How to pass a pointer to a filestream?
Author
Hello!
I am writing a game, though I didn't put this in the gaming forum as the problem isn't a game specific thing. I have a class that loads data (map data for my game). One method, LoadMap, opens a filestream and loads in the number of layers that make up the map. The method then calls a second method once for each of these layers, to load in the data for that particular layer.
The problem of course is, how can the second method, the one that loads the actual map data, access the filestream?
Here is my code, a simplified version:
void World::LoadMap()
{
std::ifstream file( "filename.dat", std::ios::binary );
//load amount of layers
int amount;
file.read( (char*) &amount, sizeof(int) );
//load layer data for all layers
LoadMapLayer(0);// will be put into a for loop later, using 'amount'
LoadMapLayer(1);
LoadMapLayer(2);
file.close();
return;
}
void World::LoadMapLayer(int layer)
{
// the code in here just loads in the data for the particular map layer
// problem is, how can it access the filestream from the previous function?
}
You could just close it then open it in each LoadLayer. It should be easy to find your place in the file assuming you know the length of a layer. Another way to do it since I see you're using binary is to just dump your whole map struct in and read it back out. As long as there is no pointers in it that is.
On a side note I'm guessing your making a tile based game, is there a reason you want a variable number of layers?
On a side note I'm guessing your making a tile based game, is there a reason you want a variable number of layers?
pass it a reference to the stream;
void World::LoadMapLayer(std::ifstream &file,int layer){// the code in here just loads in the data for the particular map layer// problem is, how can it access the filestream from the previous function?}LoadMapLayer(file,0);
Author
Does my 'member function definition' in the header file look like this:
void LoadMapLayer(std::ifstream &file, int layer);
...assuming I go with _the_phantom_'s suggestion, this:
void World::LoadMapLayer(std::ifstream &file,int layer)
{
}
...and call the function like this:
LoadMapLayer(file,0);
Quote:Original post by joebarnslondon
Does my 'member function definition' in the header file look like this:
void LoadMapLayer(std::ifstream &file, int layer);
Yah, but its called declaration its not a definition [grin].
You could generalize it if you wanted to so you could use other kind of streams
void LoadMapLayer(std::istream& in, int layer);or go over the top [grin]:
template < typename CharT, typename Traits >void LoadMapLayer(std::basic_istream<CharT, Traits>& in, int layer);Then again it looks like your reading a binary file so its not that relevant in your case.
Author
Having trouble getting this working.
When I pass a reference to a stream, and then use that stream in the method that receives it, will the stream know where I've got up to in the reading? Presumably the stream has some kind of counter built into it so that it knows where it has got up to. Will that counter thing get passed with the stream?
When I pass a reference to a stream, and then use that stream in the method that receives it, will the stream know where I've got up to in the reading? Presumably the stream has some kind of counter built into it so that it knows where it has got up to. Will that counter thing get passed with the stream?
Quote:Original post by joebarnslondon
When I pass a reference to a stream, and then use that stream in the method that receives it, will the stream know where I've got up to in the reading? Presumably the stream has some kind of counter built into it so that it knows where it has got up to. Will that counter thing get passed with the stream?
By default a stream has an associated stream buffer (among other things that are not worth mentioning here). The stream buffer deals with the transportation layer of I/O streams architecture so yes what-ever you did previously will take effect where ever you pass it. Typically file streams are buffered I/O, you can imagine it like so:
What is the problem your having.
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