Finding pointers to data throughtout multiple sources
Author
I'm trying to access data in structures, but since I am using a wrapper it becomes annoying to continue adding parameters to accommodate finding them.
How can I write a function that gives me the address of a struct/class instance or whatever with the instance of interest not visible in the source I'm working in?
Author
Quote:Huh?
Please tell me what you don't understand about my question, I'm sure you know that didn't get us anywhere.
If I could rephrase: I'm just trying to get the address of, well, anything when it's not visible in a source file out of many in a wrapper for an app.
For example, I recall seeing a function on MSDN that returns a pointer to a hWnd value.
For the record, is there something obvious I'm missing that just made me look dumb? If so, please let me know anyway. I'm still getting accustomed to the architecture of these apps. I do have the feeling I am missing something painfully obvious, but I can't put my finger on it.
Quote:Original post by zyrolastingI have trouble understanding what you mean by "not visible". Do you mean that there is an application which manipulates a value, but that value is not accessible from the outside?
If I could rephrase: I'm just trying to get the address of, well, anything when it's not visible in a source file out of many in a wrapper for an app.
If you can control the application source code, then you could just make the value "visible" by changing the code.
If you can't control the application source code, then you don't have many choices beyond just exploring the memory of the running application. If you're lucky, the instance is a global that is always loaded at the same location in memory, so you can just look for it there. If you're not lucky, the instance is allocated dynamically at runtime, meaning that its address can change every time. You can either find a chain of pointers leading from a known global variable to that value and follow that chain, or you can search the application memory space for a value with a specific in-memory pattern (if there is a recognizable pattern to begin with).
Of course, accessing values that an application chooses not to make visible is brittle, and will usually stop working for other versions of the application.
Or did you mean that you need a variable defined in another header file? If so, just include the header file.
Quote:For example, I recall seeing a function on MSDN that returns a pointer to a hWnd value.I don't follow you. There are functions on MSDN that return integers, too. What does this have to do with non-visible values?
I don't think I fully understand your question either. If you create a class that has all your data inside it (be it variables or structures), if you declaire them as public then you can have access to them from where ever.
Author
Sure thing. First, I'll mention what I mean by "not visible".
I'm speaking more in the sense of an instance (class/struct) is not in the scope of a source. Yeah, I see how that's vague. My apologies.
I have a class that defines the attributes for a game window (Forgive primitive coding style, refining as I go)
Needless to say, it's important that I have an instance of this available to me
whenever it needs changing. The problem I have that's causing me to ask what I ask is that I have multiple source files that make a wrapper, and the instance that is used when registering my window class in in the source that handles WinAPI calls.
Once I get to my game loop (This is a DirectX app) I want to be able to change some attributes of the instance by keystroke. (I.E. Windowed)
This code handled in the loop is in another source, and the instance will not be recognized there. The struct is known, but not the instance. That was defined elsewhere. It doesn't even matter if it's global in the other source. (but I think what I'm hearing from Toohr is that's not supposed to happen. No clue what to say there... This is just my case.)
I know that I could just pass it. I'm fully aware of that. But as I stated in the original post, it got tiring moving about the wrapper and redefining all my functions.
So, I wanted to find a way to get a pointer to my instance using a function knowing this scenario. I figured I'd something with the this keyword and toss it in the class, but even so I'd need to access the instance to even run it.
When I mentioned that hWnd function, I was running off hazy memory but I do believe I am seen functions designed to return pointers for this reason.
Please don't tell me it's impossible after all that! =P
If it is, are there any methods that would help?
Let me know if I'm still too vague somewhere.
I'm speaking more in the sense of an instance (class/struct) is not in the scope of a source. Yeah, I see how that's vague. My apologies.
