Using a structure

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Structures and Macros

Computer Organization and Assembly Languages Yung-Yu Chuang

2005/12/08

with slides by Kip Irvine

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Overview

• Structures

• Macros

• Conditional-Assembly Directives

• Defining Repeat Blocks

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Structures overview

• Defining Structures

• Declaring Structure Variables

• Referencing Structure Variables

• Example: Displaying the System Time

• Nested Structures

• Example: Drunkard's Walk

• Declaring and Using Unions

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Structure

• A template or pattern given to a logically related group of variables.

• field - structure member containing data

• Program access to a structure:

– entire structure as a complete unit – individual fields

• Useful way to pass multiple related arguments to a procedure

– example: file directory information

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Using a structure

• Structures in assembly are essentially the same as structures in C and C++

• Using a structure involves three sequential steps:

1. Define the structure.

2. Declare one or more variables of the structure type, called structure variables.

3. Write runtime instructions that access the structure.

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Structure definition syntax

name STRUCT

field-declarations name ENDS

• field-declarations are identical to variable declarations

• The COORD structure used by the MS-Windows programming library identifies X and Y screen coordinates

COORD STRUCT

X WORD ? ; offset 00 Y WORD ? ; offset 02 COORD ENDS

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Employee structure

Employee STRUCT

IdNum BYTE "000000000"

LastName BYTE 30 DUP(0) Years WORD 0

SalaryHistory DWORD 0,0,0,0 Employee ENDS

A structure is ideal for combining fields of different types:

"000000000" (null) 0 0 0 0 0

SalaryHistory Lastname

Years Idnum

initializers

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Declaring structure variables

• Structure name is a user-defined type

• Insert replacement initializers between brackets or braces:

< . . . > or { . . . }

• Empty brackets <> retain the structure's default field initializers (or braces {})

• Examples:

.data

point1 COORD <5,10>

point2 COORD <>

worker Employee <>

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Initializing array fields

• Use the DUP operator to initialize one or more elements of an array field:

person1 Employee <“55522333”>

person2 Employee {“55522333”}

person3 Employee <, “Jones”>

person4 Employee <,,,2 DUP(20000)>

"000000000" (null) 0 0 0 0 0

Years Idnum

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Array of structures

• An array of structure objects can be defined using the DUP operator.

• Initializers can be used

NumPoints = 3

AllPoints COORD NumPoints DUP(<0,0>) RD_Dept Employee 20 DUP(<>)

accounting Employee 10 DUP(<,,,4 DUP(20000) >)

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Referencing structure variables

.data

worker Employee <>

mov eax,TYPE Employee ; 57

mov eax,SIZEOF Employee ; 57

mov eax,SIZEOF worker ; 57

mov eax,TYPE Employee.SalaryHistory ; 4 mov eax,LENGTHOF Employee.SalaryHistory ; 4 mov eax,SIZEOF Employee.SalaryHistory ; 16

Employee STRUCT ; bytes

IdNum BYTE "000000000" ; 9 LastName BYTE 30 DUP(0) ; 30

Years WORD 0 ; 2

SalaryHistory DWORD 0,0,0,0 ; 16

Employee ENDS ; 57

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Referencing structure variables

mov dx,worker.Years

mov worker.SalaryHistory,20000 ;first salary mov worker.SalaryHistory+4,30000 ;second salary mov edx,OFFSET worker.LastName

mov esi,OFFSET worker

mov ax,(Employee PTR [esi]).Years

mov ax,[esi].Years ; invalid operand (ambiguous)

"000000000" (null) 0 0 0 0 0

Years Idnum

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Looping through an array of points

.data

NumPoints = 3

AllPoints COORD NumPoints DUP(<0,0>) .code

mov edi,0 ; array index mov ecx,NumPoints ; loop counter

mov ax,1 ; starting X, Y values L1:

mov (COORD PTR AllPoints[edi]).X,ax mov (COORD PTR AllPoints[edi]).Y,ax add edi,TYPE COORD

inc ax Loop L1

Sets the X and Y coordinates of the AllPoints array to sequentially increasing values (1,1), (2,2), ...

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Example: displaying the system time

• Retrieves and displays the system time at a selected screen location using Windows

functions.

