problems with memory allocation

I have one bug with my memory usage. I'm doing this:

Code:

char * szBuffer=(char*)malloc(200);
...


			LPDWORD lpNumberOfBytesRead=new unsigned long;
			if(ReadFile(hFileRead,szBuffer,sizeof(szBuffer),lpNumberOfBytesRead,NULL)==0){
				ErrorHandler("Could Not Read File"); //process error
			}else{//.....

basically evertime i fire up the program and go through the motions, i get my error of "could not read file" and debug says it has to do with szBuffer...what am I doing wrong here? As a side note: i wasn't using malloc() before...i thought it would solve my problems, before i was doing something like this:

Code:

char * szBuffer=new char[200];

but i found that it is cleaner to use malloc() (and free()) i actually made it farther through the program without it crashing (one line or so, so i believe the error occurs when i'm using szBuffer, not when it's declared). thanks for any help.

sizeof(szBuffer) will not work because szBuffer is a pointer. But the size seems to be 200 which you are using in malloc.

but i found that it is cleaner to use malloc() (and free())

They aren't cleaner. Realize that the new and delete operators
were designed for a reason.

For one they are type-safe (No casting needed) also new and
delete fires the constructors and destructors of class respectively.
(malloc/free doesn't)

If you wanted to use new and delete, remember that if you new
with [], you must delete with [].

Eg.

Code:

  Dog* ptr = new char[20]; //call the Dog's constructor
  delete [] ptr; //calls the destructor

//One more example
 
 int i;
 char** StringArray = new char*[10];
 for(i=0;i<10;i++)
     delete [] StringArray[i];

Trust me when I say, use new and delete rather than malloc/free.

char** StringArray = new char*[10];
for(i=0;i<10;i++)
delete [] StringArray[i];

Sorry 'bout this, should've been

Code:

 char** StringArray = new char*[10];
 delete [] StringArray;

alright, i changed back to new[] and delete[]...but I'm still having on more memory problem, and i'm not sure what it is to tell the truth, It's hard to tell from the debug information whats going wrong where. I've attached the source.

In case it's pertinent, I'm using MSVC++ 6 SP5 (has different output files than earlier service packs i believe)

I noticed that you assign NULL to szBuffer in start search quite a
few times.

The problem is (maybe) that you aren't deleting the pointer.
By doing this -> szBuffer = NULL <- without deleting szBuffer first
leaves the string in memory. Now on top of losing the data, you
haven't got any allocated space for szbuffer anymore!!

Just do this :
Instead of assigning NULL to szBuffer rather do this:

Code:

delete [] szBuffer;
szBuffer = new char[200];

Now you always have allocated memory for szBuffer.

well that didn't fix it...basically the error message that msvc pops up is "debug assertion failed" at dbgheap.c line 1050...it has to do with a bad pointer (as said in the commented lines in the .c file) I also tried running release mode but the error came up but no debugging.


I've uploaded a screenshot of the debug output in html format at
http://www.angelfire.com/ab6/djpimp/...artFinder.html

Not to worry!!
I've re-read your code and OH, MY GWOSH!!! ( Yes GWOSH)

There's a zillion bugs here. Now pay attention.

When you declared these variables, what were you trying?

char * tempFilePathBuffer=new char[];
char * tempFilePath=new char[];
char * tempFileName=new char[];
char * setDir=new char[];
char * renameCommand=new char[];

If you not using them in your program then comment all of it,
otherwise, be so kind as to tell your compiler how much memory
you want allocated. eg. char* setDir = new char[200];

Also, you are assigning all the pointers in the world!
Try using strcpy() instead. Don't do things like :

tempFileName = fileData.cFileName;
Rather use strcpy() to copy the data from fileData.cFileName to
tempFileName.

And things like these aren't necessary:
currentDir = strcat(currentDir,"\\");
Just do : strcat(currentDir,"\\");

strcat() will append the data to the buffer which is passed to it.

When you edit your code, edit one thing at a time, then compile
to check if you're winning.

GWOSH!!!
thanks. See, I've mostly self taught myself, and memory management is definetly something I never looked into, I just sort of did what i could to get the compiler to accept it (yes, bad coding practice) anyhow, thanks for all the tips, tomorrow at work i'll see if I can work out the bugs....thanks.

One reason I'm using all the pointers in the world,
is because many of the functions I'm using, particularly the API file handling functions require pointers to chunks of memory as their arguments.

ok, I've went through, and based on what you've said, changed all the strcat and strtok and strcpy and any other str... i missed. I have not tested it yet (it locks up after debug and i have to restart my computer becuase it thinks the program is still open, so i can't compile until i restart. Any how I've attached the edited source.

Could you please comment your code to state what it is you want to do.

Eg. For code like this

Code:

CharUpper(szBuffer);
strchr(szBuffer, '(' );
strcpy(a,szBuffer);
if (a ==NULL)
{
                stop=TRUE;
}else
{
	stop=FALSE;
}	
if (stop!=TRUE)
{
	strtok(a,")");
	strcpy(b,a);
}

Comment your functions so that ppl can see what you want the function to do.

ALSO
Your main menu function returns a char*. Because currentDir is declared GLOBALLY, you don't have to return anything.

void mainMenu( void );

AND
strchr(szBuffer,'(')) won't change szBuffer, so it's not doing anything. Same with strtok(a,")").

One other thing, you might want to lookup the swicth statement and try use that rather than if/else, if/else, if/else, if/else.

ok, heres the source with all the important and or strange parts commented