How to save/load Set of Types?

Question

I have this code

type
  TXSample = (xsType1, xsType2, xsType3, xsType4, xsType5, xsType6, xsType6, xsTyp7, xsType8); // up to FXSample30;  
..

private
  FX         


        

Answer 1

Set variables can be saved successfully to a TStream descendant. Here's an example.

Just create a new vcl forms application, add two TButton components to it and fill in the OnClick events for each button as illustrated in the example below.

This was created in XE4 so the uses clause might be different for other versions of Delphi but that should be trivial to change by removing the namespace indicators before each unit in the uses clause. Saving a set type variable with articulated values is possible to a binary file and easily with Delphi. In other words,

Also suggested is taking a look at the TypInfo unit if you have the source or just using the functions provided which make dissecting Set types down to their text representation fairly simple though no example is provided here. That is suggested if you want to include saving to a config or ini file or in a persistence format that is text editable.

The one below is the simplest one that I know of. Looking at the binary output of a set type saved to a stream like the one below implies that it is saved in the smallest possible bitmapped representation for the set based on its size. The one below maps to one byte on disk (the value is 5) which means that each value must be mapped to a power of 2 (seThis = 1, seThat = 2, seTheOther = 4) just like manually created constant bitmasked values. The compiler likely enforces that it follows rules that forces set to retain their ordinality. This example was tested an works in Delphi XE4.

Hope that helps.

Brian Joseph Johns

unit Unit1;

interface

uses Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes,Vcl.Graphics, Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs,
     Vcl.StdCtrls;

type
  TSomeEnum = (seThis, seThat, seTheOther);
  TSomeEnumSet = set of TSomeEnum;

  TForm1 = class(TForm)
    Button1: TButton;
    Button2: TButton;
    procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
    procedure Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
  private
    { Private declarations }
  public
    { Public declarations }
  end;

var

  Form1: TForm1;
  SomeSetVar: TSomeEnumSet;
  SomeBoolean: Boolean;
  SomeInt: Integer;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}


procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  SomeSetVar := [seThis, seTheOther];
  SomeBoolean := True;
  SomeInt := 31415;

  with TFileStream.Create('SetSave.bin',fmCreate or fmOpenWrite or fmShareCompat) do
  try
    Write(SomeSetVar,SizeOf(SomeSetVar));
    Write(SomeBoolean,SizeOf(Boolean));
    Write(SomeInt,SizeOf(Integer));
  finally
    Free;
  end;
  SomeSetVar := [];
  SomeInt := 0;
  SomeBoolean := False;

end;

procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  ResponseStr: string;
begin
  with TFileStream.Create('SetSave.bin',fmOpenRead or fmShareCompat) do
  try
    Read(SomeSetVar,SizeOf(SomeSetVar));
    Read(SomeBoolean,SizeOf(Boolean));
    Read(SomeInt,SizeOf(Integer));
  finally
    Free;
  end;

  ResponseStr := 'SomeSetVar = ';
  if (seThis in SomeSetVar) then
    ResponseStr := ResponseStr + 'seThis ';

  if (seThat in SomeSetVar) then
    ResponseStr := ResponseStr + 'seThat ';

  if (seTheOther in SomeSetVar) then
    ResponseStr := ResponseStr + 'seTheOther ';

  ResponseStr := ResponseStr + ' SomeBoolean = ' + BoolToStr(SomeBoolean);

  ResponseStr := ResponseStr + ' SomeInt = ' + IntToStr(SomeInt);

  ShowMessage(ResponseStr);

end;

end.