Access Violation error using IInterfaceList Delphi XE3 - delphi

I have encountered an access violation error [Access violation at address 5005F6E in module 'rtl170'. Read of address 0000000A] using the IInterfaceList.
My code looks something like this:
if not Assigned(FoRoutingCodes) then Exit;
for i := 0 to FoRoutingCodes.nCount - 1 do
begin
...
end;
the declaration of FoRoutingCodes is:
FoRoutingCodes : IRoutingCodeList;
and the definition of IRoutingCodeList
IRoutingCodeList = interface
function GetCount: Integer;
...
property nCount: Integer read GetCount;
end;
the implementation of nCount property is:
function TRoutingCodeList.GetCount: Integer;
begin
Result := 0;
if Assigned(FoItems) then
Result := FoItems.Count; // here i get the access violation error
end;
where TRoutingCodeList is the implementation of IRoutingCodeList and FoItems is declared as:
FoItems: IInterfaceList;
I have fixed this using
FoItems: TList<IRoutingCode>;
instead of
FoItems: IInterfaceList;
I am new to delphi, can anyone help me understand what was wrong with previous approach.
I don't know if this is relevant because there are many other changes is our product, but this issue appeared only after we moved from Delphi XE to Delphi XE3.
Thanks in advance.
Update: in response to Uwe Raabe
I have changed FoItems initialisation from
constructor TRoutingCodeList.Create;
begin
FoItems := TInterfaceList.Create;
end;
to
constructor TRoutingCodeList.Create;
begin
FoItems := TList<IRoutingCode>.Create;
end;

Considering only the code you posted so far, I can´t see the problem. However, since you know the exact location of the error, my advice is to set a breakpoint at that line in code and evaluate (CTRL+F7) the member FoItems to see what is it.
Usually, when I suspect I have a bad object reference, I evalute it´s ClassName (in your case, FoItems.ClassName). If the reference is invalid, this method usually raises an exception of returns a strange name.
Also, set a breakpoint in the constructor in order to be sure that FoItems is indeed being instantiated.
I Hope this helps!

