Arrays with unknown size on Arduino - c++

Question

I'm doing an Arduino project and I need to pass arrays with different sizes as parameter to my function.
The problem is that std::vector is not an option.
How can I do that?

Answer 1

The fallback is to pass a pointer to the first element in the array and the size:
void foo(int* arr, size_t size);
The reason for std::vector not being available on some platforms is that on some platforms dynamic allocations is a bad idea. However, once you are dynamically allocating arrays:
int* x = new int[42];
foo(arr,42); // array decays to pointer
delete[] x;
then you could as well use std::vector.
If std::vector is not available to you, then either search for an alternative (maybe this?) or write your own. The pointer + size approach is fragile and not recommended unless absolutely necessary. The power of std::vector is from the abstract concept to encapsulate the array, its size and capacity. Nobody can prevent you to apply that concept even if you cannot use std::vector.
In case you are talking about statically sized arrays, then thats not quite the use case for std::vector. You do not need dynamic allocation, and you can pass arrays by reference. I won't repeat here what you can find in this answer (std::array) or here (c-arrays).

Answer 2

Something like this should work
template<size_t N>
void DaFunction(std::array<int, N>& daArray)

Answer 3

you can do it without having to deal with memory allocation or pointers just by creating a string variable and a limited size array and then you start shifting
#include <Arduino.h>
class ArrayShifter
{
private:
// String Reservoire Tank
String _text;
// a fixed size array of 5 in my case (depending on the amount of data you expect)
String _viewPortArray[5];
int _size = 0;
// Methode to fill the array
bool shiftArray(int position);
public:
ArrayShifter(/* args */);
// Method that gets the text from Serial
String getSerialText();
// get data from the array
String getArrayData(int index);
// array size getter
int getSize();
//clear the array
void clearArray();
//remove item
void removeArrayItem(int index);
};
ArrayShifter::ArrayShifter(/* args */)
{
}
String ArrayShifter::getSerialText()
{
// lesteing to the serial and returning the value
_text = Serial.readString();
return _text;
}
bool ArrayShifter::shiftArray(int position)
{
/*Assuming that the data is comming separated with ";" for each row and ":" for each value
to optimize the size of array in this way :
name:value;age:value;gender:value;
*/
String text = getSerialText();
int index = 0;
_size = 0;
if (text.length() > 0) // text isn't empty
{
if (position <= 5) // if the data belongs to the first 5 range
{
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
// get the index of our separator that we've chosed to be ";"
index = text.indexOf(";");
if (index > 0)
{
// index found
_size++;
// putting the value before ";" in the array
_viewPortArray[i] = text.substring(0, index);
// deleting the value from the tank
text = text.substring(index + 1);
}
}
}
else
{
_size = 0;
// to wich range the desired index belongs
unsigned int dataRange = ((position - position % 5));
int ghostIndex = 0;
// looping throught all ";" to get indexes
for (int i = 0; i < dataRange; i++)
{
ghostIndex = text.indexOf(";");
if (ghostIndex > 0)
{
_size++;
text = text.substring(ghostIndex + 1);
}
}
// grabing just 5 of the data
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
if (ghostIndex > 0)
{
_size++;
_viewPortArray[i] = text.substring(0, ghostIndex);
text = text.substring(ghostIndex + 1);
}
// updating ghost index
ghostIndex = text.indexOf(';');
}
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
String ArrayShifter::getArrayData(int index)
{
// turn the roulette
if (shiftArray(index))
{
if (index <= 5)
{
// yes we have this
return _viewPortArray[index];
}
else
{
// but we have to put it in the range of 5
index = index - 5;
return _viewPortArray[index];
}
}
}
int ArrayShifter::getSize()
{
return _size;
}
void ArrayShifter::clearArray()
{
for(int i = 0 ; i <5 ; i ++)
{
_viewPortArray->remove(i);
_size = 0;
}
}
void ArrayShifter::removeArrayItem(int index)
{
_viewPortArray->remove(index);
_size--;
}
main class :
#include <Arduino.h>
#include <ArrayShifter.h>
ArrayShifter array;
void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
Serial.begin(9600);
while (!Serial){}
}
void loop() {
if(Serial.available()>0)
{
Serial.println(array.getArrayData(7));
int sizeOption2 = array.getSize();
Serial.println(sizeOption2);
array.removeArrayItem(7);
Serial.println(array.getArrayData(7));
}
}
please check my github repository
https://github.com/Riadam/ViewPort-Array-Shifter-for-Arduino-Uno.git