catching an error

Quote:

Original post by guyaton What is the best way to test if a pointer is not successfully created? I've noticed that Microsoft in their DirectX SDK checks if the pointer is NULL, but isn't it possible for the "new" to throw an error as well? Which do i check for? both? I am using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002. thanks in advance, ~guyaton

I just check for NULL, but if you really want to you can do a try/catch as well. Since I use exception handling very sparingly, I opt for the NULL check.

Before you check for NULL, be sure to initialize your pointer to null becuase some compilers dont automatically point a failed pointer to NULL:

var *ptr = NULL;

.
. // do stuff w/ pointer
.

if(ptr == NULL) // and so on..

If newing a object failed, it throws an exception according to recent CPP standards. You can use 'placement new' to specify the Run time lib not to throw an exception but return a NULL value instead (the old way).

By default, new throws an exception when failed so you have no reason to check for NULL. Google it with 'Placement new' for further infos.
This is a good place to start

Quote:

Original post by Grafalgar I just check for NULL, but if you really want to you can do a try/catch as well. Since I use exception handling very sparingly, I opt for the NULL check.

To expand on Skeleton's post: Unless you're using the nothrow placement-new, you can't "opt for the NULL check". If new decides to throw an exception and you aren't in a try-catch block, your program crashes immediately, regardless of whether you're planning to check for null.

thanks all. I just was not sure how MS did it in VS.NET. guess I'll stick with my try...catch blocks.

thanks!