Loading an exe in a memo field

Problem/Question/Abstract:

How can I read a binary file?
How can I show a binary file in a memo field?

Answer:

Solve 1:

Why?

This article has been written in answer to an old request by ismael u, asking how an executable can be loaded in a memo or rich memo field.

First a remark, executables should usually not be stored in a tmemo field, but rather in some blob field. However, there are some occasions on which one would like to view an executable. Studying (differences between) compiled  executables comes to mind.

I assume that Ismael means executable when he says exec, and the solution is rather simple.

How?

Loading a an executable in a memo field basically comes down to 2 steps. The first step is reading the file from disk and loading the file into memory, the second step is showing the loaded contents in the tmemo field.

The first step, reading the file from disk and loading it into memory, is rather easy. Perhaps TFileStream could be used, but I prefer the rather low level FileOpen function because of its performance. Also, when working with binary files, we must keep in mind that these files may contain #0 and many pointer based operations regard this as an end/of/string character.

Basically, here is the code, mostly a copy of the delphi5 help after fixing some minor bugs. Just create a form, add a button and a fileopendialog,
      
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  iFileHandle: Integer;
  iFileLength: Integer;
  iBytesRead: Integer;
  Buffer: PChar;
begin
  opendialog1.filter := 'executables|*.exe';
  if opendialog1.Execute then
  begin
    try
      iFileHandle := FileOpen(OpenDialog1.FileName, fmOpenRead or fmShareDenyNone);
      if iFileHandle > 0 then
      begin
        iFileLength := FileSeek(iFileHandle, 0, 2);
        FileSeek(iFileHandle, 0, 0);
        Buffer := PChar(AllocMem(iFileLength + 2));
        iBytesRead := FileRead(iFileHandle, Buffer^, iFileLength);
          // note that ^ is missing in D5 help.
        FileClose(iFileHandle);
      end;
    finally
      FreeMem(Buffer);
    end;
  end;
end;
    
The second step again poses us some questions. As the contents of the binary file will contain #0, how will we show them?

The first way is to convert the entire Buffer read above into a string and add this string to the memo. Doing this causes no technical problem, but the memo shows just a few characters. That's probably now what we want. The cause are the aforementioned #0 characters.

The second way is to go through the Buffer bit by bit, and switch to a new line whenever we encounter a #0. Doing so is easy, and reveals that an ordinary executable contains lots of #0 characters.

The third and probably best way is to show all characters in a hexagonal notation.
  
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  iFileHandle: Integer;
  iFileLength: Integer;
  iBytesRead: Integer;
  Buffer: PChar;
  i, linelength: integer;
  s: string;
  line: string;
  c: char;
  ordval, ordval1, ordval2: integer;
begin
  opendialog1.filter := 'executables|*.exe';
  if opendialog1.Execute then
  begin
    try
      iFileHandle := FileOpen(OpenDialog1.FileName, fmOpenRead or fmShareDenyNone);
      if iFileHandle > 0 then
      begin
        iFileLength := FileSeek(iFileHandle, 0, 2);
        FileSeek(iFileHandle, 0, 0);
        Buffer := PChar(AllocMem(iFileLength + 2));
        iBytesRead := FileRead(iFileHandle, Buffer^, iFileLength);
        // note that ^ is missing in D5 help.
        // 3 ways of conversion and show:
        // way 1: exe will contain \0 so this code shows only part of exe
        memo1.lines.add('way 1*********************************************');
        s := string(Buffer);
        memo1.lines.add(s);
        // way 2: use \0 as newline for purpose of displaying in memo1.
        memo1.lines.add('way 2*********************************************');
        LineLength := 0;
        Line := '';
        for i := 0 to iFileLength - 1 do
        begin
          if Buffer[i] = #0 then
          begin
            memo1.lines.add(Line);
            LineLength := 0;
            Line := '';
          end
          else
          begin
            inc(LineLength);
              // perhaps provision should be added for LineLength > max
                                                        delphi stringlength
            Line := Line + Buffer[i]; // memo1 will handle normal new line chars
          end;
        end;
        // way 3: display every char as ord
        memo1.lines.add('way 3*********************************************');
        Line := '';
        for i := 0 to iFileLength - 1 do
        begin
          c := Buffer[i];
          ordval := ord(c);
          ordval1 := ordval div 16;
          ordval2 := ordval mod 16;
          Line := Line + '0123456789ABCDEF'[ordval1 + 1] + '0123456789ABCDEF'[ordval2             + 1];
          if Length(Line) = 80 then
          begin
            memo1.lines.add(line);
            line := '';
          end;
        end;
        FileClose(iFileHandle);
      end;
    finally
      FreeMem(Buffer);
    end;
  end;
end;


Solve 2:

There is an inbuild delphi function (which I think appears in pre delphi 5)

BinToHex(Buffer, Text: PChar; BufSize: Integer);

which would create an output buffer in hex format.