Destructor called upon creation

Hi...

I've got a small problem. When I declare an instance of the class CWindow, its both - constructor and destructor are called.

Declaration of the class:

Code:

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class CWindow
{
public:
        CWindow(char* pType, char *pCaption, int x, int y, int cx, int cy, HMENU hId, HWND hParent);
        CWindow(HWND hWnd);
        CWindow();
        ~CWindow();

        friend class CMainApp;
private:
        HWND hwnd;
        RECT rect;
};

---

Fuctions of CWindow:

Code:

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CWindow::CWindow(char* pType, char* pCaption, int x, int y, int cx, int cy, HMENU hId, HWND hParent)
{
        hwnd = CreateWindowEx(NULL, pType, pCaption, WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE, x, y, cx, cy, hParent, hId, hinstance, NULL);
        GetClientRect(hwnd, &rect);
}

CWindow::CWindow(HWND hWnd)
{
        hwnd = hWnd;
        GetClientRect(hwnd, &rect);
}

CWindow::CWindow()
{
}

CWindow::~CWindow()
{
        DestroyWindow(hwnd);
}

---

Use of the class:

Code:

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CWindow questionStatic = CWindow("static", pQuestion, 30, 10, 200, 30, NULL, hwnd);

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The debugger shows that this line is executed twice. The first execution calls the constructor, the second calls the destructor. I must be missing something very obvious here, but can't find what.

You are creating a temporary object and then copying it to questionStatic. You probably want to write:

Code:

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CWindow questionStatic("static", pQuestion, 30, 10, 200, 30, NULL, hwnd);

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That said, with compiler optimisations on, that temporary object would most likely be elided.

You're creating a temporary object and then invoking its copy constructor. The temporary is then destructed. Just do this:

CWindow questionStatic("static", ...);

I see... thanks for explaining, but then how would I create the object in a function of another class with questionStatic being a member of the class?

Code:

---

class CAnotherClass
{
public:
            void Show(HWND hwnd);
private:
        CWindow questionStatic;
};

---

Code:

---

void CAnotherClass::Show(HWND hwnd)
{
        questionStatic = ...
}

---

Thanks for all your help again!

In that case you cannot avoid copying, unless CAnotherClass keeps a (smart) pointer to CWindow.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Overlord

I see... thanks for explaining, but then how would I create the object in a function of another class with questionStatic being a member of the class?

Code:

---

class CAnotherClass
{
public:
            void Show(HWND hwnd);
private:
        CWindow questionStatic;
};

---

Code:

---

void CAnotherClass::Show(HWND hwnd)
{
        questionStatic = ...
}

---

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Does it need to be a member? Why not just create it in CAnotherClass::Show()?

I'll need it in other class functions as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Overlord

I'll need it in other class functions as well.

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Is it the same message everytime? If not, can you construct it once in the constructor, and then call setters (for the message text, etc) and display it in the other member functions?

Looks like what you need is a "Create()" method that mirrors the current constructors functionality.

gg

Quote:

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Looks like what you need is a "Create()" method that mirrors the current constructors functionality.

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Yes, that might be a better option than storing a (smart) pointer if copying is a problem... which also implies that perhaps the copy constructor and copy assignment operator should be made private.

EDIT:
Perhaps that is the underlying problem: CWindow performs RAII by calling DestroyWindow(hwnd) in its destructor, but it does not properly handle copying by either performing a deep copy (which is perhaps not reasonable) or disabling copying. So perhaps CWindow should either perform RAII and be non-copyable, or not perform RAII and be copyable, or perform RAII and be copyable by means of reference counting.

I'll try it with pointers first (I believe this will suite me).

Thank you all for the valuable replies.

You *can* avoid copying with an initializer list

Code:

---

class CAnotherClass
{
public:
            CAnotherClass();

            void Show(HWND hwnd);
private:
        CWindow questionStatic;
};

CAnothefrClass::CAnotherClass() : questionStatic("static", ...)
{
}

---

Quote:

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You *can* avoid copying with an initializer list

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An initialisation list can only be used in a constructor. By the time Show() is called, questionStatic has already been instantiated.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by laserlight

An initialisation list can only be used in a constructor. By the time Show() is called, questionStatic has already been instantiated.

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Yeah but he has a point though. The CWindow could perhaps be initialised in the constructor instead, and only shown (made visible) in the Show function.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iMalc

Yeah but he has a point though. The CWindow could perhaps be initialised in the constructor instead, and only shown (made visible) in the Show function.

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thats what i meant yeah, just fill the member in the constructor and the actual showing in Show