Question

double * values; // instead of this,
std::vector<double> values; // I want this.

An API I’m using provides a result as double* pointer. I want to wrap this with the std::vector<double> type.

Answer 1

You can’t wrap an array in a vector in place and expect the vector to operate on that array. The best you can do is give the vector the double* and the number of values, which will have the vector make a copy of every element and put it in itself:

int arrlen = 0;

// pretending my_api takes arrlen by reference and sets it to the length of the array
double* dbl_ptr = my_api(arrlen); 

vector<double> values(dbl_ptr, dbl_ptr + arrlen);

// note that values is *not* using the same memory as dbl_ptr
// so although values[0] == dbl_ptr[0], &values[0] != &dbl_ptr[0]

And also, like Praetorian said, if the API you are using expects you to free the memory after using it, you might be interested in smart pointers. See Praetorian’s answer.