Related

Delphi function return class object

In addition to this question I have made some tests and researches on the docwiki. My conclusion is that this kind of code should work without memory leaks:
function testResultObject: TClassA;
begin
Result := TClassA.Create;
Result.DoSomething;
end;
And then somewhere I can call the above code in this manner:
var k: TClassA;
begin
k := testResultObject;
try
//code code code
finally
k.Free;
end;
end;
As Remy suggested in the answer it's better to avoid this way of doing things and instead use something like testResultObject(x: TClassA): boolean. In this case the return true/false can tell me if everything went fine and I am passing an object already created.
Look at this code:
function testResultObject: TClassA;
begin
Result := TClassA.Create;
try
Result.DoSomething;
except
Result.Free;
end;
end;
The problem with the first version above of the function is that DoSomething could raise an exception and if so I'll leak memory. Can the second implementation with try-except be a solution? For sure later I'll have to check if the result is assigned or nil.
I agree that (as already said above) the testResultObject(x: TClassA): boolean would be better. I was just wondering if the return-a-class function way could be fixed as I've written.
Your code has serious problems. In case of an error, it swallows the exception, and returns an invalid object reference.
This is easy to fix. The canonical way is as follows:
function testResultObject: TClassA;
begin
Result := TClassA.Create;
try
Result.DoSomething;
except
Result.Free;
raise;
end;
end;
Either the function succeeds and returns a new object. Or it fails, cleans up after itself, and raises an exception.
In other words, this function looks and behaves just like a constructor. You consume it in the same way:
obj := testResultObject;
try
// do things with obj
finally
obj.Free;
end;
Your second approach works, but has 2 serious problems.
By swallowing all exceptions, (as J pointed out) you'll hide the fact that something went wrong.
There's no indication to the caller that you've created an object that the caller is responsible for destroying. This makes using the function more error prone; and easier to cause memory leaks.
I would recommend the following improvement on your second approach:
{Name has a clue that caller should take ownership of a new object returned}
function CreateObjectA: TClassA;
begin
{Once object is successfully created, internal resource protection is required:
- if no error, it is callers responsibility to destroy the returned object
- if error, caller must assume creation *failed* so must destroy object here
Also, by assigning Result of successful Create before *try*:
The object (reference) is returned
**if-and-only-if**
This function returns 'normally' (i.e. no exception state)}
Result := TClassA.Create;
try
Result.DoSomething; {that could fail}
except
{Cleanup only if something goes wrong:
caller should not be responsible for errors *within* this method}
Result.Free;
{Re-raise the exception to notify caller:
exception state means caller does not "receive" Result...
code jumps to next finally or except block}
raise;
end;
end;
The most important benefit of the above create function is that: as far as any caller/client code is concerned, it behaves exactly like a normal TObject.Create.
And so the correct usage pattern is exactly the same.
Note that I'm not keen on J's FreeAndNil suggestion because if calling code doesn't check if the result was assigned: it is likely to AV. And code that does check the result correctly will be a little messy:
var k: TClassA;
begin
k := testResultObject; {assuming nil result on failed create, next/similar is *required*}
if Assigned(k) then {Note how this differs from normal try finally pattern}
try
//code using k
finally
k.Free;
end;
end;
NB: It's important to note that you cannot ever have your caller simply ignore memory management; which brings me to the next section.
All the above aside, there is much less chance of making careless mistakes if your testResultObject takes an input object that you require the caller to create and manage its lifetime as needed. I'm not sure why you're resisting that approach so much? You cannot get simpler than the following without resorting to a different memory model.
var k: TClassA;
begin
k := TClassA.Create;
try
testResultObject(k); {Where this is simply implemented as k.DoSomething;}
//more code using k
finally
k.Free;
end;
end;
The only problem with this :
function testResultObject: TClassA;
begin
Result := TClassA.Create;
try
Result.DoSomething;
except
Result.Free;
end;
end;
Is that you have no way of knowing whether the function was successful. Freeing an object does not alter the reference; the variable will still point to the (now) invalid memory location where the object used to exist. You must explicitly set the reference to nil if you want the consumer to be able to test if the reference is valid. If you want to use this pattern (having the consumer test for nil) then you would need to do :
try
Result.DoSomething;
except
FreeAndNil(Result);
end;
This way the caller can test the result for nil (using Assigned or otherwise) as you intended. This still isn't a very clean approach, however, since you're still swallowing exceptions. Another solution might be to simply introduce a new constructor or alter the existing one. For example
TFoo = class
public
constructor Create(ADoSomething : boolean = false);
procedure DoSomething;
end;
constructor TClassA.Create(ADoSomething: Boolean = False);
begin
inherited Create;
if ADoSomething then DoSomething;
end;
procedure TClassA.DoSomething;
begin
//
end;
This way you can get rid of all of the exception handling and just call this as :
function testResultObject: TClassA;
begin
Result := TClassA.Create(true);
end;
Since you've now pushed the DoSomething execution into the constructor any exceptions will naturally automatically call the destructor and your memory management problems go away. The other answers also have good solutions.

