How to properly use PUSH and POP - visual-studio

I have a code that has 3 procedures, one to get an input from the user, one to display a multiplication result, and lastly one for an error message. I am trying to implement the PUSH and POP operations and get my code in to the stack. It will seem long but it makes sense to me, here it is...
.data
line BYTE "The answer is ",0
line2 BYTE "Enter a number",0
kline3 BYTE Wrong.",0
int SWORD ?
.code
Val PROC
call ReadInt
mov int,edx
cmp int, 10000
jl 1
jmp end
L1: cmp intVal1, -10000
jg 2
call error
jmp end
2: ret
Val ENDP
main PROC
call Val
call Val
imul val, val
exit
main ENDP
END main
All this simply does it call to get 2 inputs twice and then call to display the the multiplied result. My question is how do you implement push and pop in to here to have it all make sense?
I would assume that you need to push in the GetValue procedure to put in input in to the stack and then pop it after each call in the main procedure and maybe do the same with the display procedure?
I am just struggling to figure it out so any help would be great!
PS. This code is an asm file in visual studio 2010

Your first call to GetValue stores its result in intVal. But then your second call to GetValue also stores its result in intVal, so the first result is forever lost.
Your MultiplyAndDisplay function expects one of the operands in intVal, and the other operand in eax. So, what you need to do is push [intVal] after the first call to GetValue, and pop eax after the second call to GetValue.
Note that the square brackets in push [intVal] are in some notation that actually makes sense, but if I remember correctly the microsoft assembler does not support that notation which actually makes sense, so you might have to code push intVal instead, or push dword ptr intVal, or something nonsensical like that to get it to work.

Because your question is tagged MASM, this is a MASM answer:
Your code can be restructured in a way that uses the MASM directive PROC with parameters and the INVOKE directive for parameter passing:
MultiplyAndDisplay PROC val1: SDWORD, val2: SDWORD
mov eax, val1
imul eax, val2 ; signed multiply of val1 by val2
mov edx, OFFSET prompt
call WriteString ; Writes the prompt in edx
call WriteDec ; Writes the value in eax
ret
MultiplyAndDisplay ENDP
main PROC
call GetValue
push [intVal] ; PUSH firstParam to the stack
call GetValue
pop eax ; POP previous param/intVal to EAX
invoke MultiplyAndDisplay, eax, intVal ; MultiplyAndDisplay, firstParam(EAX), secondParam(intVal)
exit
main ENDP

Related

Assembling some code out-of-line with nasm macros

Consider a nasm macro that is used to inject some assembly whenever it is called, in this case to test whether the passed argument is equal to 42:
%macro special_handler_if_42 1
cmp 42, %1
jne %%skip
; some additional assembly to handle the %1 == 42 case
push %1
push 42
call some_func
%%skip:
%endmacro
In the case it is equal we perform some additional action, otherwise we just continue with the code following the macro. So far, so good.
Now I want to write the macro in a way that's functionally identical, except that the "equals 42" case, which happens to be very rare, is moved "out of line", so that the fall-through (no jump) case is the default one, something like (not shown in macro form now):
cmp 42, rax
je equals_42
jump_back:
; the rest of the code that follows the macro
ret
; somewhere outside the current function
equals_42:
push rax
push 42
call some_func
jmp jump_back
This will be more efficient at execution time and also potentially conserve i-cache space. I'm not sure how to write a macro with a non-local effect like that. Ideas welcome.
If you don't mind splitting the macro into two macros, one performing the test and one handling the assertion, then you can use NASM's context stack.
I imagined a system of macros of the form assert_XXX that are all pretty similar and perform specific tests.
A single assertions_handler past the end of the function will generate any handler needed.
Since this system uses the context stack, you should be able to use it multiple times for different functions.
Basically, each assert_XXX function will push a context on the stack and the assertions_handler will consume them all.
assert_XXX will also define context local macros argX to pass its argument to the handler, so there is no need to hardcode anything.
BITS 64
%macro assert_not_equal 2
;Create and push a new context (The name is optional but goodpractice)
%push assert_equal_ctx
%define %$arg1 %1
%define %$arg2 %2
cmp %1, %2
je %$handler
%$jump_back:
%endmacro
%macro assert_greater 2
%push assert_greater_ctx
%define %$arg1 %1
%define %$arg2 %2
cmp %1, %2
jbe %$handler
%$jump_back:
%endmacro
%macro assertions_handler 0
%rep 1000
%ifctx assert_equal_ctx
%$handler:
push %$arg1
push %$arg2
call somefunc
jmp %$jump_back
%pop assert_equal_ctx
%elifctx assert_greater_ctx
%$handler:
push %$arg1
push %$arg2
call somefunc2
%pop assert_greater_ctx
%else
%exitrep
%endif
%endrep
%endmacro
;
;TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST
;
assert_not_equal rax, 5
nop
nop
nop
assert_greater rax, 8
nop
nop
nop
ret
assertions_handler
;
; Handler functions
;
somefunc:
ret
somefunc2:
ret
The maximum number of assertions per function is set to 1000, you can increment it up to 262.

