Create a pointer to a MFnMesh - c++

Question

I am trying to create function that receive a MFnMesh pointer and do things on it.
The problem is that I cannot convert my MFnMesh to a pointer, I think the problem is not only on this class but on MFnBaseClass because I get this error.
/usr/autodesk/maya2015-x64/include/maya/MFnBase.h:168:14: error: ‘MFnMesh* MFnMesh::operator&() const’ is private
MFnClass * operator& () const
^
/usr/autodesk/maya2015-x64/include/maya/MFnDagNode.h:237:2: note: in expansion of macro ‘declareMinimalMFn’
declareMinimalMFn( MFnClass ); \
^
/usr/autodesk/maya2015-x64/include/maya/MFnMesh.h:243:2: note: in expansion of macro ‘declareDagMFn’
declareDagMFn(MFnMesh, MFnDagNode);
^
/home/k.masson/Documents/maya/km_extendedColorSet/src/km_particlesToColorSet.cpp:159:9: error: within this context
test(&meshFn);
^
Here is the function test which is in somefile.h and included in the file which call the function.
void test(MFnMesh * meshFn){
MStatus status = MS::kSuccess;
MString csName("YOLOSWAQDAZD");
status = meshFn->createColorSetDataMesh(csName);
MCheckStatus(status,"Error creating new color set");
}
And here is what I do before calling the test function.
// Get the out mesh data
MDataHandle outMeshHandle = data.outputValue(aOutGeometry, &status);
MCheckStatus(status,"ERROR getting aOutGeometry");
// Copy the in mesh to the output
outMeshHandle.copy(inMeshData);
// Create a function set for the out mesh
MFnMesh meshFn(outMeshHandle.asMesh());
test(&meshFn);
I didn't found any way to convert my MFnMesh to a pointer so I tried to directly call it as an object and not a pointer like this.
test(meshFn);
void test(MFnMesh meshFn){
MStatus status = MS::kSuccess;
MString csName("YOLOSWAQDAZD");
status = meshFn.createColorSetDataMesh(csName);
MCheckStatus(status,"Error creating new color set");
}
And I get this :
/usr/autodesk/maya2015-x64/include/maya/MFnMesh.h:243:16: error: ‘MFnMesh::MFnMesh(const MFnMesh&)’ is private
declareDagMFn(MFnMesh, MFnDagNode);
^
/usr/autodesk/maya2015-x64/include/maya/MFnBase.h:166:9: note: in definition of macro ‘declareMinimalMFn’
MFnClass( const MFnClass &rhs ); \
^
/usr/autodesk/maya2015-x64/include/maya/MFnMesh.h:243:2: note: in expansion of macro ‘declareDagMFn’
declareDagMFn(MFnMesh, MFnDagNode);
^
/home/k.masson/Documents/maya/km_extendedColorSet/src/km_particlesToColorSet.cpp:159:14: error: within this context
test(meshFn);
^
In file included from /home/k.masson/Documents/maya/km_extendedColorSet/src/km_particlesToColorSet.cpp:29:0:
/home/k.masson/Documents/maya/km_extendedColorSet/src/kmColorSetTool.h:29:6: error: initializing argument 1 of ‘void test(MFnMesh)’
void test(MFnMesh meshFn){
So do you know if there is anyway to create a function that acts on a MFnBase class in a fashion way, or even a class with a MFnBase attribute ? I don't know we can't do this kind of process which is really current..
I am new to c++ so it may be possible that I did a dumb mistake.

Answer 1

The MFnBaseClass does not allow to use the conversion to a pointer, instead, use a reference which works almost the same. See References vs. Pointers for more information.
The correct signature for my function is
void test(MFnMesh& meshFn)
And the way to use it is
test(meshFn);
And to use the reference in the function, just use it as a regular object
void test(MFnMesh& meshFn){
MStatus status = MS::kSuccess;
MString csName("YOLOSWAQDAZD");
status = meshFn.createColorSetDataMesh(csName);
MCheckStatus(status,"Error creating new color set");
}