getting-started.md

Getting Started

LibHac Interfaces

LibHac uses several interfaces for reading and writing data and files. These are based off the interfaces used by Horizon OS.

IStorage

IStorage is an interface that LibHac uses for reading and writing data. An IStorage is similar to a .NET Stream, but an IStorage does not keep track of its position. An offset must be provided on every read.

IStorage uses byte Spans for reading and writing data. The length of the data read or written is equal to the length of the provided span.

IFile

IFile is similar to IStorage with slight differences.

• IFile can automatically grow if data is written past the end of the file. IStorage does not grow by default.
• When more bytes are requested than there are bytes available, IFile will read as many bytes as it can and return the number of bytes read. IStorage will throw an exception.

IFileSystem

This is an interface for representing a standard file system. It provides functionality for reading files, navigating the file system, creating files, etc.

Using LibHac

Loading Keys

Most of LibHac's functionality requires a Keyset object that holds encryption keys required for reading content.

This can be done by loading keys from an external text file, or by creating a new Keyset and copying the keys into it.

Keyset keyset = ExternalKeys.ReadKeyFile("common_key_file", "title_key_file", "console_key_file");

The text files should follow the format as specified here.

Reading an NCA

Open an NCA and get an IStorage of the decrypted file.

using (IStorage inFile = new LocalStorage("filename.nca", FileAccess.Read))
{
    var nca = new Nca(keyset, inFile);

    IStorage decryptedNca = nca.OpenDecryptedNca();
}

Open an NCA's code section.

using (IStorage inFile = new LocalStorage("filename.nca", FileAccess.Read))
{
    var nca = new Nca(keyset, inFile);

    IStorage section = nca.OpenStorage(NcaSectionType.Code, IntegrityCheckLevel.ErrorOnInvalid);
}

Open an NCA's data section as an IFileSystem.

using (IStorage inFile = new LocalStorage("filename.nca", FileAccess.Read))
{
    var nca = new Nca(keyset, inFile);

    IFileSystem fileSystem = nca.OpenFileSystem(NcaSectionType.Data, IntegrityCheckLevel.None);
}

Extension methods are provided for common operations on LibHac interfaces.

IFileSystem.CopyFileSystem will fully copy the contents of one IFileSystem to another.

using (IStorage inFile = new LocalStorage("filename.nca", FileAccess.Read))
{
    var nca = new Nca(keyset, inFile);
    var outFileSystem = new LocalFileSystem("extracted_path");

    IFileSystem fileSystem = nca.OpenFileSystem(NcaSectionType.Data, IntegrityCheckLevel.ErrorOnInvalid);
    fileSystem.CopyFileSystem(outFileSystem);
}

Open a patched NCA.

using (IStorage baseFile = new LocalStorage("base.nca", FileAccess.Read))
using (IStorage patchFile = new LocalStorage("base.nca", FileAccess.Read))
{
    var baseNca = new Nca(keyset, baseFile);
    var patchNca = new Nca(keyset, patchFile);

    IFileSystem fileSystem = baseNca.OpenFileSystemWithPatch(patchNca, NcaSectionType.Data,
        IntegrityCheckLevel.ErrorOnInvalid);
}

IFileSystem Operations

Open a file and read the first 0x4000 bytes.

using (IStorage inFile = new LocalStorage("filename.nca", FileAccess.Read))
{
    var nca = new Nca(keyset, inFile);
    IFileSystem fileSystem = nca.OpenFileSystem(NcaSectionType.Data, IntegrityCheckLevel.ErrorOnInvalid);

    var buffer = new byte[0x4000];

    IFile myFile = fileSystem.OpenFile("/my/file/path.ext", OpenMode.Read);
    int bytesRead = myFile.Read(buffer, 0);
}

An IDirectory can be used to enumerate the file system entries in a directory.

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