issues with DLL and STL containers

Helper

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On 20/05/2010 at 01:46, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:   R11
Platform:   Windows ;
Language(s) :     C++ ;

---------
Hey everyone,

my name is Heinrich Löwe, im working for Sehsucht GmbH in Hamburg. Me and a workmate(Martin Chatterjee) are working on a multi-platform-exchange format. For this reason we have written a DLL library which containes the basic functionality. It is imported in plugins for various applications and c4d is one of them.

I don't want to bore anyone with more details and will get straight to the point: The DLL is exporting functions which modify references to STL containers. If i use these functions in a C4D plugin, it always leads to crashes. However, they work fine with a direct inlcude of the code or in different environments than c4d.

I've boiled down the code to show you the main point:

Parts of the DLL library which are responsible for the problems:

  
// ...   
  
// define a dll import/export macro   
#ifdef DLL_TEST_EXPORTS   
   #define DLL_MACRO    __declspec(dllexport)   
#else   
   #define DLL_MACRO    __declspec(dllimport)   
#endif   
  
// ...   
  
// A representative structure exporting a stl container   
struct DLL_MACRO MyStruct {   
  
     template class DLL_MACRO allocator<int>;   
     template class DLL_MACRO vector<int, allocator<int> >;   
  
     vector<int> vec;   
};   
  
// ...   
  
// Global function which modifies the given reference   
void DLL_MACRO GlobalFunction(vector<MyStruct> &vec;)   
{   
     // just do something with the input   
     vec.resize(10);   
}   
  
// ...

Now the usage of the exported function in the C4D plugin code:

  
// ...   
  
// code is executed during the c4d startup phase, while   
// registering the plugin.   
Bool Register_MyTestPlugin(void)   
{   
     // create some stl container, using the exported structure   
     vector<MyStruct> *b = gNew vector<MyStruct>;   
  
     // call exported function which modifies my stl container   
     GlobalFunction(*b);   
        
     // kill it, at this point the plugin crashes   
     /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////   
     gDelete(b);   
     /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////   
  
     // ...   
  
     return TRUE;   
}   
  
// ...

While running that plugin in debug mode everything works, up to the point where the vector is deleted. I tracked it further down to a call to C4DOS.Ge->Free() in the overloaded delete operator in the file 'c4d_memory.cpp'.

Thas is the point where i got stuck and i'm hoping for your assistance to solve the problem,

Thanks,
Heinrich Löwe.

Helper

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On 26/05/2010 at 06:19, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Which Cinema 4D version are you using? My test DLL with Cinema 4D R11.5 seems to work fine.

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

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On 27/05/2010 at 01:16, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I'm using R11 64bit on a windows 7 machine.

Helper

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On 27/05/2010 at 03:04, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Ok, I can confirm the crashing on Cinema R11. Afaik it is due to the overloading of new/delete by the Cinema 4D SDK. Since R11.5 this is not the case anymore, making it easier to link to DLLs/DYLIBs. I am not sure if there is a solution for R11. I will forward the issue to the developers maybe they know a solution of the problem.

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

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On 27/05/2010 at 05:14, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Strange now it crashes under R11.5 too. I'll have to ask the developers what is going on.

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

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On 28/05/2010 at 09:53, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I upgraded to R11.5, and the test plugin (together with the test DLL) works fine now. But the real plugin still crashes with the following message:

Unbehandelte Ausnahme bei 0x000007fefd6caa7d in CINEMA 4D 64 Bit.exe: Microsoft C++-Ausnahme: std::bad_alloc an Speicherposition 0x02c25740..

Helper

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On 28/05/2010 at 13:54, xxxxxxxx wrote:

try & catch? What about a little bit of source code that triggered the crash?

Helper

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On 29/05/2010 at 06:31, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hello again,

i debugged the code this morning, made some changes and it seems to work fine. However, there is still one thing which leads to crashes: Whenever i pass a std::string to the dll, the plugin stops executing, but it does work fine when it's passed by reference.

This does not work:

  
// method declaration in the dll (parameter passed directly)  
bool openFile(string sFullPath);  
  
// ...  
  
// call it from the plugin  
std::string str("some filename in here");  
if (reader.openFile(str)) {  
  // ...  
}  
  
/* the plugin crashes when the method openFile() returns to the caller an the  
 * local copy of the passed std::string is deleted.  
 */

This works:

  
// method declaration in the dll (parameter passed by reference)  
bool openFile(string &sFullPath);  
  
// ...  
  
// call it from the plugin  
std::string str("some filename in here");  
if (reader.openFile(str)) {  
    // ...  
}

I 'solved' the problem by changing everything to 'call by reference' in the dll, but it doesn't feel good having some unexplainable error somewhere around.

Greetings,
Heinrich Löwe.