invalid packets since the packet will not be validated against it's protocol.
- \section packet_usage_fields Protocol fields
+ \section packet_usage_fields Field access
When working with concrete protocols, the packet library provides direct access to all the
protocol information.
This is a very abstract description of the parser structure. For a more concrete description, we
need to differentiate between the different parser types
- \subsection packet_usage_fields_value Value parsers
+ \subsection packet_usage_fields_value Simple fields (Value parsers)
We have already seen value parsers: These are the lowest level building blocks witch parse
numbers, addresses etc. They return some type of value and can be assigned such a value. More
Remember, that a parser does \e not contain any data: It only points into the raw data
container. This is also true for the collection parsers. VectorParser and ListParser provide an
- interface which looks like an STL container to access the elements.
+ interface which looks like an STL container to access a sequence of elements.
- We will use an MLDv2 Query as an example (see <a
- href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3810#section-5">RFC 3810</a>).
+ We will use an \c MLDv2QueryPacket as an example (see <a
+ href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3810#section-5">RFC 3810</a>). Here an excerpt of the
+ relevant fields:
+
+ <table class="fields">
+ <tr><td>nrOfSources</td><td>Integer</td><td>Number of multicast sources in this packet</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>sources</td><td>Vector of IPv6 Addresses</td><td>Multicast sources</td></tr>
+ </table>
+
+ To demonstrate nested collections, we use the \c MLDv2ReportPacket as an example. The relevant
+ fields of this packet are;
+
+ <table class="fields">
+ <tr><td>nrOfRecords</td><td>Integer</td><td>Number of multicast address records</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>records</td><td>List of Records</td><td>List of multicast groups and sources</td></tr>
+ </table>
+
+ Each Record is a composite with the following relevant fields:
+
+ <table class="fields">
+ <tr><td>nrSources</td><td>Integer</td><td>Number of sources in this record</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>sources</td><td>Vector of IPv6 Addresses</td><td>Multicast sources</td></tr>
+ </table>
+
+ The first example will iterate over the sources in a \c MLDv2QueryPacket:
\code
MLDv2QueryPacket mld = ...;
Beside other fields, the MLDv2Query consists of a list of source addresses. The \c sources()
member returns a VectorParser for these addresses. The collection parsers can only be accessed
- completely using a container wrapper. This is, what we do in above example.
+ completely using a container wrapper. The container wrapper type is available as the \c
+ container member of the collection parser, here it is \c
+ MLDv2QueryPacket::Parser::sources_t::container.
- The wrapper can also be used to manipulate that list. Here we copy a list of addresses from an
- \c std::vector into the packet:
+ Using this wrapper, we can not only read the data, we can also manipulate the source list. Here
+ we copy a list of addresses from an \c std::vector into the packet:
\code
std::vector<senf::INet6Address> addrs (...);
std::copy(addrs.begin(), addrs.end(), sources.begin())
\endcode
- Collection parsers may also be nested. To access a nested collection parser, such a container
- wrapper should be allocated for each level. An MLD Report (which is a composite parser) includes
- a list of multicast address records called \c records(). Each record is again a composite which
- contains a list of sources called \c sources():
+ Collection parsers may be nested. To access a nested collection parser, a container wrapper must
+ be allocated for each level. An MLD Report (which is a composite parser) includes a list of
+ multicast address records called \c records(). Each record is again a composite which contains a
+ list of sources called \c sources():
\code
MLDv2ReportPacket report = ...;