Enhancement proposal: string size prefix in db

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DOS386

Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 1900

DOS386 29 Mar 2013, 08:01

Code:

db "FASM is (almost) great !!!",0
...
call printzt

but there is a better way:

Code:

db 26,"FASM is (almost) great !!!"
...
call printsp

unfortunately, the "26" is a pain as I have to evaluate the string length manually and this causes BUG's if I evaluate it incorrectly or change the text later and forget to adjust the size prefix Sad

It would be cool if FASM supported something like:

Code:

db %s,"FASM is (almost) great !!!"
; "%s" is UINT8 size until EOL

db %s,"FASM is (almost) great !!!", %s, "Really !!!"
; "%s" is UINT8 size until next "%s"

db %s,"FASM is (almost) great !!!", %r, "Really !!!" ; 
"%s" is UINT8 size until "%r" , but "%r" doesn't generate any prefix

All this limited to 8-bit stuff: only db (not dw, dd, dq, dt, dn, du, ...) and sizes < 256 Byte's.

_________________
Bug Nr.: 12345

Title: Hello World program compiles to 100 KB !!!

Status: Closed: NOT a Bug

29 Mar 2013, 08:01

comrade

Joined: 16 Jun 2003
Posts: 1150
Location: Russian Federation

comrade 29 Mar 2013, 08:57

Have you tried this:

Code:

db mystring.length - mystring
mystring db "FASM is great!!!",0
label mystring.length

(don't know if this actually assembles, might be syntactic errors).

Basically you define a label at the beginning of the string, and another label at the end of the string. Then you put a db (which will get backfilled) that contains a byte value with a difference between the two labels.

In the above example, the beginning label is "mystring" and the end label is "mystring.length".

29 Mar 2013, 08:57

DOS386

Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 1900

DOS386 29 Mar 2013, 09:05

comrade wrote:

Have you tried this

Sure there are ways to get the length (usable for data >= 256 Byte's), but for my 1000's of short strings (<256 Byte's), I'd prefer a built-in method not polluting and bloating the source too much.

29 Mar 2013, 09:05

baldr

Joined: 19 Mar 2008
Posts: 1651

baldr 29 Mar 2013, 09:22

DOS386,

Here you go: macro for generate fixed string. Quite confusing thread title, though.

Preprocessor is a memory-hungry bitch, and macros can irreversibly damage your brain. Wink

29 Mar 2013, 09:22

DOS386

Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 1900

DOS386 29 Mar 2013, 10:04

> Here you go: macro for generate fixed string
> http://board.flatassembler.net/topic.php?t=15147

Code:

struc pstring [text*] {
common
  . db .size-1, text
  .size = $-.
}

aa2 pstring "abcd",$FF,0,0,"G"
aa3 pstring 0,0,0
aa4 pstring $FF

; aa5: pstring $FF
;      pstring $FF

Thanks ... works ... partially only ... only one string per line, and, even worse, it needs a unique label without doubledot at every single line Sad

29 Mar 2013, 10:04

l_inc

Joined: 23 Oct 2009
Posts: 881

l_inc 29 Mar 2013, 13:03

DOS386
You could use a generalized macro for resolving such situations:

Code:

;Allows using structures as macros (i.e. a structure will be unnamed)
;usage: defStrucsAsMacros POINT,LINE
;               POINT
;               LINE <1,2>,<1,4>
macro defStrucsAsMacros [name*]
{
        forward
                macro name [arg]
                \{
                        \common
                                \local ..lbl
                                ..lbl name arg
                \}
}

defStrucsAsMacros pstring

After this you can use pstring without the unique label requirement. And placing multiple statements on the same line is possible with another simple macro:

Code:

;Allows positioning of several instructions on (at) one line
;usage: @1l <CALL FF>,<ADD EAX,T01>,<MOV ECX,S11>,<MOV EBX,M01>,<CALL CP>
macro @1l [i] { forward i }

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Faith is a superposition of knowledge and fallacy

29 Mar 2013, 13:03

l_inc

Joined: 23 Oct 2009
Posts: 881

l_inc 29 Mar 2013, 13:11

baldr wrote:

Preprocessor is a memory-hungry bitch

I can't disagree on this. Current memory management even discourages from cleaning up after oneself, as using restore/restruc/purge makes preprocessor consume even more memory rather than releasing it.

