access element of fixed length C array in swift - swift

Question

I'm trying to convert some C code to swift.
(Why? - to use CoreMIDI in OS-X in case you asked)
The C code is like this
void printPacketInfo(const MIDIPacket* packet) {
int i;
for (i=0; i<packet->length; i++) {
printf("%d ", packet->data[i]);
}
}
And MIDIPacket is defined like this
struct MIDIPacket
{
MIDITimeStamp timeStamp;
UInt16 length;
Byte data[256];
};
My Swift is like this
func printPacketInfo(packet: UnsafeMutablePointer<MIDIPacket>){
// print some things
print("length", packet.memory.length)
print("time", packet.memory.timeStamp)
print("data[0]", packet.memory.data.1)
for i in 0 ..< packet.memory.length {
print("data", i, packet.memory.data[i])
}
}
But this gives a compiler error
error: type '(UInt8, UInt8, .. cut .. UInt8, UInt8, UInt8)'
has no subscript members
So how can I dereference the I'th element of a fixed size array?

Answer 1

in your case you could try to use something like this ...
// this is tuple with 8 Int values, in your case with 256 Byte (UInt8 ??) values
var t = (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
t.0
t.1
// ....
t.7
func arrayFromTuple<T,R>(tuple:T) -> [R] {
let reflection = Mirror(reflecting: tuple)
var arr : [R] = []
for i in reflection.children {
// better will be to throw an Error if i.value is not R
arr.append(i.value as! R)
}
return arr
}
let arr:[Int] = arrayFromTuple(t)
print(arr) // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
...
let t2 = ("alfa","beta","gama")
let arr2:[String] = arrayFromTuple(t2)
arr2[1] // "beta"

Answer 2

This was suggested by https://gist.github.com/jckarter/ec630221890c39e3f8b9
func printPacketInfo(packet: UnsafeMutablePointer<MIDIPacket>){
// print some things
print("length", packet.memory.length)
print("time", packet.memory.timeStamp)
let len = Int(packet.memory.length)
withUnsafePointer(&packet.memory.data) { p in
let p = UnsafeMutablePointer<UInt8>(p)
for i:Int in 0 ..< len {
print(i, p[i])
}
}
}
This is horrible - I hope the compiler turns this nonsense into some good code

Answer 3

The error message is a hint: it shows that MIDIPacket.data is imported not as an array, but as a tuple. (Yes, that's how all fixed length arrays import in Swift.) You seem to have noticed this in the preceding line:
print("data[0]", packet.memory.data.1)
Tuples in Swift are very static, so there isn't a way to dynamically access a tuple element. Thus, in some sense the only "safe" or idiomatic way to print your packet (in the way that you're hinting at) would be 256 lines of code (or up to 256, since the packet's length field tells you when it's safe to stop):
print("data[1]", packet.memory.data.2)
print("data[2]", packet.memory.data.3)
print("data[3]", packet.memory.data.4)
/// ...
print("data[254]", packet.memory.data.255)
print("data[255]", packet.memory.data.256)
Clearly that's not a great solution. Using reflection, per user3441734's answer, is one (cumbersome) alternative. Unsafe memory access, per your own answer (via jckarter), is another (but as the name of the API says, it's "unsafe"). And, of course, you can always work with the packet through (Obj)C.
If you need to do something beyond printing the packet, you can extend the UnsafePointer-based solution to convert it to an array like so:
extension MIDIPacket {
var dataBytes: [UInt8] {
mutating get {
return withUnsafePointer(&data) { tuplePointer in
let elementPointer = UnsafePointer<UInt8>(tuplePointer)
return (0..<Int(length)).map { elementPointer[$0] }
}
}
}
}
Notice that this uses the packet's existing length property to expose an array that has only as many valid bytes as the packet claims to have (rather than filling up the rest of a 256-element array with zeroes). This does allocate memory, however, so it might not be good for the kinds of real-time run conditions you might be using CoreMIDI in.

Answer 4

Should this:
for i in 0 ..< packet.memory.length
Be this?
for i in 0 ..< packet.memory.data.length