WriteFileGather function (fileapi.h)

Retrieves data from an array of buffers and writes the data to a file.

The function starts writing data to the file at a position that is specified by an OVERLAPPED structure. The WriteFileGather function operates asynchronously.

Syntax

BOOL WriteFileGather(
  [in]      HANDLE                  hFile,
  [in]      FILE_SEGMENT_ELEMENT [] aSegmentArray,
  [in]      DWORD                   nNumberOfBytesToWrite,
            LPDWORD                 lpReserved,
  [in, out] LPOVERLAPPED            lpOverlapped
);

Parameters

[in] hFile

A handle to the file. The file handle must be created with the GENERIC_WRITE access right, and the FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED and FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING flags. For more information, see File Security and Access Rights.

[in] aSegmentArray

A pointer to an array of FILE_SEGMENT_ELEMENT structure buffers that contain the data. For a description of this union, see Remarks.

Each element represents one page of data.

The array must contain enough elements to represent nNumberOfBytesToWrite bytes of data. For example, if there are 40 KB to be written and the page size is 4 KB, the array must have 10 elements.

Each buffer must be at least the size of a system memory page and must be aligned on a system memory page size boundary. The system writes one system memory page of data from each buffer.

The function gathers the data from the buffers in sequential order. For example, it writes data to the file from the first buffer, then the second buffer, and so on until nNumberOfBytesToWrite bytes have been written.

Due to the asynchronous operation of this function, precautions must be taken to ensure that this parameter always references valid memory for the lifetime of the asynchronous writes. For instance, a common programming error is to use local stack storage and then allow execution to run out of scope.

[in] nNumberOfBytesToWrite

The total number of bytes to be written. Each element of aSegmentArray contains a one-page chunk of this total. Because the file must be opened with FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING, the number of bytes must be a multiple of the sector size of the file system where the file is located.

If nNumberOfBytesToWrite is zero (0), the function performs a null write operation. The behavior of a null write operation depends on the underlying file system. If nNumberOfBytesToWrite is not zero (0) and the offset and length of the write place data beyond the current end of the file, the WriteFileGather function extends the file.

lpReserved

This parameter is reserved for future use and must be NULL.

[in, out] lpOverlapped

A pointer to an OVERLAPPED data structure.

The WriteFileGather function requires a valid OVERLAPPED structure. The lpOverlapped parameter cannot be NULL.

The WriteFileGather function starts writing data to the file at a position that is specified by the Offset and OffsetHigh members of the OVERLAPPED structure.

The WriteFileGather function may return before the write operation is complete. In that scenario, the WriteFileGather function returns the value zero (0), and the GetLastError function returns the value ERROR_IO_PENDING. This asynchronous operation of the WriteFileGather function lets the calling process continue while the write operation completes.

You can call the GetOverlappedResult, HasOverlappedIoCompleted, or GetQueuedCompletionStatus function to obtain information about the completion of the write operation. For more information, see Synchronous and Asynchronous I/O.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero (0). To get extended error information, call the GetLastError function.

If the function returns before the write operation is complete, the function returns zero (0), and the GetLastError function returns ERROR_IO_PENDING.

Remarks

This function is not supported for 32-bit applications by WOW64 on the Itanium-based systems.

The FILE_SEGMENT_ELEMENT structure is defined as follows:

typedef union _FILE_SEGMENT_ELEMENT {
    PVOID64   Buffer;
    ULONGLONG Alignment;
}FILE_SEGMENT_ELEMENT, *PFILE_SEGMENT_ELEMENT;

Assigning a pointer to the Buffer member will sign-extend the value if the code is compiled as 32-bits; this can break large-address aware applications running on systems configured with 4-Gigabyte Tuning or running under WOW64 on 64-bit Windows. Therefore, use the PtrToPtr64 macro when assigning pointers to Buffer.

If part of the file specified by hFile is locked by another process, and the write operation overlaps the locked portion, the WriteFileGather function fails.

In Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, this function is supported by the following technologies.

Transacted Operations

Requirements

See also

CreateFile

FILE_SEGMENT_ELEMENT

File Management Functions

GetOverlappedResult

GetQueuedCompletionStatus

HasOverlappedIoCompleted

OVERLAPPED

ReadFile

ReadFileEx

ReadFileScatter

Synchronous and Asynchronous I/O