How to avoid exceptions when using TGeckoBrowser in a Delphi app

Prompted by a q here yesterday, I'm trying to re-familiarise myself with TGeckoBrowser
from here: http://sourceforge.net/p/d-gecko/wiki/Home.
(Nb: requires the Mozilla XulRunner package to be installed)
Things seem to have moved backwards a bit since I last tried in the WinXP era, in that
with a minimal D7 project to navigate to a URL, I'm getting errors that I don't recall
seeing before. I've included my code below. These are the errors which I've run into
navigating to sites like www.google.com, news.bbc.co.uk, and here, of course.
The first exception - "Exception in Safecall method" - occurs as my form first displays, before naviagting anywhere at all. I have a work-around in the form of a TApplication.OnException handler.
My q is: a) Does anyone know how to avoid it in the first place or b) is there a tidier way of catching it than setting up a TApplication.Exception handler, which always feels to me like a bit of
an admission of defeat (I mean having one to avoid the user seeing an exception, not having an application-wide handler at all).
This exception occurs in this code:
procedure TCustomGeckoBrowser.Paint;
var
rc: TRect;
baseWin: nsIBaseWindow;
begin
if csDesigning in ComponentState then
begin
rc := ClientRect;
Canvas.FillRect(rc);
end else
begin
baseWin := FWebBrowser as nsIBaseWindow;
baseWin.Repaint(True);
end;
inherited;
end;
in the call to baseWin.Repaint, so presumably it's
presumably coming from the other side of the interface. I only get it the first
time .Paint is called. I noticed that at that point, the baseWin returns False for GetVisibility,
hence the experimental code in my TForm1.Loaded, to see if that would avoid it.
It does not.
2.a After calling GeckoBrowser1.LoadURI, I get "Invalid floating point operation"
once or more depending on the URL being loaded.
2.b Again, depending on the URL, I get: "Access violation at address 556318B3 in module js3250.dll. Read of address 00000008." or similar. On some pages it occurs every few seconds (thanks I imagine to some JS timer code in the page).
2a & 2b are avoided by the call to Set8087CW in TForm1.OnCreate below but I'm
mentioning them mainly in case anyone recognises them and 1 together as symptomatic
of a systemic problem of some sort, but also so google will find this q
for others who run into those symptoms.
Reverting to my q 1b), the "Exception in Safecall method" occurs from StdWndProc->
TWinControl.MainWndProc->[...]->TCustomGeckoBrowser.Paint. Instead of using an
TApplication.OnException handler, is there a way of catching the exception further
up the call-chain, so as to avoid modifying the code of TCustomGeckoBrowser.Paint by
putting a handler in there?
Update: A comment drew my attention to this documentation relating to SafeCall:
ESafecallException is raised when the safecall error handler has not been set up and a safecall routine returns a non-0 HResult, or if the safecall error handler does not raise an exception. If this exception occurs, the Comobj unit is probably missing from the application's uses list (Delphi) or not included in the project source file (C++). You may want to consider removing the safecall calling convention from the routine that gave rise to the exception.
The GeckoBrowser source comes with a unit, BrowserSupports, which looks like a type library import unit, except that it seems to have been manually prepared. It contains an interface which includes the Repaint method which is producing the SafeCall exception.
nsIBaseWindow = interface(nsISupports)
['{046bc8a0-8015-11d3-af70-00a024ffc08c}']
procedure InitWindow(parentNativeWindow: nativeWindow; parentWidget: nsIWidget; x: PRInt32; y: PRInt32; cx: PRInt32; cy: PRInt32); safecall;
procedure Create(); safecall;
procedure Destroy(); safecall;
[...]
procedure Repaint(force: PRBool); safecall;
[...]
end;
Following the suggestion in the quoyed documentation, I changed th "safecall" to StdCall on the Repaint member (but only that member) and, presto!, the exception stopped occurring. If it doesn't reappear in the next couple of days, I'll post that as an answer, unless anyone comes up with a better one.
My project code:
uses
BrowserSupports;
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
Set8087CW($133F);
Application.OnException := HandleException;
end;
procedure TForm1.HandleException(Sender: TObject; E: Exception);
begin
Inc(Errors);
Caption := Format('Errors %d, msg: %s', [Errors, E.Message]);
Screen.Cursor := crDefault;
end;
type
TMyGeckoBrowser = class(TGeckoBrowser);
procedure TForm1.Loaded;
begin
inherited;
GeckoBrowser1.HandleNeeded;
(TMyGeckoBrowser(GeckoBrowser1).WebBrowser as nsIBaseWindow).SetVisibility(True);
end;
procedure TForm1.btnLoadUrlClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
try
GeckoBrowser1.LoadURI(edUrl.Text);
except
end;
end;
Looking at the headers, the prototype for Repaint is effectively as follows:
HRESULT __stdcall Repaint(PRBool force);
and that means that
procedure Repaint(force: PRBool); safecall;
is a reasonable declaration. Remember that safecall performs parameter re-writing to convert COM error codes into exceptions.
This does mean that if the call to Repaint returns a value that indicates failure, then the safecall mechanism will surface that as an exception. If you wish to ignore this particular exception then it is cleaner to do so at source:
try
baseWin.Repaint(True);
except
on EOleException do
; // ignore
end;
If you wish to avoid dealing with exceptions then you could switch to stdcall, but you must remember to undo the parameter re-writing.
function Repaint(force: PRBool): HRESULT; stdcall;
Now you can write it like this:
if Failed(baseWin.Repaint(True)) then
; // handle the error if you really wish to, or just ignore it
Note that Failed is defined in the ActiveX unit.
If you want to troubleshoot the error further then you can look at the error code:
var
hres: HRESULT;
....
hres := baseWin.Repaint(True);
// examine hres
Or if you are going to leave the function as safecall then you can retrieve the error code from the EOleException instance's ErrorCode property.

