How to return a string from GetOpenFileNameA - c

Question

This is a function to open a file dialog in Windows and return a string with the file name:
#include <windows.h>
#include <commdlg.h>
#include <string.h>
char* openFileDlg(char FileTypes[]);
char* openFileDlg(char FileTypes[]){
OPENFILENAME ofn;
char szFile[260];
HWND hwnd;
HANDLE hf;
ZeroMemory(&ofn, sizeof(ofn));
ofn.lStructSize = sizeof(ofn);
ofn.hwndOwner = hwnd;
ofn.lpstrFile = szFile;
ofn.lpstrFile[0] = '\0';
ofn.nMaxFile = sizeof(szFile);
strcpy(ofn.lpstrFilter,FileTypes);
ofn.nFilterIndex = 1;
ofn.lpstrFileTitle = NULL;
ofn.nMaxFileTitle = 0;
ofn.lpstrInitialDir = NULL;
ofn.Flags = OFN_PATHMUSTEXIST | OFN_FILEMUSTEXIST;
if(GetOpenFileNameA(&ofn)){
char *toReturn;
sprintf(toReturn,"%s",ofn.lpstrFile);
return toReturn;
}
else{
return NULL;
}
}
When I call this function and open a file, the process ends and returns value 3 (which means there is an error). How can I do so that this function returns a string with the path of the selected file?
Edit: I've changed my code to this and it still doesn't work:
#include <windows.h>
#include <commdlg.h>
#include <string.h>
void openFileDlg(char *toReturn[],char FileTypes[]);
void openFileDlg(char *toReturn[],char FileTypes[]){
OPENFILENAME ofn;
/*
Code for the settings of the GetOpenFileNameA, irrelevant in this question.
If you really need to know what's here, look at the code above.
*/
if(GetOpenFileNameA(&ofn)){
strcpy(*toReturn,ofn.lpstrFile);
}
else{
sprintf(*toReturn,"");
}
}
I should also say that if I press the Cancel button in the open file dialog box instead of selecting a file, it works fine. After some tests, I've noticed that it's the line strcpy(*toReturn,ofn.lpstrFile); that causes the error.

Answer 1

The pointer variable toReturn doesn't point anywhere, using it in any way without initializing it (i.e. making it point somewhere valid and big enough) will lead to undefined behavior
You have two solutions really:
Allocate memory dynamically and return a pointer to that. This of course requires the caller to free the memory when done with it.
Have the function take another two arguments: A pointer to a buffer and the length of the buffer. Then copy the string into that buffer, and return a boolean "true" or "false" success/failure status.
I recommend solution number two.
On an unrelated note, there's no need to use the expensive sprintf function in your case, a simple strcpy (or strncpy if you go with the second solution) will do.
You also have to remember in both cases that strings in C have an actual length of one more than e.g. strlen reports, for the terminating '\0' character.

Answer 2

In general, if you want to return a string in C, I'd use one of the following methods:
1) pass in a string buffer for the method to write to:
int openFileDlg(char FileTypes[], char* toReturn, int bufLen) {
/* ... */
snprintf(toReturn, bufLen, /* what you want to print */);
return ERROR; // status-code
}
/* ... */
char errorBuf[80];
int result;
result = openFileDlg(..., errorBuf, sizeof(errorBuf));
2) allocate memory, expect caller to free it:
char* openFileDlg(char FileTypes[]) {
/* ... */
char *toReturn = malloc(/* big enough */);
sprintf(toReturn, /* what you want to print */);
return toReturn;
}
/* ... */
char* error = openFileDlg(...);
if (error) {
/* ... */
free(error);
}
personally, I'd prefer (1) because it's safer. Option (2) is nicer to the API of the function, but has a risk of memory leaks if you forget to free the returned buffer. In a bigger project (especially with multiple people working on it) this is a very real risk.
(I realise this is pretty much the same as Joachim's answer, but his went up as I was writing mine)

Answer 3

You did not allocate memory for your return value. If you know the length of ofn.lpstrFile you could do this:
char *toReturn = malloc( (sizeOfLpstrFile + 1) * sizeof(char)) ;
sprintf(toReturn,"%s",ofn.lpstrFile);
return toReturn;
Still I consider this a bad idea because the calling function will have to free the memory which is not obvious from the interface.