Returning an Array from a function

[scermat]

Hi there,

Bit of a quick background - I'm a developer experienced in C# and am currently trying to learn C++ (using Win32 API).

As part of an exercise I'm doing, I'd like to have a function that populates a TCHAR array and returns it.

The problem is, the array is being filled in correctly but the returned value is completely different?

I'm not sure on what I may be doing wrong so I appreciate any help.

Basically I'd like to be able to do this

MessageBox(hWnd, GetButtonState(hWnd, TL) , _T("text"), NULL);

Where GetButtonState is defined as:

TCHAR* GetButtonState(HWND hWnd, GamePosition butonPosition){
// Create String Buffer for populating Button text
TCHAR wndwTxt[5];
// Retrieve Button text and store in Buffer
GetDlgItemText(hWnd, GetDlgCtrlID((HWND)buttonList[butonPosition]), wndwTxt, 5);

return wndwTxt;
}

Now, if I debug and go into the GetButtonState function, the text is being populated correctly. Even if I do a Watch on GetButtonState - I'll get the correct value.

However the Messagebox is showing random characters?

Having said that I'm not sure if this could be a Win32 API issue with character encoding?

Anyone able to help?

Thanks in advance,

Matt!

[Warnis]

The array is a local variable and is therefore destroyed once you leave the functions scope, so you should try using dynamically allocated memory instead

[zb0S216C]

Your compiler may not support array returns. However, you can have a parameter that takes a reference or pointer to an array. For example:

int GetMax( int( &Array )[ 2 ] )
{
    return( ( Array[ 0 ] > Array[ 1 ] ) ? Array[ 0 ] : Array[ 1 ] );
}

_Wazzak

[scermat]

Excellent!

Thanks so much for your help. I looked into dynamic memory allocation and sorted it out.