Convert::Binary::C 0.64

Convert::Binary::C is a Binary Data Conversion using C Types.

SYNOPSIS

Simple
use Convert::Binary::C;

#---------------------------------------------
# Create a new object and parse embedded code
#---------------------------------------------
my $c = Convert::Binary::C->new->parse( <<ENDC );

enum Month { JAN, FEB, MAR, APR, MAY, JUN,
JUL, AUG, SEP, OCT, NOV, DEC };

struct Date {
int year;
enum Month month;
int day;
};

ENDC

#-----------------------------------------------
# Pack Perl data structure into a binary string
#-----------------------------------------------
my $date = { year => 2002, month => DEC, day => 24 };

my $packed = $c->pack( Date, $date );
Advanced
use Convert::Binary::C;
use Data::Dumper;

#---------------------
# Create a new object
#---------------------
my $c = new Convert::Binary::C ByteOrder => BigEndian;

#---------------------------------------------------
# Add include paths and global preprocessor defines
#---------------------------------------------------
$c->Include( /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i686-pc-linux-gnu/3.3.6/include,
/usr/include )
->Define( qw( __USE_POSIX __USE_ISOC99=1 ) );

#----------------------------------
# Parse the time.h header file
#----------------------------------
$c->parse_file( time.h );

#---------------------------------------
# See which files the object depends on
#---------------------------------------
print Dumper( [$c->dependencies] );

#-----------------------------------------------------------
# See if struct timespec is defined and dump its definition
#-----------------------------------------------------------
if( $c->def( struct timespec ) ) {
print Dumper( $c->struct( timespec ) );
}

#-------------------------------
# Create some binary dummy data
#-------------------------------
my $data = "binaryteststring";

#--------------------------------------------------------
# Unpack $data according to struct timespec definition
#--------------------------------------------------------
if( length($data) >= $c->sizeof( timespec ) ) {
my $perl = $c->unpack( timespec, $data );
print Dumper( $perl );
}

#--------------------------------------------------------
# See which member lies at offset 5 of struct timespec
#--------------------------------------------------------
my $member = $c->member( timespec, 5 );
print "member( timespec, 5 ) = $membern";

Convert::Binary::C is a preprocessor and parser for C type definitions. It is highly configurable and should support arbitrarily complex data structures. Its object-oriented interface has pack and unpack methods that act as replacements for Perls pack and unpack and allow to use the C types instead of a string representation of the data structure for conversion of binary data from and to Perls complex data structures.

Actually, what Convert::Binary::C does is not very different from what a C compiler does, just that it doesnt compile the source code into an object file or executable, but only parses the code and allows Perl to use the enumerations, structs, unions and typedefs that have been defined within your C source for binary data conversion, similar to Perls pack and unpack.

Beyond that, the module offers a lot of convenience methods to retrieve information about the C types that have been parsed.