Python and C++ Sockets converting packet data

Question

First of all, to clarify my goal: There exist two programs written in C in our laboratory. I am working on a Proxy Server (bidirectional) for them (which will also mainpulate the data). And I want to write that proxy server in Python. It is important to know that I know close to nothing about these two programs, I only know the definition file of the packets.

Now: assuming a packet definition in one of the C++ programs reads like this:

unsigned char Packet[0x32]; // Packet[Length]
int z=0;

Packet[0]=0x00;     // Spare
Packet[1]=0x32;     // Length
Packet[2]=0x01;     // Source
Packet[3]=0x02;     // Destination
Packet[4]=0x01;     // ID
Packet[5]=0x00;     // Spare
for(z=0;z<=24;z+=8)
{
    Packet[9-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof0_rot*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[13-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof0_speed*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[17-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof1_rot*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[21-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof1_speed*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[25-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof2_rot*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[29-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof2_speed*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[33-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof3_rot*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[37-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof3_speed*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[41-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof4_rot*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[45-z/8]=((int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof4_speed*1000)/(int)pow((double)2,(double)z));
    Packet[49-z/8]=((int)armcontrolpacket->timestamp/(int)pow(2.0,(double)z));
}
if(SendPacket(sock,(char*)&Packet,sizeof(Packet)))
    return 1;
return 0;

What would be the easiest way to receive that data, convert it into a readable python format, manipulate them and send them forward to the receiver?

Answer 1

Take a look at the struct module, specifically the pack and unpack functions. They work with format strings that allow you to specify what types you want to write or read and what endianness and alignment you want to use.

Answer 2

You can receive the packet's 50 bytes with a .recv call on a properly connected socked (it might actually take more than one call in the unlikely event the TCP packet gets fragmented, so check incoming length until you have exactly 50 bytes in hand;-).

After that, understanding that C code is puzzling. The assignments of ints (presumably 4-bytes each) to Packet[9], Packet[13], etc, give the impression that the intention is to set 4 bytes at a time within Packet, but that's not what happens: each assignment sets exactly one byte in the packet, from the lowest byte of the int that's the RHS of the assignment. But those bytes are the bytes of (int)(720000+armcontrolpacket->dof0_rot*1000) and so on...

So must those last 44 bytes of the packet be interpreted as 11 4-byte integers (signed? unsigned?) or 44 independent values? I'll guess the former, and do...:

import struct
f = '>x4bx11i'
values = struct.unpack(f, packet)

the format f indicates: big-endian, 4 unsigned-byte values surrounded by two ignored "spare" bytes, 11 4-byte signed integers. Tuple values ends up with 15 values: the four single bytes (50, 1, 2, 1 in your example), then 11 signed integers. You can use the same format string to pack a modified version of the tuple back into a 50-bytes packet to resend.

Since you explicitly place the length in the packet it may be that different packets have different lenghts (though that's incompatible with the fixed-length declaration in your C sample) in which case you need to be a bit more accurate in receiving and unpacking it; however such details depend on information you don't give, so I'll stop trying to guess;-).