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state file sharing

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 12:41 am
by cdmackay
Apologies if this has been asked before; the forum's search feature won't let me search for such "common terms".

Is there any way to convert/extract from a DM42 state file so that it may be used with Free42, e.g. on desktop, Android, etc?

thanks very much.

Re: state file sharing

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 1:37 am
by Thomas Okken
Prior to release 2.5, the Free42 state file format was only compatible with itself. Something as innocent as changing compilers or compiler settings could introduce incompatibilities, and moving state files between platforms was also impossible.

In 2.5 I changed the state file reading and writing logic to eliminate these issues, and the state files can now be exchanged between Free42 instances running on different platforms (and compiler quirks should not cause problems any more, either).

Once the DM42 firmware is merged with the latest Free42, it could also become state-file-compatible, though with a caveat: the DM42 state contains elements that aren't present in the Free42 state, and since the Free42 state file format makes no explicit provision for optional sections, any DM42-specific fields would have to be added at the end, after the closing "24kF<version>" marker, where Free42 will ignore them, and when reading a state file, the DM42 should likewise be prepared to encounter EOF after that marker, and fill in default values for all DM42-specific fields when that happens.

Re: state file sharing

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:08 pm
by cdmackay
thanks very much Thomas, I thought that might be the case.

In that case, if any SM folk are reading, please consider this a request to add such functionality.

An alternative, or short-term workaround (once the DM42 has Free42 2.5), might be a separate tool to convert between the two formats, optionally using an existing DM42 state file as a template from which to take the DM42-specific values.

thanks again.

Re: state file sharing

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 11:41 am
by wiljea
As I already stated (see my comments of Wed Oct 30 in viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1816&start=470), I completely agree with this official request of state file sharing possibilities between DM42 and Free42 (or at least to access a simple method to convert between the two formats as suggested by cdmackay). Could this request be considered and judge for its feasability and eventual timetable? Thanks for your answer.

Re: state file sharing

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:32 pm
by Walter
I concur with this request. Personally, I'd put it in the "nice to have" folder though.

Re: state file sharing

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:21 pm
by wiljea
Thanks Mr. Walter, and let's hope that others will join our request.