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From: Kai_Henningsen@ms.maus.de (Kai Henningsen)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: need dynamic array on heap
Message-ID: <13834@ms.maus.de>
Date: 22 Apr 91 20:32:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: ms.13834
Distribution: world,comp
Organization: Maus Mailbox Netz - UUCP-Gateway Bremen
Lines: 24


BB>>>  type byte_buf = array[1..64000] of byte;
BB>>>       byte_buf_ptr = ^byte_buf;
BB>>>
BB>>>  var  buffer : pointer;
BB>>>  .
BB>>>  .
BB>>>  getmem(buffer,somesize); { Allocate only as many bytes as you need }
BB>>>  byte_buf_ptr(buffer)^[2] := somevalue;

BB>  You most certainly do need the typecast.  Notice the getmem call
BB>  does not use the typecast; it's the reference to the pointer
BB>  as a pointer to an array of bytes that requires the typecast.
BB>  Guess you weren't reading too close :).
BB>
BB>  As I said, I use this method frequently.  You don't get a free
BB>  lunch; bypassing Pascal's strong type checking takes a little
BB>  more work.

You most certainly don't need the type cast, you need a correct type
definition. As I already said, declare buffer as pointer to an array, not as
simply "pointer"; then, you can leave any casts out. I do it all the time.

MfG Kai