Passing pointers through multiple funcs and maintaining changes made in those funcs.

[Feversaint]

First off I just want to point out that I'm fairly new to C. I've done a bit of playing around with pointers and have (mostly) successfully built a linked list that works fine. The issue I'm having now is I'm trying to divide up the initialization portion of a game I'm working on into multiple functions called from inside an Initialize() function. It's starting to get real ugly quickly as I add pointers to try and maintain changes so the values are actually initialized when I get past Initialize().

From my understanding to change the address that a pointer points to you need to pass in a pointer to that pointer. I've tried that and it works fine if I change said address after only going one function deep. But when I try to pass this to another function, I have no idea as to what I should do both to pass it as a parameter and use it inside the next function (should I or should I not dereference it, if so how many times, what syntax should I use for this, etc.).

Right now I'm getting a compile error:

mylib/game.c: In function `LoadLayers':
mylib/game.c:146: error: request for member `object' in something not a structure or union

I'm not sure if I'm just not dereferencing it right or what (I've tried just one *, using ->object, etc.). Help is much appreciated!

This is what I have so far (just out of the affected functions).

/* From right before my primary game loop */

  /* --DATA DECLARATIONS-- */
  GameCharacter *player;
  LinkedList_AA *artBank;
  LinkedList_GO *layers;
  /* END DATA DECLARATIONS */
  
  layers = NULL;
  artBank = NULL;
  player = NULL;
  
  Initialize(&player, &artBank, &layers);

  if (player == NULL)
  {
    printf("\nPLAYER IS NULL!");
  }
  if (artBank == NULL)
  {
    printf("\nARTBANK IS NULL!");
  }
  
  if (layers == NULL)
  {
    printf("\nLAYERS IS NULL!");
  }

/* Initialization function definitions */
void Initialize(GameCharacter **player, 
  LinkedList_AA **artBank, LinkedList_GO **layers)
{ 
  *artBank = InitializeList_LL_AA();  
  
  LoadArtBank(*artBank);
  
  
  *player = LoadGameCharacter("assets/objectdata/player.txt", 
    *artBank, EmptyVector2D(), "player");
  
  LoadLayers(layers, player);
 
  printf("\n\nLoad successful!\n\n\n");
}

void LoadArtBank(LinkedList_AA *artBank)
{
  ArtAsset *testAsset;
  testAsset = LoadArtAsset("assets/art/test.txt");

  AddNode_LL_AA(artBank, testAsset);
}

void LoadLayers(LinkedList_GO** layers, GameCharacter** player)
{
  int numLayers;
  numLayers = 3;
  
  *layers = InitializeListArray_LL_GO(numLayers);

  /* Right here is the line that's giving me grief 
      - no matter how I deference it I get the compile
      error listed below */
  AddNode_LL_GO(layers[2], **player.object); 
}

/* From my linked list library */
LinkedList_GO* InitializeListArray_LL_GO(int numLists)
{
  LinkedList_GO *newLists;
  int i;
 
  newLists = malloc(numLists * sizeof(LinkedList_GO));
  
  for(i = 0; i < numLists; i++)
  {
    newLists[i].current = NULL;
    newLists[i].start = NULL;
  }
  
  return newLists;
}

/* Function prototype - I don't believe the inner workings
  are important for solving this issue */
bool AddNode_LL_GO(LinkedList_GO *list, GameObject *newData);

/* Game character definition */
typedef struct GameCharacter
{
  Vector2D velocity;
  /* This is what I'm trying to access */
  GameObject object;  
} GameCharacter;

To clarify a few things:
----------------------
- I want layers to be an array of linked lists - so I can call layers based on their index (i.e. layer[0] = layer 0)
- GO stands for GameObject, AA stands for ArtAsset (both structs I created and am using)

[Feversaint]

Shoot - noticed it right after I posted but I should have changed the title slightly. I was originally having a slightly different issue (where layers was coming back as NULL) but am now having the compile time issue. Sorry bout that...

[quzah]

C Operator Precedence Table

. happens before *

Try: (**foo).object

Of course at that point, you will be passing an actual object, not a pointer to it, so any changes you make in that function won't affect the item you are passing once the function returns. (Which may be fine, I'm just clarifying.)


Quzah.

[grumpy]

quzah's solution will stop the particular compiler error you are getting, but give a different one.

Right now I'm getting a compile error:

mylib/game.c: In function `LoadLayers':
mylib/game.c:146: error: request for member `object' in something not a structure or union

I'm not sure if I'm just not dereferencing it right or what (I've tried just one *, using ->object, etc.). Help is much appreciated!

The offending line, which you highlighted, is

AddNode_LL_GO(layers[2], **player.object);

player is of type GameCharacter ** (pointer to pointer to GameCharacter).

The member named object in GameCharacter is of type GameObject.

The second argument of AddNode_LL_GO() needs to be a pointer to a GameObject.

To work backward, *player will be a pointer to a GameCharacter. It's member named object is accessed (by reference) using (*player)->object (which is equivalent to (**player).object that quzah suggested you try). However, AddNode_LL_GO() requires a pointer, not a reference, to that object. So the offending line needs to be

AddNode_LL_GO(layers[2], &((*player)->object));

or (equivalently)

AddNode_LL_GO(layers[2], &((**player).object));

[Feversaint]

&(**foo).object seems to work for what I need (passing the address of object in so it can be pointed to by a node).

(Node:

typedef struct Node_LL_GO
{
  struct Node_LL_GO *next;
  GameObject *data;
} Node_LL_GO;

)

It seems as though my array of LinkedLists is the issue now. My linked list is coming back initialized, but it does not remember any of the data fed into it (start and current are both NULL). I'm assuming the issue is with where I pass it into AddNode_LL_GO as I had it working when I passed it in one level up earlier. Any advice? (and thanks a ton for the help so far)

Reminder:

void LoadLayers(LinkedList_GO** layers, GameCharacter** player)
{
  int numLayers;
 
  numLayers = 3;
 
  *layers = InitializeListArray_LL_GO(numLayers);
  
  printf("\nPlayer object address: %p", (void *)&(**player).object);
  
  AddNode_LL_GO(layers[2], &(**player).object);
}

Edit: I actually posted this before I saw your advice grumpy - I think I'll go with the &(*player)->object - I'm still having the issue described above though

[Feversaint]

I may have found the issue. I wanted LinkedList_GO *layers to be an array of pointers to linked lists, but instead it is just an array of linked lists. I'm going to change that and see how it goes. If I still have issues I'll post - otherwise thanks so much for the help!

[quzah]

All you should need is an array of linked lists. Then pass the address of one of those buckets:

void foo( struct node **bucket )
{
    if( *bucket == NULL )
    {
        *bucket = newnode();
    }
    ... do stuff ...
}

struct node *buckets[ X ] = { NULL, };
...
foo( &bucket[ 3 ] );

You make an array of pointers to lists, and pass the individual list you want to fill or work with.


Quzah.