• How to obtain the system time?

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SYSTEMTIME structure

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SYSTEMTIME structure in assembly

SYSTEMTIME STRUCT wYear WORD ?

wMonth WORD ?

wDayOfWeek WORD ? wDay WORD ?

wHour WORD?

wMinute WORD ? wSecond WORD ?

wMilliseconds WORD ? SYSTEMTIME ENDS

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Example: displaying the system time

• How to move cursor to a selected position?

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Get standard console output handle

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Example: displaying the system time

• Uses a Windows API call to get the standard console output handle. SetConsoleCursorPosition

positions the cursor. GetLocalTime gets the current time of day:

.data

sysTime SYSTEMTIME <>

XYPos COORD <10,5>

consoleHandle DWORD ? .code

INVOKE GetStdHandle, STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE mov consoleHandle,eax

INVOKE SetConsoleCursorPosition, consoleHandle, XYPos

INVOKE GetLocalTime, ADDR sysTime

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Example: displaying the system time

• Display the time using library calls:

mov edx,OFFSET TheTimeIs ; "The time is "

call WriteString

movzx eax,sysTime.wHour ; hours call WriteDec

mov edx,offset colonStr ; ":"

movzx eax,sysTime.wMinute ; minutes call WriteDec

mov edx,offset colonStr ; ":"

movzx eax,sysTime.wSecond ; seconds call WriteDec

DEMO!

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Nested structures

Rectangle STRUCT

UpperLeft COORD <>

LowerRight COORD <>

Rectangle ENDS .code

rect1 Rectangle { {10,10}, {50,20} } rect2 Rectangle < <10,10>, <50,20> >

• Define a structure that contains other structures.

• Used nested braces (or brackets) to initialize each COORD structure.

COORD STRUCT X WORD ? Y WORD ? COORD ENDS

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Nested structures

mov rect1.UpperLeft.X, 10 mov esi,OFFSET rect1

mov (Rectangle PTR [esi]).UpperLeft.Y, 10 // use the OFFSET operator

mov edi,OFFSET rect2.LowerRight mov (COORD PTR [edi]).X, 50

mov edi,OFFSET rect2.LowerRight.X mov WORD PTR [edi], 50

• Use the dot (.) qualifier to access nested fields.

• Use indirect addressing to access the overall structure or one of its fields

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Example: Drunkard's walk

• Random-path simulation

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Example: Drunkard's walk

• Uses a nested structure to accumulate path data as the simulation is running

• Uses a multiple branch structure to choose the direction

WalkMax = 50

DrunkardWalk STRUCT

path COORD WalkMax DUP(<0,0>) pathsUsed WORD 0

DrunkardWalk ENDS

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Example: Drunkard's walk

.data

aWalk DrunkardWalk <>

.code

main PROC

mov esi,offset aWalk call TakeDrunkenWalk exit

main ENDP

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Example: Drunkard's walk

TakeDrunkenWalk PROC

LOCAL currX:WORD, currY:WORD pushad

; Point EDI to the array of COORD objects.

mov edi,esi

add edi,OFFSET DrunkardWalk.path mov ecx,WalkMax ; loop counter

mov currX,StartX ; current X-location mov currY,StartY ; current Y-location

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Again:

; Insert current location in array.

mov ax,currX

mov (COORD PTR [edi]).X,ax mov ax,currY

mov (COORD PTR [edi]).Y,ax

INVOKE DisplayPosition, currX, currY mov eax,4 ; choose a direction (0-3) call RandomRange

.IF eax == 0 ; North dec currY

.ELSEIF eax == 1 ; South inc currY

.ELSEIF eax == 2 ; West dec currX

.ELSE ; East (EAX = 3) inc currX

.ENDIF next:

add edi,TYPE COORD ; point to next COORD loop Again

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finish:

mov ax,WalkMax ; count the steps taken sub ax,cx

mov (DrunkardWalk PTR [esi]).pathsUsed, ax popad

ret

TakeDrunkenWalk ENDP

DisplayPosition PROC currX:WORD, currY:WORD .data

commaStr BYTE ",",0 .code

pushad

movzx eax,currX ; current X position call WriteDec

mov edx,OFFSET commaStr ; "," string call WriteString

movzx eax,currY ; current Y position call WriteDec

call Crlf popad

ret

DisplayPosition ENDP DEMO!

