[VB][Question] Stringlist, IE in 0x0B

[Don Cullen]

Message ID: 0x0B
Message Name: SID_GETCHANNELLIST 
Direction: Server -> Client (Received)

Format:

(STRINGLIST)    Channel names, terminated by a null string.

Remarks: Contains a list of available channels.

BNETDocs says stringlist, and I'm at a loss as to exactly what a stringlist is. Is a stringlist pretty much a single string and can be just put inside a string variable, or is there a different way stringlist is supposed to be handled?

Also, it says 'Terminated by a null string'-- is that in reference to EACH channel string being terminated by a null string, or the entire stringlist ENDING with a null string?

I'm lost... Thanks for any help, and for reading this!

[Blaze]

According to BNETDocs,

STRING     Null-terminated array of characters.
STRING[]     An array of strings (see above). This type is generally only used when another field in the packet specifies how many entries there are.
STRINGLIST    A series of strings (see above) with an additional null-terminator at the end.

[MyndFyre]

To make this even more clear, let's go with the 3 strings "123", "456", "789".

If this were a string[], it would be represented in-memory (and in-packet) as:

Code Select Expand


31 32 33 00 34 35 36 00    37 38 39 00


Often, a memory or packet location will tell the reader how many strings there are.

If it were a string list, it would be:

Code Select Expand


31 32 33 00 34 35 36 00    37 38 39 00 00


Note the extra null character.  This tells a reader that it can stop reading.

And yes, I chose numerical digits because they're easy-to-remember codes. 

[Don Cullen]

So, for STRINGLIST, I just read the string, and use CHR(0) as the delimiter when I use the Split function on it, then use a for next array to display each item in the array?

[MyndFyre]

For a stringlist I wouldn't use the Split() function.  I'd go with reading it in a stream-like fashion.

[Don Cullen]

For a stringlist I wouldn't use the Split() function.  I'd go with reading it in a stream-like fashion.

Could you give an example, because I'm not really sure what you mean by 'steam-like fashion'?