I have a class that defines the attributes for a game window (Forgive primitive coding style, refining as I go)
class GameWindow{ HWND hWnd; HINSTANCE hInst; LPTSTR title; int Width, Height; bool Windowed;public: GameWindow() { hWnd = NULL; title = L"DX Practice"; Width = 1024; Height = 768; Windowed = false; } //Function: Set Dimensions. //Sets the screen dimensions to a common ratio based on preset. void setDimensions(int preset) { if (preset > 2) return; switch (preset) { case 0: Width = 640; Height = 480; break; case 1: Width = 800; Height = 600; break; case 2: Width = 1024; Height = 768; break; } } void ToggleFullscreen(bool full) { Windowed = full; } bool getWindowed() { return Windowed; }};Needless to say, it's important that I have an instance of this available to me
whenever it needs changing. The problem I have that's causing me to ask what I ask is that I have multiple source files that make a wrapper, and the instance that is used when registering my window class in in the source that handles WinAPI calls.
Once I get to my game loop (This is a DirectX app) I want to be able to change some attributes of the instance by keystroke. (I.E. Windowed)
This code handled in the loop is in another source, and the instance will not be recognized there. The struct is known, but not the instance. That was defined elsewhere. It doesn't even matter if it's global in the other source. (but I think what I'm hearing from Toohr is that's not supposed to happen. No clue what to say there... This is just my case.)
I know that I could just pass it. I'm fully aware of that. But as I stated in the original post, it got tiring moving about the wrapper and redefining all my functions.
So, I wanted to find a way to get a pointer to my instance using a function knowing this scenario. I figured I'd something with the this keyword and toss it in the class, but even so I'd need to access the instance to even run it.
When I mentioned that hWnd function, I was running off hazy memory but I do believe I am seen functions designed to return pointers for this reason.
Please don't tell me it's impossible after all that! =P
If it is, are there any methods that would help?
Let me know if I'm still too vague somewhere.
Assuming we are talking c++ here, runtime behaviour like this is not really intended... If I understand what you are asking, for example from some of my code:
which is then compiled into a .dll
and you want to do something like
can you think of any cases in which this is a good idea?
What happens if this was possible and you had several other loaded modules using your memorymanager, and you "delete" it - given that you have overridden delete with the call of a memory manager function?
Unless you are talking about this instead
hope I managed to understand what you are after with one of those -if not can you give more details:
what wrapper? one you wrote? what form is it in? precompiled binary .dll, .lib or source?
What access do you need to the data? how is the data stored?
Mathmo
EDIT: Ninja'd.
I see what you want to do now. You have a global instance of something, and you want to access it from everywhere in your code unconditionally. RIGHT? Then we do this
but that is pretty bad design. Think it would do the trick though. But it is also a very bad idea, because think of what happens if you do this:
There is a far better way to do this - look up singletons. But then, of course you have a singleton. I used to think this was essential, but then I saw the light.
What I would do is if it so essential for all of your classes in your wrapper to use it, then just put an argument in each of their constructors and within each instance of one of your wrapper classes store a pointer to this globally used instance. It may look a little ugly at first, but it IS better than the actual global instance idea.