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Improved version

DisplayPosition PROC xy:COORD .data

consoleHandle DWORD ? .code

pushad

call Clrscr

INVOKE GetStdHandle, STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE mov consoleHandle,eax

INVOKE SetConsoleCursorPosition, consoleHandle, xy mov al, 'O'

call WriteChar mov eax, 100 call Delay

popad ret

DisplayPosition ENDP DEMO!

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Declaring and using unions

• A union is similar to a structure in that it contains multiple fields

• All of the fields in a union begin at the same offset; size determined by the longest field

– (differs from a structure)

• Provides alternate ways to access the same data

• Syntax: unionname UNION union-fields unionname ENDS

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Integer union example

Integer UNION D DWORD 0 W WORD 0 B BYTE 0 Integer ENDS

The Integer union consumes 4 bytes (equal to the largest field)

.data

val1 Integer <12345678h>

val2 Integer <100h>

val3 Integer <>

D, W, and B are often called variant fields.

Integer can be used to define data:

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Integer union example

mov val3.B, al mov ax,val3.W add val3.D, eax

The variant field name is required when accessing the union:

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Union inside a structure

Integer UNION D DWORD 0 W WORD 0 B BYTE 0 Integer ENDS

FileInfo STRUCT

FileID Integer <>

FileName BYTE 64 DUP(?) FileInfo ENDS

.data

myFile FileInfo <>

.code

mov myFile.FileID.W, ax

An Integer union can be enclosed inside a FileInfo

structure: FileInfo STRUCT

UNION FileID D DWORD 0

W WORD 0 B BYTE 0

ENDS

FileName BYTE 64 DUP(?) FileInfo ENDS

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Macros

• Introducing Macros

• Defining Macros

• Invoking Macros

• Macro Examples

• Nested Macros

• Example Program: Wrappers

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Introducing macros

• A macro is a named block of assembly language statements.

• Once defined, it can be invoked (called) one or more times.

• During the assembler's preprocessing step,

each macro call is expanded into a copy of the macro.

• The expanded code is passed to the assembly step, where it is checked for correctness.

• Resulted code is usually faster than real function call, but bigger.

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mNewLine macro example

mNewLine MACRO ; define the macro call Crlf

ENDM .data .code

mNewLine ; invoke the macro This is how you define and invoke a simple macro.

The assembler will substitute "call crlf" for

"mNewLine".

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Defining macros

• A macro must be defined before it can be used.

• Parameters are optional. Each parameter

follows the rules for identifiers. It is a string that is assigned a value when the macro is invoked.

• Use mMacro to distinguish from functions

• Syntax: macroname MACRO [parameter-1, parameter-2,...]

statement-list ENDM

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mPutChar macro

mPutchar MACRO char:REQ push eax

mov al,char

call WriteChar pop eax

ENDM

Writes a single character to standard output.

Definition:

.code

mPutchar 'A'

Invocation:

1 push eax 1 mov al,'A'

1 call WriteChar 1 pop eax

Expansion: viewed in

the listing file

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Invoking macros

• When you invoke a macro, each argument you pass matches a declared parameter.

macroname arg-1, arg-2, ...

• Each parameter is replaced by its corresponding argument when the macro is expanded.

• When a macro expands, it generates assembly language source code.

• Arguments are treated as simple text. The number of arguments might not match the number of parameters. Too many, drop and warning; Too few, left with blanks.

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mWriteStr macro

mWriteStr MACRO buffer push edx

mov edx,OFFSET buffer call WriteString

pop edx ENDM

.data

str1 BYTE "Welcome!",0 .code

mWriteStr str1

Provides a convenient way to display a string, by passing the string name as an argument.

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mWriteStr macro

1 push edx

1 mov edx,OFFSET str1 1 call WriteString

1 pop edx

The expanded code shows how the str1 argument replaced the parameter named buffer:

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Invalid argument

• If you pass an invalid argument, the error is caught when the expanded code is assembled.

• Example:

.code

mPutchar 1234h 1 push eax

1 mov al,1234h ; error!

