Question

I’ve a situation like this:

class MyClass { private:   std::auto_ptr<MyOtherClass> obj;  public:   MyClass()   {     obj = auto_ptr<MyOtherClass>(new MyOtherClass());   }    void reassignMyOtherClass()   {     // ... do funny stuff     MyOtherClass new_other_class = new MyOtherClass();     // Here, I want to:     //  1) Delete the pointer object inside 'obj'     //  2) Re-assign the pointer object of 'obj' to 'new_other_class'     //     so that 'obj' now manages 'new_other_class' instead of the     //     object that just got deleted manually   } }; 

Is there a way to achieve this? Will the following code do what I want?

void MyClass::reassignMyOtherClass() {   // ... still, do more funny stuff (flashback humor :-)   MyOtherClass new_other_class = new MyOtherClass();   obj.reset(new_other_class); } 

Will the memory of new_other_class be de-allocated in the default destructor of MyClass?

Answer 1

Yes it will. You can use

obj.reset( new MyOtherClass() ); 

And I’d better use such constructor

 MyClass():      obj( new MyOtherClass() )  {  }