Why does this not work when passed through a function?

Why is this not working when called in a function?

This does NOT work (see next code section for one that does work):

Code:

---

int getString(usb_device_handle* h, int index, char* buff)
{
      return usb_get_string_simple( h, index, buff, sizeof( buff ) );
}

char* getValue(usb_device_handle* h, usb_device* dev)
{
      char value[ 256 ];
      getString( h, dev->descriptor.iManufacturer, value );
      return value;
}

---

This DOES work:

Code:

---

char* getValue(usb_device_handle* h, usb_device* dev)
{
      char value[ 256 ];
      usb_get_string_simple( h, dev->descriptor.iManufacturer, value, sizeof( value ) );
      return value;
}

---

For some reason, with the first one, it only grabs the first three characters of the Manufacturer string. Why?

You need to pass the size of the array as another parameter.
sizeof(buff) does NOT do what you want. It just tells you the size of the pointer, not how much space it points to.

Not to mention that the second variant doesn't actually work correctly, as it returns an address to a local variable that is gone (as in destroyed) by the time you actually get back to the function calling it. It may appear like it's actually working, but it is just the same fluke that can get you across a junction against a red light - if you are lucky, there's nothing coming the other way.

Doing this:

Code:

---

char* getValue(usb_device_handle* h, usb_device* dev)
{
      char value[ 256 ];
      usb_get_string_simple( h, dev->descriptor.iManufacturer, value, sizeof( value ) );
      return value;
}

void foo()
{
  char dummy[256] = { 0 };
  memset(dummy, 0x33, sizeof(dummy)-2);
}

int main()
{
...
  char *val = getValue(...);
  foo();
  printf("val = %s\n", val);
..
}

---

will show how it DOESN'T work.

--
Mats

Thanks guys!