Void pointer dereferencing

[shashidhar]

hello friends,

I am stuck with a problem in QNX environement,

Problem
there are 3 layers in the entire software
layer 1, layer 2, layer3

From the layer1 i will be getting a void * as a parameter to a function.

From the layer2 I pass this void * to the layer 3. In the layer 3 I dynamically allocation space for a structure x, to the void pointer. But the problem is as long as the control is in the layer 3 the void * pointer is able to hold the allocated address, as soon as the control comes to the layer 2 or 1, the address is lost and it becomes 0, being a pointer that is passed as a paramter shouldnt it retian the address?

can any one please help me understand this concept.

besdt regards
shashidhar

[Banfa]

No the pointer is passed by value, as such you can not write the pointers value, only the value of the thing it points at.

If you want to return a pointer (to a block of allocated memory) then you need to take a pointer to it (i.e. void **)

[shashidhar]

No the pointer is passed by value, as such you can not write the pointers value, only the value of the thing it points at.

thank you for the response

If you want to return a pointer (to a block of allocated memory) then you need to take a pointer to it (i.e. void **)

but the layer1 will only pass the void *... so u mean to say layer2 has to pass void** to layer3 and in the layer3 i would have to allocate the memory
as

*ptr = (x *)malloc(sizeof(x));
am i right ...
and now the void pointer will be having the address to allocation that is made.
please correct me if i am wrong

[Banfa]

layer 1 would pass a pointer to a void *

void *vp;

Pass(&vp);

layer 2 will pass on the void ** and your malloc line for layer 3 looks about right.