QDataStream won't work with custom crafted char array

Davita

Hi guys. I have an application which consists of two primary modules. One is written in C, uses standard C runtime library and one written in Qt C++. They communicate with each other with IPC. C module creates a char array, fills it with data and sends to the module written in Qt. I want to deserialize received data using QDataStream, but my efforts didn't yield any result yet. Here's a simple example what I'm trying to achieve:

@ unsigned int pointer = 0;
const int IPC_MSG_LEN = 500;
const int IPC_MSG_HEADER = 200;
const int SOMETHING = 1443;
char api = 55;

char msg[IPC_MSG_LEN] = {0};
memcpy_s(msg, IPC_MSG_LEN, &IPC_MSG_HEADER, sizeof(int));
pointer = sizeof(unsigned int);
memcpy_s(&msg[pointer], IPC_MSG_LEN - pointer, &api, sizeof(char));
++pointer;
memcpy_s(&msg[pointer], IPC_MSG_LEN - pointer, &SOMETHING, sizeof(int));

QByteArray arr(msg, IPC_MSG_LEN);
QDataStream ds(&arr, QIODevice::ReadOnly);
qint32 header = 0, aa = 0;
qint8 t_api = 0;
ds >> header; //Doesn't work
ds >> t_api; //Works
ds >> aa; //Doesn't work

@

As you can see, the code is pretty simple, but header and aa variables are deserialized to a random number. However t_api (one byte variable) has correct value assigned.
So what's the problem with this code? Does QDataStream uses a private data format which is not compatible with the one I'm using? Should I write my own QIODevice implementation or there is a quick fix I'm not aware of? :)
Thanks, I appreciate your help.

goetz

It's most probably a byte order issue. Windows uses little endian, whereas QDataStream by default uses big endian. You should add this right after the data stream instantiation (after line 15):

@
ds.setByteOrder(QDataStream::LittleEndian);
@

A platform independent way would be:

@
#include <QSysInfo>

ds.setByteOrder(QSysInfo::ByteOrder);
@