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NAME
MPI_Pack_external - Writes data to a portable format
SYNTAX
C Syntax
#include <mpi.h>
int MPI_Pack_external(char *datarep, void *inbuf,
int incount, MPI_Datatype datatype,
void *outbuf, MPI_Aint outsize,
MPI_Aint *position)
Fortran Syntax
INCLUDE 'mpif.h'
MPI_PACK_EXTERNAL(DATAREP, INBUF, INCOUNT, DATATYPE,
OUTBUF, OUTSIZE, POSITION, IERROR)
INTEGER INCOUNT, DATATYPE, IERROR
INTEGER (KIND=MPI_ADDRESS_KIND) OUTSIZE, POSITION
CHARACTER*(*) DATAREP
<type> INBUF(*), OUTBUF(*)
C++ Syntax
#include <mpi.h>
void MPI::Datatype::Pack_external(const char* datarep,
const void* inbuf, int incount,
void* outbuf, MPI::Aint outsize,
MPI::Aint& position) const
INPUT PARAMETERS
datarep Data representation (string).
inbuf Input buffer start (choice).
incount Number of input data items (integer).
datatype Datatype of each input data item (handle).
outsize Output buffer size, in bytes (integer).
INPUT/OUTPUT PARAMETER
position Current position in buffer, in bytes (integer).
OUTPUT PARAMETERS
outbuf Output buffer start (choice).
IERROR Fortran only: Error status (integer).
DESCRIPTION
MPI_Pack_external packs data into the external32 format, a universal
data representation defined by the MPI Forum. This format is useful for
exchanging data between MPI implementations, or when writing data to a
the buffer). When the function returns, position is incremented by the
size of the packed message, so that it points to the first location in
outbuf following the packed message. This way it may be used as input
to a subsequent call to MPI_Pack_external.
Example: An example using MPI_Pack_external:
int position, i;
double msg[5];
char buf[1000];
...
MPI_Comm_rank(MPI_COMM_WORLD, &myrank);
if (myrank == 0) { /* SENDER CODE */
position = 0;
i = 5; /* number of doubles in msg[] */
MPI_Pack_external("external32", &i, 1, MPI_INT,
buf, 1000, &position);
MPI_Pack_external("external32", &msg, i, MPI_DOUBLE,
buf, 1000, &position);
MPI_Send(buf, position, MPI_PACKED, 1, 0,
MPI_COMM_WORLD);
} else { /* RECEIVER CODE */
MPI_Recv(buf, 1, MPI_PACKED, 0, 0, MPI_COMM_WORLD,
MPI_STATUS_IGNORE);
MPI_Unpack_external("external32", buf, 1000,
MPI_INT, &i, 1, &position);
MPI_Unpack_external("external32", buf, 1000,
MPI_DOUBLE, &msg, i, &position);
}
NOTES
The datarep argument specifies the data format. The only valid value in
the current version of MPI is "external32". The argument is provided
for future extensibility.
To understand the behavior of pack and unpack, it is convenient to
think of the data part of a message as being the sequence obtained by
concatenating the successive values sent in that message. The pack
operation stores this sequence in the buffer space, as if sending the
message to that buffer. The unpack operation retrieves this sequence
from buffer space, as if receiving a message from that buffer. (It is
helpful to think of internal Fortran files or sscanf in C for a similar
function.)
Several messages can be successively packed into one packing unit. This
is effected by several successive related calls to MPI_Pack_external,
where the first call provides position=0, and each successive call
inputs the value of position that was output by the previous call,
along with the same values for outbuf and outcount. This packing unit
now contains the equivalent information that would have been stored in
a message by one send call with a send buffer that is the "concatena-
tion" of the individual send buffers.
A packing unit can be sent using type MPI_PACKED. Any point-to-point or
where the first call provides position=0, and each successive call
inputs the value of position that was output by the previous call, and
the same values for inbuf and insize.
The concatenation of two packing units is not necessarily a packing
unit; nor is a substring of a packing unit necessarily a packing unit.
Thus, one cannot concatenate two packing units and then unpack the
result as one packing unit; nor can one unpack a substring of a packing
unit as a separate packing unit. Each packing unit that was created by
a related sequence of pack calls must be unpacked as a unit by a
sequence of related unpack calls.
ERRORS
Almost all MPI routines return an error value; C routines as the value
of the function and Fortran routines in the last argument. C++ func-
tions do not return errors. If the default error handler is set to
MPI::ERRORS_THROW_EXCEPTIONS, then on error the C++ exception mechanism
will be used to throw an MPI:Exception object.
Before the error value is returned, the current MPI error handler is
called. By default, this error handler aborts the MPI job, except for
I/O function errors. The error handler may be changed with
MPI_Comm_set_errhandler; the predefined error handler MPI_ERRORS_RETURN
may be used to cause error values to be returned. Note that MPI does
not guarantee that an MPI program can continue past an error.
See the MPI man page for a full list of MPI error codes.
SEE ALSO
MPI_Pack_external_size
MPI_Send
MPI_Unpack_external
sscanf(3C)
Open MPI 1.2 September 2006 MPI_Pack_external(3OpenMPI)
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