegree = std::stoul(tokens[4].substr(0, 2));
gga.longitudeInMinutes = std::stod(tokens[4].substr(2));
gga.longitudeDirection = tokens[5];
gga.fixQuality = std::stoul(tokens[6]);
gga.fixQualityString = (gga.fixQuality < NumberOfFixQualityStrings) ? fixQualityString[gga.fixQuality] : fixQualityString[0];
gga.numberOfTrackedSatellites = std::stoul(tokens[7]);
gga.horizontalDilution = std::stod(tokens[8]);
gga.altitude = std::stod(tokens[9]);
gga.altitudeDimension = tokens[10];
gga.goidHight = std::stod(tokens[11]);
gga.goidHightDimension = tokens[12];
}
return gga;
}
GSVSentencePart convertToGSVSentencePart(std::string& s) {
GSVSentencePart gsvsp;
// Split string into tokens and check, if it worked
std::string tokens[MaxTokensInSentence];
if (size_t numberOfCOnvertedTokens = splitIntoTokens(s, tokens); numberOfCOnvertedTokens > 0 && tokens[0] == "GPGSV") {
gsvsp.numberOfSentencesForFullData = std::stoul(tokens[1]);
gsvsp.sentencePartNumber = std::stoul(tokens[2]);
gsvsp.numberOfSatellitesInView = std::stoul(tokens[3]);
gsvsp.numberOfSatellitesInThisPart = 0;
for (size_t currentToken = 4; currentToken < numberOfCOnvertedTokens; currentToken += 4) {
gsvsp.satelliteData[gsvsp.numberOfSatellitesInThisPart].satellitePRNnumber = tokens[currentToken];
gsvsp.satelliteData[gsvsp.numberOfSatellitesInThisPart].elevationInDegress = stod(tokens[currentToken + 1]);
gsvsp.satelliteData[gsvsp.numberOfSatellitesInThisPart].azimuthInDegrees= stod(tokens[currentToken + 2]);
gsvsp.satelliteData[gsvsp.numberOfSatellitesInThisPart].snr = stod(tokens[currentToken + 3]);
++gsvsp.numberOfSatellitesInThisPart;
}
}
return gsvsp;
}
std::string calculateElapsedTime(const GGA& previousGGA, const GGA& nextGGA) {
std::tm tmPrevious{}, tmNext{};
tmPrevious.tm_year = 100; tmPrevious.tm_mon = 1; tmPrevious.tm_mday = 1;
tmNext.tm_year = 100; tmNext.tm_mon = 1; tmNext.tm_mday = 1;
tmPrevious.tm_hour = previousGGA.fixTimeInUtcHours;
tmPrevious.tm_min = previousGGA.fixTimeInUtcMinutes;
tmPrevious.tm_sec = previousGGA.fixTimeInUtcSeconds;
std::time_t previousTime = std::mktime(&tmPrevious);
tmNext.tm_hour = nextGGA.fixTimeInUtcHours;
tmNext.tm_min = nextGGA.fixTimeInUtcMinutes;
tmNext.tm_sec = nextGGA.fixTimeInUtcSeconds;
std::time_t nextTime = std::mktime(&tmNext);
double diff = std::difftime(nextTime, previousTime);
diff = diff + 1.0*nextGGA.fixTimeInUtcMilliSeconds/1000.0- 1.0*previousGGA.fixTimeInUtcMilliSeconds/1000.0;
return std::to_string(diff);
}
int main() {
// Open file and check, if it is open
if (std::ifstream nmeaFile("r:\\log.txt"); nmeaFile) {
GGA previousGGA;
GGA nextGGA;
GSV gsv;
size_t state{ 0 };
for (std::string line{}; std::getline(nmeaFile, line); ) {
switch ( state) {
case 0: // wait for first GGA data
if (line.substr(0, 6) == "$GPGGA") {
previousGGA = nextGGA;
nextGGA = convertStringToGGA(line);
state = 1;
gsv = {};
}
break;
case 1: // wait for GSV
if (line.substr(0, 6) == "$GPGSV") {
gsv.gsvSentencePart[gsv.numberOfParts] = convertToGSVSentencePart(line);
if (gsv.gsvSentencePart[gsv.numberOfParts].numberOfSentencesForFullData ==
gsv.gsvSentencePart[gsv.numberOfParts].sentencePartNumber) {
state = 0;
++gsv.numberOfParts;
// Now all data are available in reable and structed format.
// You can do, what you want with them
// For example, we can print all Satellite Data:
size_t counter{ 0 };
for (size_t i = 0; i < gsv.numberOfParts; ++i) {
for (size_t j = 0; j < gsv.gsvSentencePart[i].numberOfSatellitesInThisPart; j++) {
std::cout << "Satellite: " << std::setw(2) << ++counter << " Satellite name: " <<
std::setw(3) << gsv.gsvSentencePart[i].satelliteData[j].satellitePRNnumber <<
" SNR: " << std::setw(8) << gsv.gsvSentencePart[i].satelliteData[j].snr <<
" Elapsed time: "<< calculateElapsedTime(previousGGA, nextGGA)<< " s\n";
}
}
--gsv.numberOfParts;
}
++gsv.numberOfParts;
}
break;
}
}
}
return 0;
}
Coding style is "beginner"-level for easier understanding.
Modern C++ approach would be totally different, but not so easy to understand.