Here's a SIGMPE question for HPWORLD '96:
 
When will we get some new file system intrinsics that can read/write
more than about 40 KB to 64 KB?  FWRITE is fundamentally limited
by the size of the "tcount" parameter (16 bits) to a theoretical
maximum of 32768 bytes or 32767 16-bit words, but some DDS tapes have data
records larger than this!   FREAD/FWRITE can't be extended correctly,
so I suggest four new intrinsics:
 
  function HPFREAD (
                var status  : hpe_status;       {32-bit output parameter)
                    filenum : integer;          {32-bit value}
                    buffer  : globalanyptr;     {64-bit address}
                    bytes   : bit32)            {32-bit value}
        : bit32;
 
   Semantics:  similar to FREAD, but:
       is always byte oriented ... if "bytes" <= 0, no read is done.
       if "bytes" is positive, is the number of bytes to read (imagine that!)
 
       Sets CCODE as FREAD.
 
       Returns result in status:
             0 = ok
            >0 = warning (CCG) ... only one warning defined:
                 1 = EOF
            <0 = error (CCL)
                 value is in hpe_status format, not the 16-bit file
                 system error format!  If you want the 16-bit file error,
                 call fcheck (integer (filenum)).
 
  function HPFWRITE (
                var status  : hpe_status;       {32-bit output parameter)
                    filenum : integer;          {32-bit value}
                    buffer  : globalanyptr;     {64-bit address}
                    bytes   : bit32;            {32-bit value}
                    cctl    : integer)          {32-bit value}
        : bit32;
 
      Similar to FWRITE, with the same type of differences that HPFREAD
      has vs. FREAD.
 
      The functional result is a POSIX inspired:
 
           >=0   ... number of bytes written
           -1    ... an error occurred...see status parameter.
 
and:
 
  function HPFREADDIR (
                var status  : hpe_status;       {32-bit output parameter)
                    filenum : integer;          {32-bit value}
                    buffer  : globalanyptr;     {64-bit address}
                    bytes   : bit32;            {32-bit value}
                    recnum  : longint)          {32-bit value}
        : bit32;
 
      Similar to HPFREAD above, but positions the file to logical record
      number "recnum" first.  NOTE: if this is a byte stream file, then
      recnum is the absolute byte offset from the start of the file.
      (Thus allowing 4GB and GREATER files to be read)
 
and:
 
   function HPFWRITEDIR (...
       Exercise for the reader.
 
--
Stan Sieler                                          [log in to unmask]
                                     http://www.allegro.com/sieler.html