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Blank argument

• If you pass a blank argument, the error is also caught when the expanded code is assembled.

• Example:

.code

mPutchar

1 push eax 1 mov al,

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Macro examples

• mReadStr - reads string from standard input

• mGotoXY - locates the cursor on screen

• mDumpMem - dumps a range of memory

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mReadStr

mReadStr MACRO varName push ecx

push edx

mov edx,OFFSET varName

mov ecx,(SIZEOF varName) - 1 call ReadString

pop edx pop ecx ENDM

.data

firstName BYTE 30 DUP(?) .code

mReadStr firstName

The mReadStr macro provides a convenient wrapper around ReadString procedure calls.

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mGotoXY

mGotoxy MACRO X:REQ, Y:REQ push edx

mov dh,Y mov dl,X call Gotoxy pop edx

ENDM ...

mGotoxy 10, 20 mGotoxy row, col mGotoxy ch, cl

mGotoxy dh, dl ; conflicts

The mGotoXY macro sets the console cursor position by calling the Gotoxy library procedure.

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mDumpMem

mDumpMem MACRO address, itemCount, componentSize push ebx

push ecx push esi

mov esi,address mov ecx,itemCount

mov ebx,componentSize call DumpMem

pop esi pop ecx pop ebx ENDM

The mDumpMem macro streamlines calls to the link library's DumpMem procedure.

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mDumpMem invocation

mDumpMem OFFSET array, 8, 4

mDumpMem OFFSET array, \ ; array offset

LENGTHOF array, \ ; number of units TYPE array ; size of a unit

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mWrite

mWrite MACRO text LOCAL string

.data ;; data segment

string BYTE text,0 ;; define local string

.code ;; code segment

push edx

mov edx,OFFSET string call Writestring

The mWrite macro writes a string literal to standard output. It is a good example of a macro that contains both code and data.

The LOCAL directive prevents string from becoming a global label.

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.data

??0000 BYTE “This is the first string”,0 .code

push edx

mov edx,OFFSET ??0000 call Writestring

pop edx .data

??0001 BYTE “This is the second string”,0 .code

push edx

mov edx,OFFSET ??0001 call Writestring

pop edx

mWrite “This is the first string”

mWrite “This is the second string”

Unique labels allow us to call this macro multiple times.

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Nested macros

• The mWriteLn macro

contains a nested macro (a macro invoked by another macro).

mWriteLn MACRO text mWrite text

call Crlf ENDM

mWriteLn "My Sample Macro Program"

2 .data

2 ??0002 BYTE "My Sample Macro Program",0 2 .code

2 push edx

2 mov edx,OFFSET ??0002 2 call Writestring

2 pop edx 1 call Crlf

nesting level

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Example program: wrappers

• Demonstrates various macros from this chapter

• Shows how macros can simplify argument passing

• View the source code

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Conditional-assembly directives

• Checking for Missing Arguments

• Default Argument Initializers

• Boolean Expressions

• IF, ELSE, and ENDIF Directives

• IFIDN and IFIDNI Directives

• Special Operators

• Macro Functions

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Checking for missing arguments

• The IFB directive returns true if its argument is blank. For example:

IFB <row> ;; if row is blank, EXITM ;; exit the macro ENDIF

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mWriteString example

mWriteStr MACRO string IFB <string>

ECHO --- ECHO * Error: parameter missing in mWriteStr ECHO * (no code generated)

ECHO --- EXITM

ENDIF

push edx

mov edx,OFFSET string call WriteString

Display a message during assembly if the string parameter is empty. No code is generated for this macro.

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Default argument initializers

• A default argument initializer automatically assigns a value to a parameter when a macro argument is left blank. For example, mWriteln can be invoked either with or without a string argument:

mWriteLn MACRO text:=<" ">

mWrite text call Crlf ENDM

.code

mWriteln "Line one"

mWriteln

mWriteln "Line three"

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IF , ELSE, and ENDIF directives

IF boolean-expression statements

[ELSE

statements]

ENDIF

A block of statements is assembled if the Boolean expression evaluates to true. An alternate block of

statements can be assembled if the expression is false.

