Easiest way to insert a file into an ADF? (Delphi)

Hello!

I have a big problem. I need to insert a single file into an ADF with Delphi, as simple as possible.

I've downloaded Big-Byte's ADF Toolkit from http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=170677&postcount=2 but there is a problem: The file seems to be inserted and I can see it in the directory listing, but if I try to access it with Amiga or with ADFView, I get a "file not found" error.

I've attached two ADFs, a working (inserted with ADFView) and the not working disk (with Big-Byte's code). Maybe someone can compare the files where the error is and maybe how I can fix it or at least a hint?

My next idea was to use adflibd.dll from the Win32 console app of UnADF (ADFLib), I've checked http://lclevy.free.fr/adflib/api.html but this is a bit difficult in Delphi Is someone able to give me a hint how I can insert a file into an existing ADF with the help of this dll? As I am able to see, the necessary functions seem to be available in this dll file, but I have big problems to use them in Delphi.

Or are there other alternatives, for example commando line commands for ADFView or something else?

Can someone help me, somehow?
Thank you

[eLowar]

The only thing "tricky" about ADFLib is that you have to open Device, Volume and finally File in the right order.

Unfortunately I don't have time to write a long explanation right now, but if you want to see a little example (albeit in C++), check out the source code of my Little Computer People serial number editor: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=275636#post275636

The source code is included in the archive. The interesting bits are in MainWindow.cpp, in particular under void MainWindow::open() and void MainWindow::save(QString fileName). The ADFLib functions all start with adf*, I think.

This doesn't show how to insert a new file, but I think all you have to do is open a file with the right mode. Sorry, it's been a while since I looked at it. The ADFlib docs should tell, though.

Thanks a lot, checked your source code, but, although it looks so simple, I am still not able to convert it to Delphi...

I need somehow to declare the necessary functions of this C++ dll in Delphi, so I could use them, but I am not able to translate them. The only thing I reached yet is to show version number and date...

const
   adflib = 'adflibd.dll';
   function adfGetVersionNumber(): PChar; external adflib;
   function adfGetVersionDate(): PChar; external adflib;
 
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
   begin
      Label1.Caption:=adfGetVersionNumber();
      Label2.Caption:=adfGetVersionDate();
      Label3.Caption:=adflib;
   end;

But now I need to inject a file into an ADF with a click of a button. And if I check the docs of ADFLib again, then I wonder how this here

struct Device* adfMountDev( char* name)

would look in Delphi?

[eLowar]

The library itself is plain C and only uses plain C datatypes. My Pascal is a little shaky (haven't used it in years and years), so I'm not sure how to properly translate the prototype.

What I can tell you is that the Device pointer (Pascal has pointers and/or references too, right?) you get is just a handle, probably 32 bits (depending on what architecture the DLL was compiled for, but 32 bits are likely), and you only have to store it and pass it to the appropriate functions. The contents of the pointer are completely irrelevant to you and only matter to the library, so I assume any datatype with the right size will do (maybe a 32-bit integer type).

As for the name parameter, that's a plain C string (address of a character array), which may be tricky because Pascal (as far as I remember) stores strings differently than C. While C stores them \0 (null character) terminated, Pascal (again, as far as I remember) prefixes them with their length instead. I'm sure if you look up general information about accessing C libraries from Pascal that problem will be addressed, though.

Edit: I reformulated some things after thinking after writing.

[so.]

PChar is the Pascal pointer-to-char, if I recall correctly. You could translate the header files, I'm sure there exists a tool for this problem.

[Feltzkrone]

• When declaring external functions you should use the keyword "stdcall". It is the most common calling convention for DLL functions. A calling convention defines how CPU registers and how the stack is used to pass function parameters. This should solve your problems when trying to call ADFLib functions.(German Wikipedia)
• PChar (=PAnsiChar) is the Pascal equivalent of char*. Lets say variable A is declared as String and variable B is declared as PChar. To assign one to another you can use: A := B and B := PChar(A). In that way Pascal strings must be casted to PChar prior using it as parameters passed to ADFLib functions. For the other direction there's no problem as you already assign a PChar to a label caption.

Hopefully I could help a little bit...

[Photon]

Hey, a Delphi programmer! Good man.

Looked at elowar's thread for 5 seconds, didn't find a link to the c source or a snippet, otherwise I could help - I've had to learn a bit of c to get going on the gp2x.