“colon (':') expected” compiler error on character range in case statement in Inno Setup Pascal script

Question

I'm getting a "colon (:) expected" syntax error on this code (Line 14; Column 10) and I'm at a loss. This code runs in Inno Setup compiler, it is Delphi-like, but I don't think it is full Delphi.

The Inno Setup version is 5.5.9 (a), so Ansi version.

procedure HexToBin(const Hex: string; Stream: TStream);
var
  B: Byte;
  C: Char;
  Idx, Len: Integer;
begin
  Len := Length(Hex);
  If Len = 0 then Exit;
  If (Len mod 2) <> 0 then RaiseException('bad hex length');
  Idx := 1;
  repeat
    C := Hex[Idx];
    case C of
      '0'..'9': B := Byte((Ord(C) - '0') shl 4);
      'A'..'F': B := Byte(((Ord(C) - 'A') + 10) shl 4);
      'a'..'f': B := Byte(((Ord(C) - 'a') + 10) shl 4);
    else
      RaiseException('bad hex data'); 
    end; 
    C := Hex[Idx+1];
    case C of
      '0'..'9': B := B or Byte(Ord(C) - '0');
      'A'..'F': B := B or Byte((Ord(C) - 'A') + 10);
      'a'..'f': B := B or Byte((Ord(C) - 'a') + 10);
    else
      RaiseException('bad hex data'); 
    end; 
    Stream.WriteBuffer(B, 1);
    Inc(Idx, 2);
  until Idx > Len;
end;

begin
  FStream := TFileStream.Create('myfile.jpg', fmCreate);
  HexToBin(myFileHex, FStream);
  FStream.Free;
end;

Can anybody spot my error?

Answer 1

The Ansi version of Inno Setup does not seem to support ranges in case statement.

So you have to enumerate the set:

case C of
  '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9': B := ...;
  ...
end;

In what case it's probably better to use if:

if (C >= '0') and (C <= '9') then

Though even better, use the Unicode version of Inno Setup. It's 21st century, you should not develop non-Unicode applications anymore. See Upgrading from Ansi to Unicode version of Inno Setup (any disadvantages). And Inno Setup 6 has Unicode version only anyway.

---

You better use the CryptStringToBinary Windows API function for the hex to binary conversion anyway. See my answer to your other question Writing binary file in Inno Setup.

---

Note that there are lot of other problems with your code.

• You are subtracting char from integer.
• The Inno Setup does not have a two argument overload of Inc.
• TStream.WriteBuffer takes string, not byte.