Move std::vector<T> to T*

Question

all I've a legacy code which in draft does something like this:

// sadly I have to use this structure
struct LegacyStruct {
  int* values;
}
LegacyStruct* LgStr;
....
    std::vector<int> vec;
    // fill vector in some way here  

    size_t sz = vec.size();
    LgStr->values = new int[sz];
    std::copy(vec.begin(), vec.end(), &LgStr->values[0]);

vec can be huge and I need to avoid copying it to int*. Is there a way to do it? I tried following:

// type of new operator explained in More Effective C++
LgStr->values = new (&vec[0])int[vec.size()];

Ok, values points to the beginning of vec inner array, but it destroyed when vec is out of scope. But I have to keep it..

&vec[0] = nullptr; // does not compile of course

So question is: is it possible to apply move semantics in this case? Or maybe some other trick?

Answer 1

The short answer is that no, there isn't any way to transfer ownership of a vector's buffer outside the vector.

I think your best option is to make sure that the vector just doesn't die by using a wrapper:

class LegacyStructWrapper : private boost::noncopyable  // Or declare private copy constructor/copy assignment or use `= delete` in C++11.
{
private:
    std::vector<int> vec_;
    LegacyStruct wrapped_;
}

Then anytime you need to use values, just assign it to &vec_[0]. This will stay constant if/until you add more items to the vector (so you will have to use care to make sure that vector resizes don't cause problems).