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From: wolfram@cip-s02.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Wolfram Roesler)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Addressing struct without ->
Message-ID: <wolfram.665407476@cip-s02>
Date: 1 Feb 91 11:24:36 GMT
References: <91010.084408NIBMSCM@NDSUVM1.BITNET>
Sender: news@rwthinf.UUCP
Lines: 31

NIBMSCM@NDSUVM1.BITNET writes:


>  In working with some of the more common 'C' packages, I've found
>one limiting factor that seems to come back and haunt me.  In working
>with some other languages, such as Pascal, I had the capability to use
>the 'using' keyword, giving the address of a structure and then address
>the elements of that structure without the necessity of using the
>ptr->element notation (could simply use element).

You can't get the same thing in C without getting ABSOLUTELY incompatible.
You can however use the preprocessor trick to avoid long chains of -> and .
in the following way:

#define X ptr->fooptr->foo.bar.bar.baz.foobar->foobaz.x

and now write 

	X->something

instead of (well you know what).

I'm not sure if the following will work:

struct
{
  int foo;
  int bar;
} xyz;
#define foo xyz.foo
#define bar xyz.bar