[avr-gcc-list] Syntax: Function pointer hell... newbee lost ! ;-)

[Vincent Trouilliez]

Hi list,

I need a little help from the pros ;-)

I Googled for C tutorials on the net, found a few. They aren't all quite
clear about how to use function pointers, and where they are clear, the
syntax they suggest doesn't appear to work on avr-gcc :-(

I need to call a void/void function through a pointer. Here is my best
attempt based on my readings.. doesn't work, see below



main.c
---------------------------------------------------------------
.....
.....

void function(void);    //prototype

void (*fptr)();         //declare the function pointer

void (*fptr) (void) = &function;        //set the pointer

void function(void)     //function to be started via the pointer
{
        lcd_clear();
        lcd_print_P( PSTR("Place Holder Func.") );
        lcd_gotoxy(0,2);
        lcd_print_P( PSTR("Pointer = 0x") );

        //print out address held in the pointer
        lcd_put_byte( (uint8_t)(fptr >> 8) );
        lcd_put_byte( (uint8_t)(fptr & 0x00FF) );
        
}


void main (void)
{
        int f_call;
        f_call = fptr;  //load the function via the pointer

        ....
}

------------------------------------------------


Sadly it doesn't work.
GCC does issue a warning (might be the problem ?) about the 
function call itself (f_call = fptr), saying:

"warning: assignment makes integer from pointer without a cast"

Problem is that tutorials say to use a variable of the same type
 than that returned by the function (does make sense ;-) in the
assignement statement that executes the function but... since my
function actually returns nothing, I would have to use a variable of
type "void", to be consistent... which doesn't make sense does it..
So as a workaround, I tried casting the pointer to int, as suggested by
the compiler, like this

f_call = (int) fptr;

... but although it appears to make the compiler happy, it doesn't work
either.


I also have another problem related to the pointer: to try and
start figuring things out, I meant to display the content/address
stored in the pointer, onto the LCD, to see if it matches the address
of the function as seen in the map file.
Since I have an ATmega32, I assume the pointer must be 16 bits, so as
you can see in the body of the function, I tried to display the high
byte first then low byte of the pointer, but I guess there must be some
trick there too, because gcc complains again:

*****************
error: invalid operands to binary >>
error: invalid operands to binary &
*****************

Since one can do arythmetic operations to pointers, like add or
substract, I assumed/hoped one could do "any" kind of operation on it,
like you would on a normal data. Maybe not then ?


Thanks in advance for your time...


Regards,

Vince, pulling hair...