Question

I have an array of pointers to a class called cPlayer.

Compiler: Visual C++ 2010 Express

Init

cPlayer* players[MAX_PLAYERS];

Max_Players is a defined value of 10.
defined in a class called “OnlineData”, in a header.

Checking

if (players[a]){
   // some code here
}

What ever I have tried, it still gets through to //some code here

Players are deleted like this:

players[player->id]=0;
delete player;

Question

I want to check if item at position a in the players array has a value. I am using it to resort the player list (defragmentation)

The array works normalling in adding content, until i try to do the above thing

Answer 1

To initialize a global or local array you would use:

cPlayer* players[MAX_PLAYERS] = {};

However since your array is a class member you can’t do this (until C++11 introduced in-class initialization, but VS2010 does not support this feature). Instead you have to write code that initializes each member individually in your constructor bodies (or init function or whatever):

struct S {
    cPlayer *players[MAX_PLAYERS];

    S() {
        for (int i=0; i<MAX_PLAYERS; ++i) {
            players[i] = NULL;
        }
    }
};

Or better than using an explicit loop would be to use something from <algorithm>, such as std::fill or std::fill_n:

std::fill_n(players, MAX_PLAYERS, NULL);