pointer to a not defined struct in struct

[luis]

Code: Select all

Structure TEST
a.i
b.whatisthat
EndStructure

the compiler gives an error in this case

Code: Select all

Structure TEST
a.i
*b.whatisthat
EndStructure

but nothing in this case

Has this been reported already ?

I believe I saw something similar posted in the forum but I'm not sure...

[Psychophanta]

The compiler ignores the type of the pointer vars.
A pointer is indeed always a .i variable (so then a .i length variable), but it points to a specific type of data, which, in my opinion, should be written just like your example does.

[freak]

It is to allow references to structrures which will be defined later.

Otherwise something like this would not be possible:

Code: Select all

Structure StructA
  *p.StructB
EndStructure

Structure StructB
  *p.StructA
EndStructure

[Psychophanta]

Whith that you have gave me this mad idea...
... what if:

Code: Select all

Structure StructA 
  p.StructB 
EndStructure 

Structure StructB 
  p.StructA 
EndStructure

[Kaeru Gaman]

I agree: it is a mad idea...

[Mistrel]

It is to allow references to structrures which will be defined later.

Is this kind of behavior necessary in a single-pass compiler?

[freak]

Whith that you have gave me this mad idea...
... what if:

Code: Select all

Structure StructA 
  p.StructB 
EndStructure 

Structure StructB 
  p.StructA 
EndStructure

If this worked, there would be endless recursion.

> Is this kind of behavior necessary in a single-pass compiler?

Well, you could also have a way to declare a structure before actually defining its content (like you can do in C) but thats a bit overkill imho.

[idle]

why the question?

Code: Select all

Structure StructA
  *p.StructB
   mdat.i
   something.w
   another.w
EndStructure

Structure StructB
  *p.StructA
   mdat.i
EndStructure 

mA.StructA
mB.StructB

ma\mdat = 999
mb\mdat = 666

mA\p = @mb 
mb\p = @ma 

Debug  ma\mdat        
Debug  mA\p\mdat 

Debug  mb\mdat   
Debug  mb\p\mdat 

Mindyou pointer references like this, mostly do my head in

And it can make it tricky dealing with structures in C libs

when they reference each other without pointers

[luis]

It is to allow references to structrures which will be defined later.

OK, make sense.

Thank you.

[srod]

For God's sake do not change this behaviour - my code relies on it quite heavily!