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Boolean expressions

A Boolean expression can be formed using the following operators:

– LT - Less than

– GT - Greater than – EQ - Equal to

– NE - Not equal to

– LE - Less than or equal to

– GE - Greater than or equal to

Only assembly-time constants may be compared using these operators.

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Simple example

IF RealMode EQ 1 mov ax,@data mov ds,ax

ENDIF

The following IF directive permits two MOV instructions to be assembled if a constant named RealMode is equal to 1:

RealMode can be defined in the source code any of the following ways:

RealMode = 1 RealMode EQU 1

RealMode TEXTEQU 1

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mGotoxyConst

mGotoxyConst MACRO X:REQ, Y:REQ LOCAL ERRS ;; local constant ERRS = 0

IF (X LT 0) OR (X GT 79)

ECHO Warning: X to mGotoxy is out of range.

ERRS = 1 ENDIF

IF (Y LT 0) OR (Y GT 24)

ECHO Warning: Y to mGotoxy is out of range.

ERRS = ERRS + 1 ENDIF

IF ERRS GT 0 ;; if errors found, EXITM ;; exit the macro

ENDIF push edx mov dh,Y mov dl,X call Gotoxy pop edx ENDM

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The IFIDN and IFIDNI directives

• IFIDN compares two symbols and returns true if they are equal (case-sensitive)

• IFIDNI also compares two symbols, using a case-insensitive comparison

• Syntax: IFIDNI <symbol>, <symbol>

statements ENDIF

Can be used to prevent the caller of a macro from

passing an argument that would conflict with register usage inside the macro.

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IFIDNI example

mReadBuf MACRO bufferPtr, maxChars IFIDNI <maxChars>,<EDX>

ECHO Warning: Second argument cannot be EDX ECHO **************************************

EXITM ENDIF .

. ENDM

Prevents the user from passing EDX as the second argument to the mReadBuf macro:

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Special operators

• The substitution (&) operator resolves ambiguous references to parameter names within a macro.

• The expansion operator (%) expands text macros or converts constant expressions into their text

representations.

• The literal-text operator (<>) groups one or more characters and symbols into a single text literal. It prevents the preprocessor from interpreting

members of the list as separate arguments.

• The literal-character operator (!) forces the

preprocessor to treat a predefined operator as an ordinary character.

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Substitution (&)

ShowRegister MACRO regName .data

tempStr BYTE " &regName=",0 ...

mov eax, regName ...

ENDM

ShowRegister EDX ; invoke the macro

Text passed as regName is substituted into the literal string definition:

tempStr BYTE " EDX=",0 Macro expansion:

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Expansion (%)

mGotoXY %(5 * 10),%(3 + 4)

The preprocessor generates the following code:

1 push edx 1 mov dl,50 1 mov dh,7

1 call Gotoxy 1 pop edx

Forces the evaluation of an integer expression. After the expression has been evaluated, its value is passed as a macro argument:

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MUL32

MUL32 MACRO op1, op2, product IFIDNI <op2>,<EAX>

LINENUM TEXTEQU %(@LINE)

ECHO ---

% ECHO * Error on line LINENUM: EAX cannot be the ECHO * second argument for the MUL32 macro.

ECHO --- EXITM

ENDIF

push eax

mov eax,op1 mul op2

mov product,eax pop eax

ENDM

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Literal-text (<>)

mWrite "Line three", 0dh, 0ah mWrite <"Line three", 0dh, 0ah>

The first macro call passes three arguments. The second call passes a single argument:

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Literal-character (!)

BadYValue TEXTEQU Warning: <Y-coordinate is > 24>

The following declaration prematurely ends the text definition when the first > character is reached.

The following declaration continues the text definition until the final > character is reached.

BadYValue TEXTEQU <Warning: Y-coordinate is !> 24>

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Macro functions

• A macro function returns an integer or string constant

• The value is returned by the EXITM directive

• Example: The IsDefined macro acts as a wrapper for the IFDEF directive.

IsDefined MACRO symbol IFDEF symbol

EXITM <-1> ;; True ELSE

EXITM <0> ;; False ENDIF

ENDM

Notice how the assembler defines True and False.

