Handling optional fields

[matthias]

Optional fields in records are currently returned in a record with type BRO_TYPE_UNKNOWN. The Bro serialization protocol uses a NULL pointer instead. To streamline the two interfaces, it thus makes more sense to return a NULL pointer in

bro_rec_get_nth_val()

instead of an empty field instance.

[seth]

Has this been fixed with the recent changes to broccoli?

[matthias]

No, it's a separate issue. Christian and I are currently brainstorming how to solve it best.

[matthias]

This may fix the issue, but I haven't tested it (yet).

diff --git a/src/bro_val.c b/src/bro_val.c
index 6efdadf..f163d0b 100644
--- a/src/bro_val.c
+++ b/src/bro_val.c
@@ -403,6 +403,9 @@ __bro_val_get_data(BroVal *val, int *type, void **data)
   if (! val || ! data)
     return FALSE;
 
+  if (val->val_type == NULL)
+    return FALSE;
+  
   if (! val->get_data)
     return FALSE;