is it possible to pass a structure element by reference?

[Cathalo]

hi,is it possible to pass a structure element by reference or do you have to pass the whole structure?Googled it and just got passing the structure it self by reference.

tried returning an element via a function but keep getting errors for the function definition.

int hullDam(sShip & playerShip.hull)
{
	return   playerShip.hull=playerShip.hull-10;
}

and here's the error report

my documents\visual studio 2008\projects\test\test\test.cpp(12) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ',' before '.'
c:\documents and settings\xxxxxxx\my documents\visual studio 2008\projects\test\test\test.cpp(14) : error C2440: 'return' : cannot convert from 'int' to 'sShip'
        No constructor could take the source type, or constructor overload resolution was ambiguous

[Cathalo]

Sorry about that was suppose to start a thread

[Cathalo]

hi,is it possible to pass a structure element by reference or do you have to pass the whole structure?Googled it and just got passing the structure it self by reference.

tried returning an element via a function but keep getting errors for the function definition.

int hullDam(sShip & playerShip.hull)
{
	return   playerShip.hull=playerShip.hull-10;
}

and here's the error report

my documents\visual studio 2008\projects\test\test\test.cpp(12) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ',' before '.'
c:\documents and settings\xxxxxxx\my documents\visual studio 2008\projects\test\test\test.cpp(14) : error C2440: 'return' : cannot convert from 'int' to 'sShip'
        No constructor could take the source type, or constructor overload resolution was ambiguous

[dwks]

int hullDam(sShip & playerShip.hull)

Parameters are just like any other variables . . . they're of the form

type variable_name

So I think you probably want

int hullDam(sShip & playerShip)

if you want to pass a whole sShip object, or maybe

int hullDam(int hull)

if you just want to pass playerShip.hull. Those two would be called as

hullDam(playerShip);
hullDam(playerShip.hull);

respectively.

[laserlight]

You certainly can pass the member of a structure by reference, since it is just like any other object. However, the syntax would also be like how you declare any other reference parameter:

int hullDam(sShip& hull)
{
    return hull -= 10;
}

Then you would call it as:

hullDam(playerShip.hull);

Though I am not sure why you want to return an int, and if subtracting 10 from the sShip object is actually legal and makes sense since the compiler complains that it "cannot convert from 'int' to 'sShip'".

[Cathalo]

thanks@dwks that got it to compile fine

@laserlight im not sure i follow you..should the return type for the function be sShip?should structure elements not change?

thanks

[matsp]

I think Laserlight was trying to solve a different problem.

--
Mats