Posts tagged memory allocation in heap or stack

What if you call delete operator by using a stack pointer? Like that, while writing frameworks sometimes we expects the pointer that gets passed to the function should point a valid memory block which is allocated on heap itself. So how can we check whether the pointer points to stack or heap in debug version?

You can use the function – _CrtIsValidHeapPointer(). Its an undocumented CRT function. But it works only in debug version. Well, please check the code snippet below,

#include "malloc.h"
...

// Check heap pointer.
int* pInteger = new int;
BOOL bHeap = _CrtIsValidHeapPointer( pInteger );

// Check stack pointer and you'll get an assertion.
char CharArray[100];
bHeap = _CrtIsValidHeapPointer( CharArray );

Its annoying that its not available in release version. Well, atleast we could make our framework to notify the user while debugging in the debug build. isn’t it?

Targeted Audience – Beginners.