Splitting a file and passing the data on to other classes - c++

Question

In my current project, I have a lot of binary files of different formats. Several of them act as simple archives, and therefore I am trying to come up with a good approach for passing extracted file data on to other classes.
Here's a simplified example of my current approach:
class Archive {
private:
std::istream &fs;
void Read();
public:
Archive(std::istream &fs); // Calls Read() automatically
~Archive();
const char* Get(int archiveIndex);
size_t GetSize(int archiveIndex);
};
class FileFormat {
private:
std::istream &fs;
void Read();
public:
FileFormat(std::istream &fs); // Calls Read() automatically
~FileFormat();
};
The Archive class basically parses the archive and reads the stored files into char pointers.
In order to load the first FileFormat file from an Archive, I would currently use the following code:
std::ifstream fs("somearchive.arc", std::ios::binary);
Archive arc(fs);
std::istringstream ss(std::string(arc.Get(0), arc.GetSize(0)), std::ios::binary);
FileFormat ff(ss);
(Note that some files in an archive could be additional archives but of a different format.)
When reading the binary data, I use a BinaryReader class with functions like these:
BinaryReader::BinaryReader(std::istream &fs) : fs(fs) {
}
char* BinaryReader::ReadBytes(unsigned int n) {
char* buffer = new char[n];
fs.read(buffer, n);
return buffer;
}
unsigned int BinaryReader::ReadUInt32() {
unsigned int buffer;
fs.read((char*)&buffer, sizeof(unsigned int));
return buffer;
}
I like the simplicity of this approach but I'm currently struggling with a lot of memory errors and SIGSEGVs and I'm afraid that it's because of this method. An example is when I create and read an archive repeatedly in a loop. It works for a large number of iterations, but after a while, it starts reading junk data instead.
My question to you is if this approach is feasible (in which case I ask what I am doing wrong), and if not, what better approaches are there?

Answer 1

The flaws of code in the OP are:
You are allocating heap memory and returning a pointer to it from one of your functions. This may lead to memory leaks. You have no problem with leaks (for now) but you must have such stuff in mind while designing your classes.
When dealing with Archive and FileFormat classes user always has to take into account the internal structure of your archive. Basically it compromises the idea of data incapsulation.
When user of your class framework creates an Archive object, he just gets a way to extract a pointer to some raw data. Then the user must pass this raw data to completely independent class. Also you will have more than one kind of FileFormat. Even without the need to watch for leaky heap allocations dealing with such system will be highly error-prone.
Lets try to apply some OOP principles to the task. Your Archive object is a container of Files of different format. So, an Archive's equivalent of Get() should generally return File objects, not a pointer to raw data:
//We gonna need a way to store file type in your archive index
enum TFileType { BYTE_FILE, UINT32_FILE, /*...*/ }
class BaseFile {
public:
virtual TFileType GetFileType() const = 0;
/* Your abstract interface here */
};
class ByteFile : public BaseFile {
public:
ByteFile(istream &fs);
virtual ~ByteFile();
virtual TFileType GetFileType() const
{ return BYTE_FILE; }
unsigned char GetByte(size_t index);
protected:
/* implementation of data storage and reading procedures */
};
class UInt32File : public BaseFile {
public:
UInt32File(istream &fs);
virtual ~UInt32File();
virtual TFileType GetFileType() const
{ return UINT32_FILE; }
uint32_t GetUInt32(size_t index);
protected:
/* implementation of data storage and reading procedures */
};
class Archive {
public:
Archive(const char* filename);
~Archive();
BaseFile* Get(int archiveIndex);
{ return (m_Files.at(archiveIndex)); }
/* ... */
protected:
vector<BaseFile*> m_Files;
}
Archive::Archive(const char* filename)
{
ifstream fs(filename);
//Here we need to:
//1. Read archive index
//2. For each file in index do something like:
switch(CurrentFileType) {
case BYTE_FILE:
m_Files.push_back(new ByteFile(fs));
break;
case UINT32_FILE:
m_Files.push_back(new UInt32File(fs));
break;
//.....
}
}
Archive::~Archive()
{
for(size_t i = 0; i < m_Files.size(); ++i)
delete m_Files[i];
}
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
Archive arch("somearchive.arc");
BaseFile* pbf;
ByteFile* pByteFile;
pbf = arch.Get(0);
//Here we can use GetFileType() or typeid to make a proper cast
//An example of former:
switch ( pbf.GetFileType() ) {
case BYTE_FILE:
pByteFile = dynamic_cast<ByteFile*>(pbf);
ASSERT(pByteFile != 0 );
//Working with byte data
break;
/*...*/
}
//alternatively you may omit GetFileType() and rely solely on C++
//typeid-related stuff
}
Thats just a general idea of the classes that may simplify the usage of archives in your application.
Have in mind though that good class design may help you with memory leaks prevention, code clarification and such. But whatever classes you have you will still deal with binary data storage problems. For example, if your archive stores 64 bytes of byte data and 8 uint32's and you somehow read 65 bytes instead of 64, the reading of the following ints will give you junk. You may also encounter alignment and endianness problems (the latter is important if you applications are supposed to run on several platforms). Still, good class design may help you to produce a better code which addresses such problems.

Answer 2

It is asking for trouble to pass a pointer from your function and expect the user to know to delete it, unless the function name is such that it is obvious to do so, e.g. a function that begins with the word create.
So
Foo * createFoo();
is likely to be a function that creates an object that the user must delete.
A preferable solution would, for starters, be to return std::vector<char> or allow the user to pass std::vector<char> & to your function and you write the bytes into it, setting its size if necessary. (This is more efficient if doing multiple reads where you can reuse the same buffer).
You should also learn const-correctness.
As for your "after a while it fills with junk", where do you check for end of file?