_________________
Faith is a superposition of knowledge and fallacy

29 Mar 2013, 13:11

HaHaAnonymous

Joined: 02 Dec 2012
Posts: 1178
Location: Unknown

HaHaAnonymous 29 Mar 2013, 13:29

[ Post removed by author. ]

Last edited by HaHaAnonymous on 28 Feb 2015, 21:14; edited 1 time in total

29 Mar 2013, 13:29

DOS386

Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 1900

DOS386 29 Mar 2013, 13:50

> You could use a generalized macro for resolving such situations
> And placing multiple statements on the same line is possible with another

Interesting, so how to use those 2 ? How close can I approach the bottommost code in topmost post?

29 Mar 2013, 13:50

l_inc

Joined: 23 Oct 2009
Posts: 881

l_inc 29 Mar 2013, 14:21

DOS386

Quote:

How close can I approach the bottommost code in topmost post?

You can approach your syntax as close as you want. I provided a couple of macros from my library, that allow to overcome the problems you've mentioned, but the syntax is a little bit different.

Quote:

Interesting, so how to use those 2 ?

I'm not sure, I understand what you find unclear. The description and usage examples I provided seem to be pretty comprehensive.

_________________
Faith is a superposition of knowledge and fallacy

29 Mar 2013, 14:21

DOS386

Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 1900

DOS386 29 Mar 2013, 15:06

Code:

org $10

struc pstring [text*] {
common 
  . db .size-1, text 
  .size = $-. 
} 
macro DSAM [name*]
{ 
        forward 
                macro name [arg] 
                \{ 
                        \common 
                                \local ..lbl 
                                ..lbl name arg 
                \} 
} 

DSAM pstring

macro @1l [i] { forward i }

bugger: pstring "abcd",$FF,0,0,"G"
        pstring 0,0,0

@1l < aa4: pstring $FF > , < pstring $EE,$AA >

db bugger ; $10
db aa4    ; $1D

YES it does work ... upper macro drops the label requirement, lower allows a hacky way to put multiple strings on 1 line :-#

29 Mar 2013, 15:06

baldr

Joined: 19 Mar 2008
Posts: 1651

baldr 31 Mar 2013, 18:49

DOS386,

Perhaps this way is less hacky:

Code:

struc pstring [text*] {
common
  . db .size-1, text
  .size = $-.
}

macro pstrings [arg*] {
forward
  ? equ ?
  match name:value, arg \{
    restore ?
    ? equ !
    name pstring value
  \}
  match =?, ? \{
    \local ..name
    ..name pstring arg
  \}
  restore ?
}

pstrings a:"Hello, world!", <b:"Goodbye, world!", 13, 10>, <"That's all folks!", 13, 10>

It's written only to demonstrate the idea, you may wish to rewrite it to better suit your needs.

31 Mar 2013, 18:49

DOS386

Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 1900

DOS386 10 Apr 2013, 13:29

PString example is out: http://board.flatassembler.net/topic.php?t=10872
http://board.flatassembler.net/download.php?id=4673 (macro's NOT used yet ...)

Still, I'd prefer a built-in solution from macros, and maybe another layer:

Code:

db %c
db %s,"FASM is (almost) great !!!"
db %s,"ROS-ASM is not great !!!"
db %s,"MASM is ???"
db %d

"%c" would count the elements (here 3) until next "%c" (generating next count or "%d" (generating nothing).

http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2010365 Laughing

10 Apr 2013, 13:29

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