arduino / arduino/ArduinoCore-API

Detecting errors in String operations

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#186 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
C++
Stars
306
Forks
150
PR merge metrics
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Description

Hello,

If a String creation fails it is possible to detect this error in the code, like:

```C++
String s = "abc";
if (!s) ... // error, out of heap or something ...
```

However the error detection doesn't work with String expressions:

```C++
#define howLarge 5000
String *strArray = new String [howLarge];

void wasteAlmostAllMemory () {
for (int i = 0; i < howLarge; i++) strArray [i] = " wasted memory ";
while (true)
for (int i = 0; i < howLarge; i++)
if (!strArray [i].concat (" more wasted memory "))
return;
}

String returnLongString () {
return "This is a long string, much longer than fits into free memory, although not right now.";
}

void setup () {
Serial.begin (115200);

String longString = returnLongString ();

Serial.printf ("Wasting memory, please wait ... ");
wasteAlmostAllMemory ();
Serial.printf ("memory successfuly wasted\n");

String resultString;

// 1.
resultString = longString;
if (!resultString)
Serial.printf ("Could not create a long String s.\n"); // error detected successfuly
else { Serial.print ("'"); Serial.print (resultString); Serial.println ("'"); }

// 2.
resultString = "ABC " + longString + " DEF";
if (!resultString)
Serial.printf ("Could not calculate a String s.\n"); // error goes by undetected
else { Serial.print ("'"); Serial.print (resultString); Serial.println ("'"); } // the output is: ' DEF'

// 3.
resultString = returnLongString (); // failure to create the return String crashes the controller
}

void loop () {

}
```

My proposal is that each string expression that contains string in "error state" result in string also in "error state", so success could be tested only once even after several String operations. Something like this:

```C++
String s = "abc";
for (int i = 1; i < 1000; i++)
s += s.substring (1, 1);
if (!s) ... // error
```
Thank you.

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Research direction

The issue provides C++ examples in setup(), wasteAlmostAllMemory(), and returnLongString(), but names no implementation files or tests. Start by locating the Arduino String implementation and the paths used for concatenation, assignment, and returned strings. Done means the supplied failure checks consistently detect errors without partial output or a controller crash, with regression coverage.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
api, embedded-iot
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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