How to index malloc'd buffer and output

See full code here.
I have filled a buffer (malloc'd) with an fread call and it is a success. I am now trying to iterate over the buffer and commence parsing the input. I'm trying to start really simple by walking the buffer and output each char to the screen. But my loop is just outputting the entire input. Here is the loop portion of the code:
mov ecx, 0
mov ebx, buffer
.readByte:
push DWORD [ebx + 1 * ecx]
push DWORD ecx
push DWORD char
call _printf
add esp, 12
incr ecx
cmp ecx, [fsz]
jge .endRead
jmp .readByte
The contents of the source file that is read in (s1.txt) is:
1 + 2;
My goal is to simply output:
1
+
2
;
Since you used %s format, which indicates a string, and that without a length specifier, why did you expect it to print just a single character? You should try %c format and something like movzx eax, byte [ebx + ecx]; push eax to pass the argument. A %.1s format specifier could also work and then you can keep your argument passing. Don't forget to add a newline too, if you want that. You could also just use putchar of course.
Oh, and ecx is a caller-saved register, as such any function you call may destroy its value. So if you want to keep using that, you need to save and restore it yourself.

Assembly - Moving data from Register to Memory in MASM

I am trying to move stuff from a register to a variable in .CODE, but trying to do so makes my program start over in an infinite loop (no crash and no error message, but obviously broken). I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. Here is the beginning of my code where I am trying to move data; the program never even gets past this part when I include it:
.CODE
screenX DWORD 0
screenY DWORD 0
...
ProcName PROC
mov ebx, edx ;; Copy srcBitmap into ebx
mov eax, edi ;; Take given y-location (edi)
mov edx, (EECS205BITMAP PTR [ebx]).dwHeight
shr edx, 1 ;; Subtract dwHeight/2 to center
sub eax, edx
mov screenY, eax ;; Program jumps back to beginning with no error message
Seems like I'm missing something obvious, anyone have a clue?
Your application's code segment (which is actually it's .text section under Windows) isn't writable. If you want to modify these variables you need to put them in the data segment.

Creating variables inside main's frame (Linux)

