C code in Swift Project - c

Question

I have a C program, that I would like to print its output from swift, and when it scans I can give it input through Swift. Is such thing possible? I tried this with a simple function, and it worked, but how can someone do so with many different functions that call other functions?
I know the question is a bit vague, but can someone point me into the right direction?
Example of code:
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
int i;
int hitme;
char ch;
prelim();
if (argc > 1) { // look for -f option
if (strcmp(argv[1], "-f")== 0) {
coordfixed = 1;
argc--;
argv++;
}
}
if (argc > 1) {
fromcommandline = 1;
line[0] = '\0';
while (--argc > 0) {
strcat(line, *(++argv));
strcat(line, " ");
}
}
else fromcommandline = 0;
while (TRUE) { /* Play a game */
setup();
if (alldone) {
score(0);
alldone = 0;
}
else makemoves();
skip(2);
stars();
skip(1);
if (tourn && alldone) {
printf("Do you want your score recorded?");
if (ja()) {
chew2();
freeze(FALSE);
}
}
printf("Do you want to play again?");
if (!ja()) break;
}
skip(1);
prout("May the Great Bird of the Galaxy roost upon your home planet.");
return 0;
}

Answer 1

Yes.
This is extensively covered in Using Swift with Cocoa and Objective-C. Objective-C is a superset of C, so all the instructions for Objective-C work equally well for C.
The short version is that you just add the C code to your project, import its header in your Objective-C Bridging Header, and then the C functions will be available in Swift (using various automatic translations).
That said, if you really want to read the output (i.e. the results of these printf) calls, that's a bit different problem. I'd avoid it if you can. Otherwise you'd need to do something like build the C program as its own executable and use NSTask within Swift to call it and capture the output, or you'd have to hijack stdout with something like fdopen. It's a pain to do that completely correctly.

Answer 2

I will focus on the second part of your question, how to interact with C code that uses the standard IO facilities:
The obvious choice as Rob Napier pointed out is just compiling the C code into an executable and using something akin to popen(3) to read and write to its standard IO facilities, the same way you would read/write any other FILE*.
Another way would be to seek out places where stdio is used and change these functions. For example you could use
#ifdef STANDALONE
#define print printf
#else
#define print passToSwift
#endif
Then you can change all the printfs to prints and just #define which mode you want your C code to operate in. In case STANDALONE is left undefined, you will have to provide a passToSwift function that will connect your C and Swift functionality.
One more way without having to change all printfs is using funopen(3) or friends, particularly fwopen(3). With fwopen(3) (man fwopen) you can provide a passToSwift function to be called whenever something is written to stdout.
#include <stdio.h>
int passToSwift(void * cookie, const char * buffer, int len)
{
(void)cookie;
// do stuff with the buffer you recieved
return len;
}
int main(void)
{
fflush(stdout);
stdout = fwopen(NULL, passToSwift);
printf("Hey\n");
}
The assignment to stdout is not portable, but works for me on OS X. I am not aware of any other way to achieve it. (dup2 gives EBADF for funopend streams, freopen expects an entry in the filesystem).

Answer 3

I am adressing a quite similar problem.
I have a solution open to discussion on codereview: C hack: replace printf to collect output and return complete string by using a line buffer
Maybe you could use that (or a part of it) for your text game as well ...

Answer 4

The improved version of C hack: replace printf to collect output and return complete string by using a line buffer is now availabe on github as Xcode 7 project swift-C-string-passing (and standalone gcc version).
Especially look at the #define preprocessor statements to make use of the bridge to swift (similar to a3f's answer).
My solution is able to pass strings in and out to the C code. But how are the answers retrieved from the user? I.e. what does the ja() function do?