Transferring data through a memory-mapped file using Win32/WINAPI

Question

I need to transfer some data - char buffer[100000]; - to a child process which is started by me.

Right now I'm using an ordinary file to do so, the parent process writes the data to a file on disk, and the child process reads it from disk and deletes the file. However, that causes unnecessary writes to the disk, so I want to use memory-mapped files instead.

How do I create, write to, and then read from a memory-mapped file in such a way that no data is written to disk, except when the pagefile or swap file is used?

Edit: I forgot to specify that I want to use raw WINAPI functions, so the code doesn't have dependencies. I am researching on how to do it and will post an answer myself when ready, but if someone has ready-made code, they're welcome to save me some effort :)

Answer 1

I just found an excellent MSDN article on how to do it, complete with sample code, which I've pasted below.

First process (sends the data):

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <tchar.h>

#define BUF_SIZE 256
TCHAR szName[]=TEXT("Global\\MyFileMappingObject");
TCHAR szMsg[]=TEXT("Message from first process.");

int _tmain()
{
   HANDLE hMapFile;
   LPCTSTR pBuf;

   hMapFile = CreateFileMapping(
                 INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE,    // use paging file
                 NULL,                    // default security
                 PAGE_READWRITE,          // read/write access
                 0,                       // maximum object size (high-order DWORD)
                 BUF_SIZE,                // maximum object size (low-order DWORD)
                 szName);                 // name of mapping object

   if (hMapFile == NULL)
   {
      _tprintf(TEXT("Could not create file mapping object (%d).\n"),
             GetLastError());
      return 1;
   }
   pBuf = (LPTSTR) MapViewOfFile(hMapFile,   // handle to map object
                        FILE_MAP_ALL_ACCESS, // read/write permission
                        0,
                        0,
                        BUF_SIZE);

   if (pBuf == NULL)
   {
      _tprintf(TEXT("Could not map view of file (%d).\n"),
             GetLastError());

       CloseHandle(hMapFile);

      return 1;
   }


   CopyMemory((PVOID)pBuf, szMsg, (_tcslen(szMsg) * sizeof(TCHAR)));
    _getch();

   UnmapViewOfFile(pBuf);

   CloseHandle(hMapFile);

   return 0;
}

Second process (receives the data):

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "user32.lib")

#define BUF_SIZE 256
TCHAR szName[]=TEXT("Global\\MyFileMappingObject");

int _tmain()
{
   HANDLE hMapFile;
   LPCTSTR pBuf;

   hMapFile = OpenFileMapping(
                   FILE_MAP_ALL_ACCESS,   // read/write access
                   FALSE,                 // do not inherit the name
                   szName);               // name of mapping object

   if (hMapFile == NULL)
   {
      _tprintf(TEXT("Could not open file mapping object (%d).\n"),
             GetLastError());
      return 1;
   }

   pBuf = (LPTSTR) MapViewOfFile(hMapFile, // handle to map object
               FILE_MAP_ALL_ACCESS,  // read/write permission
               0,
               0,
               BUF_SIZE);

   if (pBuf == NULL)
   {
      _tprintf(TEXT("Could not map view of file (%d).\n"),
             GetLastError());

      CloseHandle(hMapFile);

      return 1;
   }

   MessageBox(NULL, pBuf, TEXT("Process2"), MB_OK);

   UnmapViewOfFile(pBuf);

   CloseHandle(hMapFile);

   return 0;
}