[SOLVED]
I'm trying to do my own assembly code to do what similar C code will do:
main()
{
scanf("%d",&integer_var); // here must be the address of the integer_var
printf("Your Value is:%d",integer_var);
}
Well this is in C, so I'm doing with NASM under linux with extern functions. scanf and printf and compile first with nasm and then with gcc.
Here's my code (is not right :D)
SECTION .text
argstr: db "%d",10,0
str: db "Your value is:%d",10,0
extern printf
extern scanf
SECTION .data
global main
main:
push ebp
mov esp,ebp
sub esp, 0x10 ;ok integer right?
mov [ebp-0x4],0x0 ;just put 0 number on our integer variable
mov eax,(ebp-0x4) ;here i don't know how to push the address of ebp-0x4
push ecx ;first push is last argument so here's our address to scanf
push argstr ;just the string format
call scanf ;call that to input something
;I have no idea how to do this
;but if i don't do this i get an error
;because the scanf won't clear the arguments on stack
;and what scanf can't return
pop edx ;maybe help here? but it works fine
pop edx
push [-0x4(ebp)] ;i want the value of our var :D
push str
call printf
pop edx ;clear the stack to avoid "segment fault" or something similar
pop edx
mov esp,ebp
pop ebp
ret ;the end :(
Compiler error:
a.asm:18: error: invalid operand type
a.asm:28: error: parser: expecting ]
Another thing: Do I need to align the stack on this case, by the way?
thanks guys ! :)
EDIT solved whole program!
well at least, I can print the variable with printf. scanf i will do later and then I will share here the last result:
SECTION .text
str: db "Value is:%d",10,0
extern printf
SECTION .data
global main
main:
push ebp ;the main function starts here.
mov ebp,esp
;
sub esp,4 ;we need 4bytes of space for the integer
and esp,0xfffffff0 ;align the stack
mov [esp-4], dword 0xff ;move the value 0xff to our var
mov eax,[esp-4] ;move our variable value to the eax
push eax ;second argument of printf
push str ;first argument of printf
call printf ;printf
;
add esp,16 ;this add to the stack pointer what we pushed basicly
mov ebp,esp ;if we don't do add 16 to esp it shows us
pop ebp ;a segment fault cuz ret doesnt pop saved ebp
ret ;of who whatever called this program :)
To load the address EBP-4 into EAX, use lea eax, [ebp-4]. (this is NOT the same as pushing the address.)
In order to push the value at memory location EBP-4, push dword [ebp-4] should work.
Then you need to specify operand size for one of your movs, too: mov [ebp-4], dword 0x0.
These will fix your current assembler errors, and make your program compile, but there are a few other errors in there that will probably prevent it from running.
Here's a working attempt that is close to yours:
;note the sections, the string literals are better in .rodata
;all code goes in .text
SECTION .rodata
;no newline after scanf string
argstr: db "%d",0
str: db "Your value is: %d",10,0
SECTION .text
extern printf
extern scanf
global main
main:
push ebp
mov ebp,esp ;move esp to ebp, NOT other way round!
sub esp, 4 ;4 bytes are enough for the local variable
;there are NO alignment requirements for this program
lea eax,[ebp-4]
push eax
push dword argstr
call scanf
add esp, 8 ;since we don't actually need the popped values
;we can increment esp instead of two pop edx
push dword [ebp-4]
push dword str
call printf
add esp, 8
mov esp,ebp
pop ebp
ret

Push an argument into stack?

I know that the first four arguments are in the register (RCX, RDX, R8, R9), and that additional arguments are pushed on the stack.
Question:
How to push an argument onto the stack? I tried with (push 0) but it does not work?
Code (MASM64)
extrn ExitProcess: PROC
extrn MessageBoxExA: PROC
.data
caption db '64-bit hello!', 0
message db 'Hello World!', 0
.code
Start PROC
sub rsp, 38h
mov rcx, 0 ; hWnd = HWND_DESKTOP
lea rdx, message ; LPCSTR lpText
lea r8, caption ; LPCSTR lpCaption
mov r9d, 0 ; uType = MB_OK
push 0 ; wLanguageId
call MessageBoxExA
mov ecx, eax
add rsp, 38h
call ExitProcess
Start ENDP
End
I'm know that MessageBox and MessageBoxEx work the same way, but im trying to use MessageBoxEx because its need one parameter to be passed (for learning purpose).
I know I've asked similar question, but it is more related to vb.net while this is not.
My assembly is a little rusty, but I was under the impression that all arguments went onto the stack (in reverse order) - I'd have thought you want to be pushing r8 and rdx in as well as the other arguments. Frankly though you might as well just keep doing lea rax, param and push rax for each of the arguments that are pointers.
The order in which the arguments are passed and whether they are passed in registers or on the stack (along with whether caller or callee is responsible for cleanup) is defined by the 'Calling Convention'.
What you are probably thinking of is STDCALL or CDECL, both are calling conventions used in 32-bit Windows that pass arguments on the stack in reverse order (right to left). x64 has moved to a FastCall calling convention where the arguments are passed in forward order (from left to right) and the first 4 arguments are passed in the registers RCX, RDX, R8 & R9. Any arguments beyond 4 are passed on the stack in the same left-to-right order. The original poster had the correct calling convention setup for x64 assembly with MASM. Also, the above responder who said the shadowspace valued subtracted from RSP should be 20h (32d) is correct. The shadow space is allowing space on the stack for the 4 arguments that are passed in by the registers in FastCall.
Changing the code above to:
extrn ExitProcess: PROC
extrn MessageBoxExA: PROC
.data
caption db '64-bit hello!', 0
message db 'Hello World!', 0
.code
Start PROC
sub rsp, 20h
mov rcx, 0 ; hWnd = HWND_DESKTOP
lea rdx, message ; LPCSTR lpText
lea r8, caption ; LPCSTR lpCaption
mov r9d, 0 ; uType = MB_OK
push 0 ; wLanguageId
call MessageBoxExA
mov ecx, eax
add rsp, 20h
call ExitProcess
Start ENDP
End
Works just fine in Visual Studio on a 64-bit machine

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