How to open a bin file in Python using QDataStream

Question

I\'ve got a bin file that was encoded in an application that I need to get access to and convert to a csv file. I\'ve been given the documentation, but am not sure how to ac

Answer 1

PyQt cannot read all of the data the same way as in C++, because it cannot handle template classes (like QList<double> and QVector<QPointF>), which would require language-specific support that is not available in Python. This means a work-around must be used. Fortunately, the datastream format is quite straightforward, so reading arbitrary template classes can be reduced to a simple algorithm: read the length as a uint32, then iterate over a range and read the contained elements one-by-one into a list:

points = []
length = stream.readUInt32()
for index in range(length):
    point = QPoint()
    stream >> point
    points.append(point)

Below is a script that shows how to read the whole dataset format correctly:

from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui

FLAG_HASSOURCE = 0x0001
FLAG_HASROLE = 0x0002
FLAG_HASCOLOR = 0x0004
FLAG_HASID = 0x0008
FLAG_COMPRESS = 0x0010
FLAG_HASTHRESHOLDS = 0x0020
FLAG_HASUNITS = 0x0040
FLAG_HASCREATORIDS = 0x0080
FLAG_HASHIDDEN = 0x0100
FLAG_HASMETADATA = 0x0200

MAGIC_NUMBER = 0x46474247
FILE_VERSION = 1
DATASET_MARKER = 0x44415441
DATASET_MAGIC = 0x53455455

def read_data(path):
    infile = QtCore.QFile(path)
    if not infile.open(QtCore.QIODevice.ReadOnly):
        raise IOError(infile.errorString())

    stream = QtCore.QDataStream(infile)
    magic = stream.readUInt32()
    if magic != MAGIC_NUMBER:
        raise IOError('invalid magic number')
    version = stream.readUInt32()
    if version != FILE_VERSION:
        raise IOError('invalid file version')
    marker = stream.readUInt32()
    if marker != DATASET_MARKER:
        raise IOError('invalid dataset marker')
    count = stream.readInt32()
    if count < 1:
        raise IOError('invalid dataset count')

    stream.setVersion(QtCore.QDataStream.Qt_4_7)

    rows = []
    while not stream.atEnd():
        row = []

        magic = stream.readUInt32()
        if magic != DATASET_MAGIC:
            raise IOError('invalid dataset magic number')

        row.append(('Name', stream.readQString()))

        flags = stream.readUInt32()
        row.append(('Flags', flags))

        if flags & FLAG_HASID:
            row.append(('ID', stream.readQString()))
        if flags & FLAG_HASCOLOR:
            color = QtGui.QColor()
            stream >> color
            row.append(('Color', color))
        if flags & FLAG_HASUNITS:
            row.append(('Units', stream.readInt32()))
        if flags & FLAG_HASCREATORIDS:
            row.append(('Creators', stream.readQStringList()))
        if flags & FLAG_HASHIDDEN:
            row.append(('Hidden', stream.readBool()))
        if flags & FLAG_HASTHRESHOLDS:
            thresholds = []
            length = stream.readUInt32()
            for index in range(length):
                thresholds.append(stream.readDouble())
            row.append(('Thresholds', thresholds))
        if flags & FLAG_HASSOURCE:
            row.append(('Source', stream.readQString()))
        if flags & FLAG_HASROLE:
            row.append(('Role', stream.readInt32()))

        points = []
        length = stream.readUInt32()
        for index in range(length):
            point = QtCore.QPointF()
            stream >> point
            points.append(point)
        row.append(('Points', points))
        rows.append(row)

    infile.close()

    return rows

rows = read_data('datasets.bin')

for index, row in enumerate(rows):
    print('Row %s:' % index)
    for key, data in row:
        if isinstance(data, list) and len(data):
            print('  %s = [%s ... ] (%s items)' % (
                  key, repr(data[:3])[1:-1], len(data)))
        else:
            print('  %s = %s' % (key, data))