Crate krnlstring

Source
Expand description

§KRNLSTRING

KRNLSTRING is a Rust crate that provides safe abstractions for working with Windows Unicode strings UNICODE_STRING.

This crate is designed to be used in #![no_std] environments, making it suitable for drivers or other low-level programming where the Rust standard library cannot be used. It leverages the alloc crate for dynamic memory management without requiring the full standard library.

§Features

  • Safe wrapper for UNICODE_STRING that owns its buffer.
  • Ensures the UTF-16 buffer remains valid as long as the OwnedUnicodeString instance exists.
  • Provides conversion utilities to and from Rust strings (&str), as well as Windows string types (PCWSTR, PWSTR).
  • Compatible with #![no_std] environments.
  • Supports concatenation of OwnedUnicodeString instances and Rust strings using the Add trait.
  • Enables comparison between OwnedUnicodeString instances using the PartialEq trait.

§Usage Example

use krnlstring::OwnedUnicodeString;

let mut my_string = OwnedUnicodeString::from("Hello, world!");

println!("{}", my_string);

§Performance

KRNLSTRING is optimized for minimal memory copying and efficient buffer management. The OwnedUnicodeString struct directly owns its UTF-16 buffer using a Vec<u16>, which reduces the need for unnecessary memory allocations and deallocations.

Unlike other implementations that might require converting the UTF-16 buffer to a Rust String for display, which would involve a memory copy, KRNLSTRING provides a zero-copy formatter. This formatter allows the OwnedUnicodeString to be formatted and displayed directly without converting the entire buffer to a String, thereby saving both memory and processing time.

When converting from Rust strings (&str) to OwnedUnicodeString, the crate encodes the string directly into UTF-16 format without intermediate copies. Similarly, when converting to Windows string types (PCWSTR and PWSTR), it ensures that the buffer is used as-is, with only necessary modifications to ensure null-termination.

§Safety

This crate aims to provide memory-safe abstractions for working with Windows Unicode strings. All functions and methods ensure that buffers are properly managed to avoid memory safety issues such as dangling pointers or buffer overflows.

Structs§

OwnedUnicodeString
A safe wrapper around Windows UNICODE_STRING that owns its UTF-16 buffer.