iB::Topic::Template for XML data

Hex Edit Home Page

Hex Edit Features

Known Bugs
about help privacy register

» Welcome Guest
[ Log In :: Register ]

HexEdit » Feedback » Questions » Template for XML data


[ Track This Topic :: Email This Topic :: Print this topic ]

Topic: Template for XML data

< Next Oldest | Next Newest >

Post Number: 1

dginley

Group: Members
Posts: 3
Joined: Feb. 2005

Member Rating: None

Posted on: Dec. 18 2008,16:18

I'm using version 3.1 and trying to build a template for a file of binary data, but with an xml header at the beginning of the file. The binary part is simple, but I'm having trouble with the header:
1) the length of the header is unknown, so I can't just read a given number of lines, and
2) every line of the header except the last is terminated with a crlf, so I can't just read lines that way, as is done in the template tutorial.

The header is of the format
<StorageToolkt>
many lines of data
</StorageToolkt>binary date begins here

As I said above, the </StorageToolkt> line does not have a crlf at its end; the very next byte is the beginning of the data. It seems that I should be able to use the string "</StorageToolkt>" to stop reading the header, but when I try that I read one byte too many. Am I missing something obvious here?

Thanks for any suggestions,
Dennis

Post Number: 2

andrew

Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 635
Joined: Oct. 2003

Member Rating: 4

Posted on: Dec. 21 2008,02:34

Skip to the previous post in this topic.

If you use a string in a template and don't specify a length then the string continues until EOF or a string terminator is encountered. By default the string terminator is a nul (00) byte but you can set it to any byte value even '>'.

You should also try using 3.3 as there have been some bug fixes for templates.

--------------
Andrew Phillips
Moderator of Forums and creator of Hex Edit

Post Number: 3

dginley

Group: Members
Posts: 3
Joined: Feb. 2005

Member Rating: None

Posted on: Jan. 05 2009,10:07

Thanks for the reply, Andrew.

Using '>' as the string terminator works for the individual strings, but then the question becomes how to stop the FOR loop. I'm assuming a FOR loop is the way to go, since I need to read an unknown number of strings in the header before I get to the data.

If I try thisHeaderline == "</StorageToolkit>"" I get the message Illegal operand types for comparison in "stop_test" of "for"

If I try it without the quotes, i.e. thisHeaderline == </StorageToolkit> the message is Unexpected characters "</" in "stop_test" of "for"

I've tried several other things, but I'm not getting anywhere.

Thanks,
Dennis

Post Number: 4

andrew

Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 635
Joined: Oct. 2003

Member Rating: 4

Posted on: Jan. 10 2009,15:58

First:

CODE

this.Headerline == "</StorageToolkit>"

is a valid expression if this.Headerline is a string.

There are several ways you could approach this. Possibly the simplest would be to read lines of (CR/LF terminated) text, and look forward after each one for </StorageToolkit>. This assume the text is always exactly like this - ie no leading or trailing whitespace and no spaces eg between / and S.

To look forward you need to use a JUMP, so that the file position goes back to the start of the string. If you detect the end of header you then just need to skip 17 bytes (the length of "</StorageToolkit>") and begin the binary processing.

If you don't understand this or have more problems send me the template you have and a small example file and I will have a look at it. Email to aphillips @ hexedit.com with "HexEdit" somewhere in the subject, but also put a reply here to make sure I look for the email. It seems to get lost or SPAM at times.

--------------
Andrew Phillips
Moderator of Forums and creator of Hex Edit

3 replies since Dec. 18 2008,16:18

< Next Oldest | Next Newest >

[ Track This Topic :: Email This Topic :: Print this topic ]

HexEdit » Feedback » Questions » Template for XML data