Delphi XE4 gives E2036 when accessing generic list items of 'object's

This is probably similar / continuation on the previous question below:
Why Delphi XE3 gives "E2382 Cannot call constructors using instance variables"?
Now I'm trying Delphi XE4 with the same code (with 'constructor' changed to 'procedure' as per the solution of the above question).
Now I have also these things in a generics list, i.e. I have
TCoordRect = object
public
function Something: Boolean;
end;
and then a list of these in a function parameter, which I loop through and try to access the items directly:
function DoSomething(AList: TList<TCoordRect>): Boolean;
var
i: Integer;
begin
Result := False;
for i := 0 to AList.Count - 1 do
begin
Result := Result or AList[i].Something; // <-- Here comes the compiler error!
end;
end;
This gives the compiler error "E2036 Variable required". However, if I don't access it directly, i.e put instead a local variable and use that first, then it works:
function DoSomething(AList: TList<TCoordRect>): Boolean;
var
i: Integer;
ListItem: TCoordRect;
begin
Result := False;
for i := 0 to AList.Count - 1 do
begin
ListItem := AList[i];
Result := Result or ListItem.Something; // <-- Now this compiles!
end;
end;
And another "workaround" is to remove all these 'object' types and change them to 'class', but I'm curious as to why this does not work like it used to? Is it again just something with "the compiler moving towards mobile development" or is there some more specific reason, or is this even a bug? BTW I also reported this as a QC issue, so will see if something comes from there.
It's a compiler bug, and it's present in all earlier versions of the compiler. The fault is not limited to XE4. Submitting a QC report is the correct response.
I would not be surprised if Embarcadero never attempt to fix it. That's because you are using deprecated object. Switch to using record and the code compiles.
The issue you have uncovered in this question is unrelated to the SO question you refer to at the top of your question.
Incidentally, this really is a case of old meets new. Legacy Turbo Pascal objects, and modern day generic containers. You are mixing oil and water!

