Trash characters when using buffers in c++ - c++

Question

I have a DLL that I need to handle in C++. I'm using WxWidgets (standard compilation, but I also tried Unicode on/off) and NetBeans. I also tried dealing with this without WxWidgets (windows.h) and had same problems.
Here is how I access the DLL functions using WxWidgets:
// -------------------- POINTERS TO FUNCTIONS
typedef bool(*TYPE_DLL_SetLicense)(char*, char*);
typedef bool(*TYPE_DLL_PingConnection)(char*);
typedef char*(*TYPE_DLL_ERR_DESCRIPTION)(void);
class DLL_Library
{
public:
// pointers to functions inside dll
TYPE_DLL_SetLicense DLL_SetLicense; //initialize - will wor fine as it returns only true/false (buffer only provide data)
TYPE_DLL_PingConnection DLL_PingConnection; //ping to serwer. Will return trahs, becouse it uses buffer to provide data ang get answear back
TYPE_DLL_ERR_DESCRIPTION DLL_ERR_DESCRIPTION; //error description. No buffer, no trouble. Returns correct string.
wxDynamicLibrary dynLib2;
int initialize(void)
{
//patch to dll
wxString path = wxStandardPaths::Get().GetExecutablePath().BeforeLast('\\') + _("\\DLL_dll\\DLLMOK.dll");
if(!wxFile::Exists(path)) return -1;
//load dll
if(!dynLib2.Load(path)) return -2;
//Assign functions in dll to variable
DLL_SetLicense=(TYPE_DLL_SetLicense) dynLib2.GetSymbol(wxT("DLL_SetLicense"));
DLL_PingConnection=(TYPE_DLL_PingConnection) dynLib2.GetSymbol(wxT("DLL_PingConnection"));
DLL_ERR_DESCRIPTION=(TYPE_DLL_ERR_DESCRIPTION) dynLib2.GetSymbol(wxT("DLL_ERROR_DESCRIPTION"));
return 0;
}
};
And here is the function I run. It should return and XML content, that I try to save to the file.
//DLL_PingConnection
//result ping to be save in file
wxFile file_ping_xml;
plik_ping_xml.Open(wxT("C:\\dll\\ping.xml"),wxFile::write);
char buffor_ping_xml[2000];
//I run the function here
bool is_ping = DLL_PingConnection(buffor_ping_xml);
if(is_ping)
{
tex_box->AppendText(wxT("DLL_PingConnection True\n"));
//we save result to file
bool is_write_ping_ok = file_ping_xml.Write(buffor_ping_xml,2000);
if (is_write_ping_ok){tex_box->AppendText(wxT("Save to file is ok ok\n"));}
else {tex_box->AppendText(wxT("Save to file failed :( \n"));}
}
else
{
tex_box->AppendText(wxT("DLL_PingConnection False\n"));
}
std::cout << "Error description: " << DLL_ERR_DESCRIPTION() << "\n"; //will work fine both in saving to file, and in streaming to screen.
The problem is that inside the file instead of good content I get rubbish like this:
NOTE that this only happens in functions that use buffers like:
char buffer[2000] //buffer will contain for example file xml
function do_sth_with_xml(buffer) //buffer containing xml will (should) be overwriten with xml results of the function - in our case DLL_PingCONNECTION should save in buffer xml with connection data
Documentation say that the DLL operates on Windows-1250. File ping.xml I have set to windows ANSI, but I don't think problem lies here.
EDIT: I have written problem without WxWidgets (I load DLL using windows.h) - same problems. Here is the code: Getting trash data in char* while using it as buffer in function . Please help :(

Answer 1

This
DLL_PingConnection=(TYPE_DLL_PingConnection)
shouldn't it be
DLL_PingConnection=(TYPE_DLL_PingConnection) dynLib2.GetSymbol(wxT("DLL_PingConnection"));
?
seems otherwise you will not get a valid pointer to the function in the DLL.
as a general rule you should check return values, especially from a DLL
you load dynamically since it happens that you sometimes get another version
of the DLL which may have a function with same name but other signature or
where is missing entirely.

Answer 2

You named a function
DLL_PingConnection=(TYPE_DLL_PingConnection) dynLib2.GetSymbol(....
and call it with
OSOZ.OSOZ_PingConnection(buffor_ping_xml);
you typedef a function
typedef bool(*TYPE_DLL_PingConnection)(char*);
you create a variable
char buffor_ping_xml[2000];
in your typedef it is char* and your buffor_ping_xml is char
how can that work ?
try
char *buffor_ping_xml = new char[2000];
/* or */
wchar_t *buffor_ping_xml = new wchar_t[2000];
/* or */
wxChar *buffor_ping_xml = new wxchar[2000];
bool is_ping = DLL_PingConnection(buffor_ping_xml);
wxString mystring = wxString::FromUTF8(buffor_ping_xml);
write mystring to file.
To Do:
look in your wxwidgets\libs folder for your libs
are there libwxmsw29ud_* with a 'u' in the name (after version number here 29)?
If not You can not use unicode
If yes next steps
for all different test char *, wchar_t *, wxChar * give the files different name.
for example file_ping_xml.Open(wxT("C:\dll\ping_w_t_FromUTF8.xml"), ...
for wchar_t * in combination with
wxString mystring = wxString::FromUTF8(buffor_ping_xml);
also in combination with
wxString mystring(buffor_ping_xml);
Then check out the look like, of the files in a browser .
To test you can go to your wxWidgets sample folder . Compile in the folder C:\wxWidgets\samples\docview\docview.cpp . Open with docview.exe a unicode file . How does it look.
Unicode download file
Unicode-related compilation settings
You should define wxUSE_UNICODE to 1 to compile your program in Unicode mode. This currently works for wxMSW, wxGTK, wxMac and wxX11. If you compile your program in ANSI mode you can still define wxUSE_WCHAR_T to get some limited support for wchar_t type.

Answer 3

Here is answear: Getting trash data in char* while using it as buffer in function.
Thanks everyone - expecially for patience.