ATL / WTL / STL

20-Feb-10 22:47

Hey

Guess this is a very common question. In my case it obtains to DirectX (9... d3d9, whatever ^^). I've read that DirectX 9 comes around with COM interfaces and can be used from ATL. Now I am writing a library which should use Direct3D types (Such as D3DVECTOR, D3DCOLOR,...) after raping google for days now without some usefull code I decidet to post my question here hoping to get an awnser.

Well, my problem is that I want to pass DirectX types to interface methods. Something like this:

interface ITest : IUnknown
{
	[propget, helpstring("BackroundColor")] HRESULT BackroundColor([out, retval] D3DCOLOR* pVal);
	[propput, helpstring("BackroundColor")] HRESULT BackroundColor([in] D3DCOLOR newVal);
};

So far so good, but somehow the MIDL compiler must know the D3DCOLOR type. I've read about redefining it in this way:

cpp_quote("#if 0")
typedef DWORD D3DCOLOR;
cpp_quote("#else")
cpp_quote("#include <d3d9.h>")
cpp_quote("#endif")

But this does not work for structures (like D3DVECTOR). Now I've tried tons of alternative solutions, but none worked. Unfortunately there is no d3d9.idl file shipping with the DirectX SDK Frown | :(

and just refering to the d3d9.dll library using importlib wont work since the statement must only be used in the library block, but I need the types in the interface definitions!

Is there any solution to do this? Would be really cool if you have any ideas Smile | :)

Thanks,
- Aschratt.

http://www.aschratt.com

Jonathan Davies21-Feb-10 2:03

21-Feb-10 2:03

Aschratt wrote:
this does not work for structures (like D3DVECTOR

You can define your own structures in idl if you know what the type e.g. D3DVECTOR contains (it has to be composed of idl types) e.g.

typedef struct tagD3DVECTOR
	{
		unsigned long D1;
		unsigned short D2 y;
		unsigned char Data[4];
	} D3DVECTOR;

and then use is as a parameter. When compiled to produce a C++ this may then conflict with your DirectX types so perhaps you could rename it, say _D3DVECTOR or MyD3DVECTOR.

Aschratt21-Feb-10 2:07

21-Feb-10 2:07

OK, thanks for the awnser. So I need to create the structures on my own... hmm. That's not so bad, but I hoped there is a way to import the DirectX structures... thanks anyway Smile | :)

http://www.aschratt.com

Jonathan Davies21-Feb-10 2:24

21-Feb-10 2:24

I'm not saying there isn't, just I don't know if there is without playing around. Al Major's book: COM IDL and Interface Design says to include the ontents of other files you have three options:

#include stdio.h in, say, example.idl and 'all legitimate declarations ... would make their way into the generated example.h file'.

import 'is the standard method for bringing in definitions from other IDL, ODL or C/C++ header files into the main IDL file'.

and:

importlib 'which can only occur in the body of the library statement'. For this need a type library such as .tlb or as can be contained within a COM .dll.

Aschratt21-Feb-10 2:32

21-Feb-10 2:32

Yes, but none of those 3 ways are making sense for me. I need types from the "d3d9.h" or "d3dx9.h" file. So why this does not work?

- #include <d3d9.h> will not work since the content could not be understood by the MIDL compiler.
- import [...] will not work since Microsoft does not ship an "d3d9.idl" (or any IDL source) with the DirectX SDK for some reason...
- importlib("d3d9.dll") is the solution which makes most sense, but importlib can only be used inside the library block and this is too late. MIDL needs to know the types when it compiles the interfaces and it first gets to know them after it does.

So I do not brake a leg with creating those types on my own (there are not much I need... just some vectors and matrixes). Using them it should be no problem to create some conversion methods which are only accessible internally. So I could convert those new custom types to DirectX types for using them. Smile | :)

http://www.aschratt.com

Jonathan Davies21-Feb-10 3:26

Re: Direct3D Types as interface parameters [modified]

21-Feb-10 3:26

I did a couple of searches on my PC and found D3DCOLOR defined in in vmr9.idl:

cpp_quote("#if 0")
// This is temporary work around to persuade
// MIDL to allow forward declarations.
typedef DWORD           IDirect3DDevice9;
typedef DWORD           IDirect3DSurface9;
typedef DWORD           D3DFORMAT;
typedef DWORD           D3DCOLOR;
typedef DWORD           D3DPOOL;
typedef LONGLONG        REFERENCE_TIME;
typedef DWORD*          HMONITOR;
typedef struct {DWORD dw1; DWORD dw2;} AM_MEDIA_TYPE;
cpp_quote ("#endif")

and in dxtrans.idl I found:

