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C++ pointer question

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  • J Joe Woodbury

    I completely fail to see the purpose of your code, but that aside, you can simply check whether the 'this' pointer is NULL. Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke

    P Offline
    P Offline
    patnsnaudy
    wrote on last edited by
    #5

    Yeah but if you create

    foo *a = new foo();
    foo *b = new foo();
    
    a.openWindow();
    b.openWindow(); // This should close a.
    delete b;       // ptr in openWindow() still points 
                    //  to the space b used to occupy.
    a.openWindow(); // Trys to close b, but b no longer exists (ERROR).
    

    I know I could create a member and set it to this in openWindow and NULL in closeWindow, but I do not want to have a member for this. If you change the code to use a dynamic_cast and put a try-catch(...) around it this will work as is, but the powers that be don't like try-catch, so I'm not allowed to use it.

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    0
    • P patnsnaudy

      Yeah but if you create

      foo *a = new foo();
      foo *b = new foo();
      
      a.openWindow();
      b.openWindow(); // This should close a.
      delete b;       // ptr in openWindow() still points 
                      //  to the space b used to occupy.
      a.openWindow(); // Trys to close b, but b no longer exists (ERROR).
      

      I know I could create a member and set it to this in openWindow and NULL in closeWindow, but I do not want to have a member for this. If you change the code to use a dynamic_cast and put a try-catch(...) around it this will work as is, but the powers that be don't like try-catch, so I'm not allowed to use it.

      C Offline
      C Offline
      Christian Graus
      wrote on last edited by
      #6

      patnsnaudy wrote: but the powers that be don't like try-catch, so I'm not allowed to use it. Not being allowed to use try..catch is wrong, but so is a design that throws exceptions based on bad coding, so on aggregate, I'm with the 'powers that be'. Christian I have drunk the cool-aid and found it wan and bitter. - Chris Maunder

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      0
      • P patnsnaudy

        If I have a pointer to an object foo is there anyway to tell if that object actually exists? Say I only want one window open at a time.

        void
        foo::openWindow()
        {
           static foo* ptr = NULL;
           if (ptr)  
              ptr->closeWindow();
           ptr = this;
        
           // open this window 
           ...
        }
        

        So, the second time through this code I want to know if ptr is still valid, because it may have been deleted without my knowledge. I know there are other ways to do this, but I want to know if I can figure out if ptr still exists. I've tried adding a ptr = dynamic_cast<foo*>(ptr);, but this throws an exception if ptr has been deleted, and I'd rather not use a try block. Thanks in advance

        C Offline
        C Offline
        Christian Graus
        wrote on last edited by
        #7

        Add an operator HWND to the class that returns the window handle and call ::IsWindow. Christian I have drunk the cool-aid and found it wan and bitter. - Chris Maunder

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        • C Christian Graus

          Add an operator HWND to the class that returns the window handle and call ::IsWindow. Christian I have drunk the cool-aid and found it wan and bitter. - Chris Maunder

          P Offline
          P Offline
          patnsnaudy
          wrote on last edited by
          #8

          There is already a function to return HWND I think, if this is derived from the window class (I'll have to check tomorrow at work). ::IsWindow is a great suggestion! I was looking for a magical function that would look at a piece of memory and tell me if it had been deleted, but IsWindow should work. Thanks

          P 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • P patnsnaudy

            There is already a function to return HWND I think, if this is derived from the window class (I'll have to check tomorrow at work). ::IsWindow is a great suggestion! I was looking for a magical function that would look at a piece of memory and tell me if it had been deleted, but IsWindow should work. Thanks

            P Offline
            P Offline
            Prakash Nadar
            wrote on last edited by
            #9

            it will not work if the pointer to the dialog is deleteed.