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Macro functions

• When calling a macro function, the argument(s) must be enclosed in parentheses

IF IsDefined( RealMode ) mov ax,@data

mov ds,ax ENDIF

IF IsDefined( RealMode ) INCLUDE Irvine16.inc ELSE

INCLUDE Irvine32.inc ENDIF

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Defining repeat blocks

• WHILE Directive

• REPEAT Directive

• FOR Directive

• FORC Directive

• Example: Linked List

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WHILE directive

• The WHILE directive repeats a statement block as long as a particular constant expression is

true.

• Syntax:

WHILE constExpression statements

ENDM

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WHILE example

.data

val1 = 1 val2 = 1

DWORD val1 ; first two values DWORD val2

val3 = val1 + val2 WHILE val3 LT 1000h

DWORD val3 val1 = val2 val2 = val3

val3 = val1 + val2 ENDM

Generates Fibonacci integers between 1 and 1000h at assembly time:

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REPEAT directive

• The

REPEAT

directive repeats a statement block a fixed number of times.

• Syntax:

REPEAT constExpression statements

ENDM

ConstExpression, an unsigned constant integer expression, determines the number of repetitions.

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REPEAT example

iVal = 10 REPEAT 100

DWORD iVal

iVal = iVal + 10 ENDM

The following code generates 100 integer data definitions in the sequence 10, 20, 30, . . .

How might we assign a data name to this list of integers?

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FOR directive

• The FOR directive repeats a statement block by iterating over a comma-delimited list of

symbols.

• Each symbol in the list causes one iteration of the loop.

• Syntax:

FOR parameter,<arg1,arg2,arg3,...>

statements ENDM

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FOR example

Window STRUCT

FOR color,<frame,titlebar,background,foreground>

color DWORD ? ENDM

Window ENDS

The following Window structure contains frame, title bar, background, and foreground colors. The field definitions are created using a FOR directive:

Generated code:

Window STRUCT

frame DWORD ?

titlebar DWORD ? background DWORD ? foreground DWORD ? Window ENDS

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FORC directive

• The FORC directive repeats a statement block by iterating over a string of characters. Each character in the string causes one iteration of the loop.

• Syntax:

FORC parameter, <string>

statements ENDM

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FORC example

FORC code,<ABCDEFG>

Group_&code WORD ? ENDM

Suppose we need to accumulate seven sets of integer data for an experiment. Their label names are to be Group_A, Group_B, Group_C, and so on. The FORC directive creates the variables:

Generated code:

Group_A WORD ? Group_B WORD ? Group_C WORD ? Group_D WORD ? Group_E WORD ? Group_F WORD ? Group_G WORD ?

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Example: linked List

• We can use the REPEAT directive to create a singly linked list at assembly time.

• Each node contains a pointer to the next node.

• A null pointer in the last node marks the end of the list

data link data link data link null

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Linked list

• Each node in the list is defined by a ListNode structure:

ListNode STRUCT

NodeData DWORD ? ; the node's data

NextPtr DWORD ? ; pointer to next node ListNode ENDS

TotalNodeCount = 15 NULL = 0

Counter = 0

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Linked list

• The REPEAT directive generates the nodes.

• Each ListNode is initialized with a counter and an address that points 8 bytes beyond the current node's location:

.data

LinkedList LABEL PTR ListNode REPEAT TotalNodeCount

Counter = Counter + 1

ListNode <Counter, ($ + Counter * SIZEOF ListNode)>

ENDM

ListNode <0,0>

The value of $ does not change—it remains fixed at the location of the LinkedList label.

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Linked list

00000000 00000001 00000008 00000008 00000002 00000010 00000010 00000003 00000018 00000018 00000004 00000020 00000020 (etc.)

The following hexadecimal values in each node show how each NextPtr field contains the address of its following node.

NextPtr offset contents

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Linked list

mov esi,OFFSET LinkedList

; Display the integers in the NodeData members.

NextNode:

; Check for the tail node.

mov eax,(ListNode PTR [esi]).NextPtr cmp eax,NULL

je quit

; Display the node data.

mov eax,(ListNode PTR [esi]).NodeData call WriteDec

call Crlf

; Get pointer to next node.

mov esi,(ListNode PTR [esi]).NextPtr jmp NextNode

quit:

exit