//
//  Since direct draw does not have an IDL, we'll define DDSURFACEDESC to
//  be a void, but include ddraw.h in the header file.  This makes MIDL happy.
//
#ifndef DDSURFACEDESC
cpp_quote("#if 0")
cpp_quote("// Bogus definition used to make MIDL compiler happy")
typedef void DDSURFACEDESC;
typedef void D3DRMBOX;
typedef void D3DVECTOR;
typedef void D3DRMMATRIX4D;
typedef void* LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES;
cpp_quote("#endif")
#endif

So looks like you're not the only one to come accross this problem.

Aschratt21-Feb-10 4:42

21-Feb-10 4:42

Yes, I also found this file around the net... but if I try to define interfaces that way it allways tells me...

error MIDL2011 : unresolved type declaration : IDirect3DDevice9 [ Parameter 'device' of Procedure 'Initialize' ( Interface 'ICamera' ) ]

... if I define the interface that way:

cpp_quote("#if 0")
interface IDirect3DDevice9;
cpp_quote("endif")

And if I define it as an DWORD...

typedef DWORD IDirect3DDevice9;

... the compiler pops up an error "Redefinition of 'IDirect3DDevice9' with different base types".
Still I have no idea how to get the IDirect3DDevice9 interface passed to my interface... any ideas?

// EDIT: at the moment I am simply passing an IUnknown pointer to the method and query back the interface to IDirect3DDevice9...

http://www.aschratt.com

modified on Sunday, February 21, 2010 10:55 AM

Jonathan Davies21-Feb-10 6:23

21-Feb-10 6:23

Aschratt wrote:
Still I have no idea how to get the IDirect3DDevice9 interface passed to my interface... any ideas?

Sorry I'm out of ideas if an IDL definition for IDirect3DDevice9 can't be found - apart from using IUnknown as you mention, .

Aschratt21-Feb-10 6:24

How to create EXE setup file using VS2005,VS2008

21-Feb-10 6:24

Hm thanks anyway... perhaps it is not the "best" solution I am working with, but it is an solution and it does it's work. Thank you very much Smile | :)

http://www.aschratt.com

am 20096-Feb-10 6:14

am 2009

6-Feb-10 6:14

Hello,

I want to create installation of ATL COM component. I can create .MSI file using setup and deployment project in VS2005. But I want to create .exe file which does not require any MSI installation on machine.

Thanks
abm

Re: How to create EXE setup file using VS2005,VS2008

KingsGambit6-Feb-10 6:38

KingsGambit

6-Feb-10 6:38

It seems, the VS Setup & Deployment wizard doesn't support single exe setup

Re: How to create EXE setup file using VS2005,VS2008

LunaticFringe6-Feb-10 7:58

LunaticFringe

6-Feb-10 7:58

Try Inno Setup[^].

L u n a t i c F r i n g e

vector of strings, find all matches

ekimpl3-Feb-10 23:54

ekimpl

3-Feb-10 23:54

Hi,

I would like to find all matches of a specified string in a vector of strings, however I have some problems:

1) 'find' algorithm in FindNumber returns everything to the iterator 'i', starting from the first match. I would like the 'i' iterator to point only to matched strings.

2) if problem 1 is solved, than still 'find' isn't of much use in my case, since it only returns first match.

Can someone help ?

struct sStringStruct
{
   string m_nString;
   sStringStruct(string m_initString = "") : m_nString(m_initString) {}
};

bool operator == (const sStringStruct &lhs, const sStringStruct &rhs)
{
   return lhs.m_nString == rhs.m_nString;
}

int FindNumber(const std::vector<sStringStruct>&v, string nString)
{
	typedef std::vector<sStringStruct> t_vec;
	t_vec::const_iterator i = std::find(v.begin(), v.end(),sStringStruct(nString));
	
	while(i != v.end())
	{
		cout<<"MATCH:"<<(*i++).m_nString<<endl;
	}

	if (i == v.end())
	return -1;
	return int(i - v.begin()); 
}

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
	vector <sStringStruct> vec;
	
        vec.push_back(sStringStruct("xxxx"));
	vec.push_back(sStringStruct("aaaa"));
	vec.push_back(sStringStruct("bbbb"));
	vec.push_back(sStringStruct("cccc"));
	vec.push_back(sStringStruct("aaaa"));

	FindNumber(vec, "aaaa");

        //console output:
        //aaaa
        //bbbb
        //cccc
        //aaaa

	return 0;
}

Nuri Ismail4-Feb-10 0:14

Nuri Ismail

4-Feb-10 0:14

ekimpl wrote:
'find' isn't of much use in my case, since it only returns first match.