            MSN Messenger. prakashnadar@msn.com

            P 1 Reply Last reply
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            • P patnsnaudy

              If I have a pointer to an object foo is there anyway to tell if that object actually exists? Say I only want one window open at a time.

              void
              foo::openWindow()
              {
                 static foo* ptr = NULL;
                 if (ptr)  
                    ptr->closeWindow();
                 ptr = this;
              
                 // open this window 
                 ...
              }
              

              So, the second time through this code I want to know if ptr is still valid, because it may have been deleted without my knowledge. I know there are other ways to do this, but I want to know if I can figure out if ptr still exists. I've tried adding a ptr = dynamic_cast<foo*>(ptr);, but this throws an exception if ptr has been deleted, and I'd rather not use a try block. Thanks in advance

              R Offline
              R Offline
              Ryan Binns
              wrote on last edited by
              #10

              To determine if a pointer points to readable memory, use the IsBadReadPtr() function. If it returns FALSE, then the pointer cannot be read. Hope this helps,

              Ryan

              "Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • P patnsnaudy

                Yeah but if you create

                foo *a = new foo();
                foo *b = new foo();
                
                a.openWindow();
                b.openWindow(); // This should close a.
                delete b;       // ptr in openWindow() still points 
                                //  to the space b used to occupy.
                a.openWindow(); // Trys to close b, but b no longer exists (ERROR).
                

                I know I could create a member and set it to this in openWindow and NULL in closeWindow, but I do not want to have a member for this. If you change the code to use a dynamic_cast and put a try-catch(...) around it this will work as is, but the powers that be don't like try-catch, so I'm not allowed to use it.

                R Offline
                R Offline
                Ravi Bhavnani
                wrote on last edited by
                #11

                It's good coding hygiene to set a deleted pointer to NULL. This will help prevent run-time errors and could make your code simpler. /ravi My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | Freeware | Music ravib@ravib.com

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • T TFrancis

                  If there's some function call out there that tells you if a spot in memory is valid that'd be a real easy way of doing this. But I don't know of one. My suggestion. Make ptr a static member of the foo class. Then, in your foo destructor, if ptr == this, set ptr = NULL. Tim

                  D Offline
                  D Offline
                  David Crow
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #12

                  TFrancis wrote: If there's some function call out there that tells you if a spot in memory is valid that'd be a real easy way of doing this. But I don't know of one. How about:

                  IsBadReadPtr()
                  IsBadCodePtr()
                  IsBadStringPtr()
                  IsBadWritePtr()


                  "The pointy end goes in the other man." - Antonio Banderas (Zorro, 1998)

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                  • P Prakash Nadar

                    it will not work if the pointer to the dialog is deleteed.


                    MSN Messenger. prakashnadar@msn.com

                    P Offline
                    P Offline
                    patnsnaudy
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #13

                    By it will not work does that mean that it will crash if the pointer has been deleted?

                    P 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • P patnsnaudy

                      By it will not work does that mean that it will crash if the pointer has been deleted?

                      P Offline
                      P Offline
                      Prakash Nadar
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #14

                      yes,it will very unpredictable, it may crash in some cases and it will work in some cases. but then working with deleted pointer is very bad idea.


                      MSN Messenger. prakashnadar@msn.com

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                      • P patnsnaudy

                        If I have a pointer to an object foo is there anyway to tell if that object actually exists? Say I only want one window open at a time.

                        void
                        foo::openWindow()
                        {
                           static foo* ptr = NULL;
                           if (ptr)  
                              ptr->closeWindow();
                           ptr = this;
                        
                           // open this window 
                           ...
                        }
                        

                        So, the second time through this code I want to know if ptr is still valid, because it may have been deleted without my knowledge. I know there are other ways to do this, but I want to know if I can figure out if ptr still exists. I've tried adding a ptr = dynamic_cast<foo*>(ptr);, but this throws an exception if ptr has been deleted, and I'd rather not use a try block. Thanks in advance

                        P Offline
                        P Offline
                        patnsnaudy
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #15

                        I just created a static pointer to the window and set it to this in the openWindow function and NULL in the dtor. Thanks

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