Question

how do I convert a reference to a pointer correctly?

The code below gives me the following warning: “taking address of temporary”.

MyClass myclass;

vector<MyClass*> myClassList;

myClassList.push_back(&myclass);

MethodThatsNeedsVectorOFMyClassPointers(myClassList);

Answer 1

The way your code looks like now, you shouldn’t get a warning since myclass and myClassList have the same lifetime. However, if myClassList outlives myclass, you need to dynamically allocate MyClass:

vector<MyClass*> myClassList;
{
    MyClass* myclass = new MyClass; 
    myClassList.push_back(myclass);
}

If the following is closer to what you actually have:

vector<MyClass*> myClassList;
{
   MyClass myclass;
   myClassList.push_back(&myclass);
}

then myclass is destroyed at the closing }, and myClassList will contain a pointer to released memory.

Also, is MyClass polymorphic? Do you really need to store pointers in the vector?