I think that find is very useful in almost all cases (in your case too). Wink | ;)

I've modified your FindNumber function and now it works fine.
Here is the commented code:

bool FindNumber(const std::vector<sStringStruct>&v, const std::string& nString)
{
	bool found = false;
	typedef std::vector<sStringStruct> t_vec;
	sStringStruct searched_string = sStringStruct(nString);
	t_vec::const_iterator i = std::find(v.begin(), v.end(), searched_string);

	// Check if got a first match
	while(i != v.end())
	{
		// We found a match!
		found = true;

		// Print the match and search again but not the whole vector!
		// Search only in the remeaning unsearched range.
		std::cout<<"MATCH:"<<(*i).m_nString << std::endl;
		i = std::find(i+1, v.end(), searched_string);	
	}
	
	// Say if we found something or not
	return found;
}

Cheers

ekimpl4-Feb-10 0:38

ekimpl

4-Feb-10 0:38

Thanks for quick reply. Now that I see Your solution I don't know if I understand the concept of iterators correctly.

I thought that t_vec::const_iterator i = std::find(v.begin(), v.end(), searched_string) would result in i pointing only to the matches, but it is only used to point the first match. And that is why You used recurency to find the next matches.

So if I wanted to know all the indexes of found matches outside of FindNumber, it should return an array of found indexes, yes ?

Nuri Ismail4-Feb-10 3:51

Nuri Ismail

4-Feb-10 3:51

ekimpl wrote:
Now that I see Your solution I don't know if I understand the concept of iterators correctly.

This[^] is a good place for understanding them. Smile | :)

ekimpl wrote:
I thought that t_vec::const_iterator i = std::find(v.begin(), v.end(), searched_string) would result in i pointing only to the matches

In general iterators are used to access elements of a sequence, and can be used in a similar manner to pointers. Consequently an iterator can point only to one concrete element of a sequence at current time, just like a pointer.

ekimpl wrote:
So if I wanted to know all the indexes of found matches outside of FindNumber, it should return an array of found indexes, yes ?

Yes, but using indexes is OK only for a std::vector container, because it supports RandomAccessIterator so, you could easily use operator[].
If you later decide to change the container type (for example to std::list) then indexes will not work. So in general it is better to fill an array with iterators each pointing to exact matched element. And finally it is not a good idea to return a whole array, I'd prefer accepting this array by reference in my function.

Here is a modified example for your code which will fill indexes of the matched elements:

bool FindNumber(const std::vector<sStringStruct>&v, const std::string& nString, std::vector<int>& indexes)
{
	bool found = false;
	sStringStruct searched_string = sStringStruct(nString);
	
	const int vec_size = v.size();
	for(int i = 0; i < vec_size; i++)
	{
		if(v[i] == searched_string)
		{
			indexes.push_back(i);
			found = true;
		}
	}
	
	// Say if we found something or not
	return found;
}

        // And you can use the function this way:
        std::vector <sStringStruct> vec;
        vec.push_back(sStringStruct("xxxx"));
	vec.push_back(sStringStruct("aaaa"));
	vec.push_back(sStringStruct("bbbb"));
	vec.push_back(sStringStruct("cccc"));
	vec.push_back(sStringStruct("aaaa"));

	std::vector<int> indexes;
	bool found = FindNumber(vec, "aaaa", indexes);
	if(found)
	{
		const int indexes_size = indexes.size();
		for(int i = 0; i < indexes_size; i++)
		{
			std::cout << "MATCH:" << vec[indexes[i]].m_nString << std::endl;
		}
	}

You asked about indexes, so I removed the usage of std::find algorithm.
But as I've said before, this solution works only for std::vector.
More general solution is to fill an array of iterators using std::find algorithm.

I hope this helps. Smile | :)

Regards

ekimpl4-Feb-10 4:03

ekimpl

4-Feb-10 4:03

Yes, it helped. Thanks a lot for your answers. I get the point now.