String Concatenation Using Pointers No strcat() 1

[Raidwan]

Hi there,

I am having a bit of an issue when trying to concatenate strings using char * pointers.

Here is what I need:

I need to add a list of ID's to a string that is a SQL statement so that I can end up with:
SELECT DISTINCT Object_ID FROM Object_Interactions WHERE Object_ID IN ('UUID1', 'UUID2') ORDER BY Object_ID ASC;

Here is what I am doing:

struct object_type
{
char *id; /* UUID = 32 chars length */
};

void strappnd(char *dest, char *src)
{
/* appends one string to another */
while (*src != '\0')
*dest++ = *src++;

*dest = '\0';
}

char *buffer = NULL;
char *sql = NULL;
int j = 0;
int buffer_size = 0;
int object_count = 0;

object_count = 2; /* this is actually a calculated value... */

/* I have used malloc() and then assigned a value to object_list[j]->id and that was OK */

buffer_size = 32 * object_count + strlen("''") * object_count + strlen(", ") * (object_count - 1) + 1;

buffer = (char *)malloc(buffer_size * sizeof(char)); /* I know about pointer casting issue and malloc without stdlib.h but there is too much code to be changed... */
strcpy(buffer, "");

for (j=0; j<object_count; j++)
{
printf("buffer=%s\n", buffer);

strcat(buffer, "'");
strappnd(buffer, object_list[j]->id);

/* we must not end the sequence with a comma */
if (j < object_count - 1)
strcat(buffer, "', '");
else
strcat(buffer, "'");
}
sql = (char *)malloc((100 + buffer_size + 1) * sizeof(char));
sprintf(sql, "SELECT DISTINCT Object_ID FROM Object_Interactions WHERE Object_ID IN (%s) ORDER BY Object_ID ASC;", buffer);
free(buffer);

printf("sql=%s\n", sql);

Result:
sql = SELECT DISTINCT Object_ID FROM Object_Interactions WHERE Object_ID IN (UUID1') ORDER BY Object_ID ASC;

I have been trying and searching for a couple of days for all kinds of solutions but I can't seem to find anything and I can't make it work.
Basically the question is how to transform a const char * into a char *. Does simple casting work? Is it safe? What else can I do because
I keep hitting this wall, and I can't use the standard <string.h> functions because most of them expect a char const * as opposed to
char * in one of the arguments.

I have been looking on the Internet and forums, but for most cases strcat is being used and seems to be enough.
I found interesting variations of strcat, but they don't seem to work and I don't have any more time for this. After finding libAPR I even
thought of using it, but I only need one function from this library and plus the application must be portable on Linux, Mac, Windows...

Any help on how to do string concatenation with char * or how to convert const char * to char * would be greatly appreciated.

Other than that, C is just great.

Thanks very much.
Ovidiu Anghelidi

ovidiu@intelligencerealm.com

 

[cpjust]

Passing a char* to a function that expects a const char* is no problem since the const-ness isn't being lowered, it's being increased.
Passing a const char* to a function expecting a char* is where you'd run into trouble. If you have a const char*, that implies that the value of the string should not be modified; but since the function takes a char* parameter, that implies that the function wants to modify it.

 

[fpmurphy]

You have a fundametnal problem in your code. You are overwriting your buffer each time to attempt to attempt an object_id.

   strappnd(buffer, object_list[j]->id);
            ^^^^^^

You need to append to the end of the buffer.

Here is a sample program which should help you understand what you need to do:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <strings.h>

struct object_type
{
    char *id;            /* UUID = 32 chars length */
} object_list[2];

static char UUID1[32] = "1111111111111111111111111111111";
static char UUID2[32] = "2222222222222222222222222222222";

int
main( int argc, char *argv[])
{
    char *buffer = NULL;
    char *sql = NULL;
    int j = 0;
    int buffer_size = 0;
    int object_count = 2;
    char *bufptr;
    char *t;

    /* hack to populate arrary of structures */
    object_list[0].id = (char *) UUID1;
    object_list[1].id = (char *) UUID2;

    buffer_size = 32 * object_count + strlen("''") *              object_count + strlen(", ") * (object_count - 1) + 1;
    buffer = (char *)malloc(buffer_size * sizeof(char));
    bzero(buffer, sizeof(buffer));
    bufptr = buffer;

    for (j=0; j < object_count; j++)
    {
        t = (char *)object_list[j].id;

        if (j)
           *bufptr++ = ',';
        *bufptr++ = '\'';
        while (*t)
            *bufptr++ = *t++;
        *bufptr++ = '\'';
        *bufptr = '\0';

        printf ("BUFFER: %s\n", buffer);
    }

    sql = (char *)malloc((100 + buffer_size + 1) * sizeof(char));

    sprintf(sql, "SELECT DISTINCT Object_ID FROM Object_Interactions WHERE Object_ID IN (%s) ORDER BY Object_ID ASC;", buffer);
    free(buffer);

    printf("sql=%s\n", sql);
}