Memory leak if LinkEndChild() is not called

[igorv007]

Hi,
I just discovered a memory leak that happens if you do not call LinkEndChild().

So if you code like so:
TiXmlElement * pRoot = new TiXmlElement(“BOOKS”);
xmlDoc.LinkEndChild(pRoot);

there is no memory leak.

But if the code goes like this:
TiXmlElement * pRoot = new TiXmlElement(“BOOKS”); <- memory leak here

And I have to call
delete pRoot;

Just to explain what I am doing.
I want to create <BOOKS> element, add number of <BOOK> elements to it, all in memory.
Then I load the document, check if it contains <BOOKS> element. If it does then I want to replace it with the one I just created, if it does not I want to insert it.

Am I missing something or am I doing the right thing calling “delete”?
I do not believe I’ve seen a “delete” statement anywhere in the docs, so I am a bit confused.

Thanks,
Igor.

[Ellers]

do you mean:

// this is ok - no memory leak
{
  TiXmlDoc doc...
  TiXmlElement * pRoot = new TiXmlElement("BOOKS");
  doc.LinkEndChild(pRoot);
}

// this is bad - memory leak
{
  TiXmlElement * pRoot = new TiXmlElement("BOOKS");
}

?

[David Jorge]

Hi. This means tha ti can create several TiXmlElement like this and have no leak?

      pXmlElFile = new TiXmlElement( "file" );
      pXmlElFile->SetAttribute("name",str);
      pXmlElFile->SetAttribute("id",unicNumber);

      //Username
      TiXmlElement* xmlEl      = new     TiXmlElement("username");
      TiXmlText*     xmlText   = new TiXmlText(userName);
      xmlEl->LinkEndChild(xmlText);
      pXmlElFile->LinkEndChild(xmlEl);

      //url
      xmlEl      = new TiXmlElement("url");
      xmlText      = new TiXmlText(url);
      xmlEl->LinkEndChild(xmlText);
      pXmlElFile->LinkEndChild(xmlEl);

      //password
      xmlEl      = new TiXmlElement("password");
      xmlText      = new TiXmlText(passwordEnc);
      xmlEl->LinkEndChild(xmlText);
      pXmlElFile->LinkEndChild(xmlEl);

....
....
....
....

[igorv007]

Yes.

[Lee Thomason]

Igor, if it's not clear from the comment above, TinyXML will delete objects you pass to it. (LinkEndChild()) but you need to call 'delete' on objects you do not pass to TinyXML.

lee

[igorv007]

Thanks a lot, Lee. I just wanted to make sure that I am doing the right thing calling 'delete' since the  documentation does not mention this anywhere.

Thanks again.