C Programming: malloc() inside another function

Question

I need help with malloc() inside another function.

I\'m passing a pointer and size to the fu

Answer 1

You need to pass the pointer by reference, not by copy, the parameter in the function alloc_pixels requires the ampersand & to pass back out the address of the pointer - that is call by reference in C speak.

main()
{
   unsigned char *input_image;
   unsigned int bmp_image_size = 262144;

   if(alloc_pixels(&input_image, bmp_image_size)==NULL)
     printf("\nPoint2: Memory allocated: %d bytes",_msize(input_image));
   else
     printf("\nPoint3: Memory not allocated");     

}

signed char alloc_pixels(unsigned char **ptr, unsigned int size)
{
    signed char status = NO_ERROR;
    *ptr = NULL;

    *ptr = (unsigned char*)malloc(size);

    if((*ptr) == NULL)
    {
        status = ERROR;
        /* free(ptr);
        printf("\nERROR: Memory allocation did not complete successfully!"); */
    }

    printf("\nPoint1: Memory allocated: %d bytes",_msize(*ptr));

    return status;
}

I have commented out the two lines free(ptr) and "ERROR: ..." within the alloc_pixels function as that is confusing. You do not need to free a pointer if the memory allocation failed.

Edit: After looking at the msdn link supplied by OP, a suggestion, the code sample is the same as earlier in my answer.... but...change the format specifier to %u for the size_t type, in the printf(...) call in main().

main()
{
   unsigned char *input_image;
   unsigned int bmp_image_size = 262144;

   if(alloc_pixels(&input_image, bmp_image_size)==NULL)
     printf("\nPoint2: Memory allocated: %u bytes",_msize(input_image));
   else
     printf("\nPoint3: Memory not allocated");     

}