problem with GetIpForwardTable Implementation in Delphi 7

I have put together this code for viewing Routing Table in My delphi App.
PMIB_IPFORWARDROW = ^TMibIpForwardRow;
TMibIpForwardRow=packed record
dwForwardDest:DWORD;
dwForwardMask:DWORD;
dwForwardPolicy:DWORD;
dwForwardNextHop:DWORD;
dwForwardIfIndex:DWORD;
dwForwardType:DWORD;
dwForwardProto:DWORD;
dwForwardAge:DWORD;
dwForwardNextHopAS:DWORD;
dwForwardMetric1:DWORD;
dwForwardMetric2:DWORD;
dwForwardMetric3:DWORD;
dwForwardMetric4:DWORD;
dwForwardMetric5:DWORD;
end;
PMIB_IPFORWARDTABLE=^TMibIpForwardTable ;
TMibIpForwardTable=packed record
dwNumEntries:DWORD;
table:array [0..ANY_SIZE-1] of TMibIpForwardRow;
end;
The Declaration of the Function is :
getIpForwardTable: function (pIpForwardTable:PMIB_IPFORWARDTABLE; pdwSize:PULONG; bOrder:BOOL):DWORD; stdcall;
And the Function for Implementation is:
procedure GetRouteTable;
var
Error:DWORD;
pRouteTable:PMIB_IPFORWARDTABLE ;
dwSize:ULONG;
//dwSize:ULONG;
TableSize:Integer;
begin
try
dwSize:=0;
GetMem(pRouteTable,SizeOf(TMibIpForwardTable));
Error:=GetIpForwardTable(pRouteTable,#dwSize,FALSE);// Error at this line
if Error=NO_ERROR then
begin
ShowMessage(IntToStr(Error));
end
else
ShowMessage(IntToStr(Error));
except
on E:Exception do
ShowMessage(E.ClassName+':'+E.Message);
end;
end;
I am getting Error code=122. Please help in correcting this Error.
Thanks in Advance
edit
I have tried this combo too but it didnt work
Error:=GetIpForwardTable(nil,#dwSize,FALSE);
if Error=ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER then
ShowMessage(IntToStr(Error))
else
begin
GetMem(pRouteTable,dwSize);
Error:=getIpForwardTable(pRouteTable,#dwSize,False);
if Error=NO_ERROR then
begin
ShowMessage(IntToStr(Error));
end
else
ShowMessage(IntToStr(Error));
Error code 122 is ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER. The documentation for GetIpForwardTable states that this error code is returned when the following occurs.
The buffer pointed to by the pIpForwardTable parameter is not large enough. The required size is returned in the DWORD variable pointed to by the pdwSize parameter.
The solution is to read the value of dwSize that is returned, and call again with a buffer of that size.
The other problem with your code is that you do not pass in a valid buffer. Notice that the variable pRouteTable is never assigned to. In your edit, you do call GetMem to allocate it, but in the wrong place. You need something like this:
Error := GetIpForwardTable(nil, #dwSize, False);
if Error<>ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER then
RaiseLastOSError(Error);
GetMem(pRouteTable,dwSize);
Error := GetIpForwardTable(pRouteTable, #dwSize, False);
if Error<>ERROR_SUCCESS then
RaiseLastOSError(Error);

Why does the compiler say "Too many actual parameters" when I think I've provided the correct number?

I've declared the following function:
function next(current, next: string): Integer;
begin
form1.Label1.Caption := next;
form1.Label2.Caption := current;
form1.label3.Caption := clipboard.AsText+inttostr(c);
Result:=1;
end;
I try to execute it with this code:
if label1.Caption = '' then res := next('current', 'next');
I am getting the following error:
[Error] Unit1.pas(47): E2034 Too many
actual parameters
I think all parameters are good, so why am I getting that error?
I just tried your code on both Delphi 7 and Delphi 2010. If it works on those two, it should also work on Delphi 2005.
Conclusion: Delphi wants to use a different version of the "next" routine, because of code scope/visibility. Try ctrl+click-ing on "next" in "res := next();" and see where Delphi takes you. Alternatively post more code so we can tell you why Delphi is not choosing your version of the "next" routine. Ideally you should post a whole unit, starting from "unit name" to the final "end."
As specified by Cosmin Prund, the problem is because of the visibility.
TForm has a procedure with name Next which wont accept any parameters.
Your function uses the same name and as you are calling the function in TForm1 class implementation, compiler is treating the call as TForm1.Next and hence it was giving error.
To solve the problem, precede the unit name before the function name i.e., Unit1.Next().
So this should be your code
if label1.Caption = '' then res := Unit1.next('current', 'next');

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