diff --git a/src/h5/h5_types.h b/src/h5/h5_types.h
index 8cdfc40..9549b0c 100644
--- a/src/h5/h5_types.h
+++ b/src/h5/h5_types.h
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 #ifndef __H5_TYPES_H
 #define __H5_TYPES_H
 
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+
+
 #ifdef   WIN32
 typedef __int64			int64_t;
 #endif /* WIN32 */
@@ -15,6 +22,11 @@ typedef double			h5_float64_t;
 typedef	h5_float64_t		h5_float_t;
 typedef	h5_float64_t		h5part_float64_t;
 
+struct h5_complex {
+	h5_float_t		r,i;
+};
+typedef struct h5_complex	h5_complex;
+
 typedef h5_int64_t (*h5_error_handler)( const char*, const h5_int64_t, const char*,...)
 #ifdef __GNUC__
 __attribute__ ((format (printf, 3, 4)))
@@ -27,5 +39,79 @@ typedef h5_error_handler	h5part_error_handler;
 typedef unsigned long		MPI_Comm;
 #endif
 
+struct h5b_fdata;
+struct h5t_fdata;
+
+/**
+   \struct h5_file
+
+   This is an essentially opaque datastructure that
+   acts as the filehandle for all practical purposes.
+   It is created by H5PartOpenFile<xx>() and destroyed by
+   H5PartCloseFile().  
+*/
+struct h5_file {
+	hsize_t nparticles;
+	
+	h5part_int64_t viewstart; /* -1 if no view is available: A "view" looks */
+	h5part_int64_t viewend;   /* at a subset of the data. */
+  
+	/**
+	   the number of particles in each processor.
+	   With respect to the "VIEW", these numbers
+	   can be regarded as non-overlapping subsections
+	   of the particle array stored in the file.
+	   So they can be used to compute the offset of
+	   the view for each processor
+	*/
+	h5part_int64_t *pnparticles;
+
+	hid_t shape;
+	hid_t diskshape;
+	hid_t memshape;
+
+	/*
+	 */
+
+	hid_t	file;
+	unsigned mode;
+	hid_t xfer_prop;
+	hid_t create_prop;
+	hid_t access_prop;
+
+	hid_t	root_id;		/* id of group "/" */
+	char	*groupname_step;
+	int	stepno_width;
+	int	empty;
+
+	char	index_name[128];
+       
+	h5_int64_t timestep;
+	hid_t timegroup;
+
+
+	/**
+	   Number of processors
+	*/
+	int nprocs;
+	
+	/**
+	   The index of the processor this process is running on.
+	*/
+	int myproc;
+
+	/**
+	   MPI comnunicator
+	*/
+	MPI_Comm comm;
+
+	struct h5b_fdata *block;
+	h5_int64_t (*close_block)(struct h5_file *f);
+
+	struct h5t_fdata *topo;
+	h5_int64_t (*close_topo)(struct h5_file *f);
+};
+
+typedef struct h5_file h5_file;
 
 #endif