// "Proprietary library source code"/* TPZ Core Engine DLL - Core module contains core API functionality for the Topaz(c) engine, handles memory allocation, message handling and loading of supplementary satellites to handle extra functionalityAll code and design copyright 2008 Mark Brand - mark.brand@lincoln.ox.ac.uk*/#ifndef TPZ_CE_MEMMANAGER_H#define TPZ_CE_MEMMANAGER_H#ifdef TPZ_MEM_EXPORTS#define TPZ_MEM_API __declspec(dllexport)#else#define TPZ_MEM_API __declspec(dllimport)#endif // TPZ_MEMMANAGER_EXPORTS///////////////////////////// INCLUDES///////////////////////////#ifndef NDEBUG // DEBUG INCLUDES#include <vector>#include <map>#endif // NDEBUG///////////////////////////// MEMMANAGER DECLARATION///////////////////////////#ifndef NDEBUG // DEBUG VERSION//#define TPZ_ALLOC_LOGGINGstruct ALLOC_INFO{ size_t m_size; char* m_file; int m_line; ALLOC_INFO() { m_size = 0; m_file = 0; m_line = 0; }};class MemManager{private: int m_threads; static MemManager* m_globalMemManager; static std::map< void*, ALLOC_INFO >* m_openAllocs;public: MemManager(); ~MemManager(); static MemManager* GetMemManager() { return m_globalMemManager; } static void* Allocate( size_t, char*, int ); static void Deallocate( void* ); static void Clear();};#else // RELEASE VERSIONSclass MemManager{private: int m_threads; static MemManager* m_globalMemManager;public: MemManager(); ~MemManager(); static MemManager* GetMemManager() { return m_globalMemManager; } static void* Allocate( size_t, char*, int ); static void Deallocate( void* );};#endif // NDEBUGTPZ_MEM_API void* MemAllocate( size_t size, char* file, int line );TPZ_MEM_API void MemDeallocate( void* ptr );#endif // TPZ_CE_MEMMANAGER_Hwhich is then compiled into a .dll
and you want to do something like
// main.cppvoid loadDll();MemManager* magicallyGetReferenceToMemManager();// which would get me a reference to the instance of MemManager// which the .dll creates, and which the designer of the library// did not intend for you to use.int main() { loadDll(); MemManager* haxxoredMemManager = magicallyGetReferenceToMemManager();}can you think of any cases in which this is a good idea?
What happens if this was possible and you had several other loaded modules using your memorymanager, and you "delete" it - given that you have overridden delete with the call of a memory manager function?
Unless you are talking about this instead
MyStruct.hstruct MyStruct{ std::Vector< std::Vector< int > > importantData;};MyWrapper.h#include "MyStruct.h"Class MyStructStore{ std::map< MyStruct, String > database;public: // while you can do this, and keep changing it as your stored data changes int getImportantData(String key, int dataIndex1, int dataIndex2) { return database.get(key).get(dataIndex1).get(dataIndex2); } // you could equally do const MyStruct& getImportantData(String key) { return &database.get(key) }};hope I managed to understand what you are after with one of those -if not can you give more details:
what wrapper? one you wrote? what form is it in? precompiled binary .dll, .lib or source?
What access do you need to the data? how is the data stored?
Mathmo
EDIT: Ninja'd.
I see what you want to do now. You have a global instance of something, and you want to access it from everywhere in your code unconditionally. RIGHT? Then we do this
MyGlobalClassThingy.hMyClass* instance = new MyClass(args);inline MyClass* GetMyClass(){ return instance;}inline CleanTheFrackUp(){ if (instance) { instance->CleanUp(); delete instance; instance = 0; }}but that is pretty bad design. Think it would do the trick though. But it is also a very bad idea, because think of what happens if you do this:
int main(){ MyClass* inst = GetMyClass(); delete inst; inst = GetMyClass(); inst->foo();}There is a far better way to do this - look up singletons. But then, of course you have a singleton. I used to think this was essential, but then I saw the light.
What I would do is if it so essential for all of your classes in your wrapper to use it, then just put an argument in each of their constructors and within each instance of one of your wrapper classes store a pointer to this globally used instance. It may look a little ugly at first, but it IS better than the actual global instance idea.
Quote:Original post by zyrolasting
Needless to say, it's important that I have an instance of this available to me
whenever it needs changing. The problem I have that's causing me to ask what I ask is that I have multiple source files that make a wrapper, and the instance that is used when registering my window class in in the source that handles WinAPI calls.
So, I wanted to find a way to get a pointer to my instance using a function knowing this scenario. I figured I'd something with the this keyword and toss it in the class, but even so I'd need to access the instance to even run it.
use the extern keyword to make your global available across translation units, or pass it around from where it is created to where it is needed.
Maybe I misunderstand, but it sounds to me like you just need to declare it as extern in the source files you want to use it in. This will allow it to use the instance from another translation unit.
(EDIT: Ah I typed too slow)
(EDIT: Ah I typed too slow)
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
