Function parameter duplicating another parameter's pointer address accidently?

Question

Today I've run across a rather strange error. Essentially what is happening is inside the function foo the first parameter is being set to the pointer value of the pointer crosssegments. So say crosssegments is location at 0x0045 then iMeaninglessdata will be set at 0x0045. If I take out iMeaninglessData and simply have o1 as the first parameter than o1 will be equal to 0x0045. If I pause the debugger before the function is called iMeaningless data and crosssegments have different pointer addresses.

void Foo(int *iMeaninglessData, handle o1, handle o2, handle o3, int iHeight, int iProfileHeight, handle o4, std::vector<object> * crossSegments, int *iProfileArray)
{
    //...code
}

Here is how I am calling the function:

std::vector<FormSummary> * crossSegmentsTop = new std::vector<FormSummary>();
int iZero = 0;
Foo(&iZero, o1, o2, o3, 10, 50, o4, crossSegmentsTop, iProfileArray);

I'm very confused as to how this could be happening. Do you think something could be happening to the stack?

Thank you,

• Alikar

Answer 1

Turns out it is a bug in the visual studio 2008 debugger when used with release mode versus debug mode. I'm generating the PDB file, but apparently until you use the value, such as in a command window, it doesn't correctly locate the pointer for the variable.