Problem with cJSON_AddItem* functions

[dismirlian]

Hi,

I have a problem with the cJSON_Add[*]ToObject functions.

For example, when using the cJSON_AddStringToObject macro (which uses cJSON_AddItemToObject), I can't be sure that it succeeded.

The problem is that cJSON_CreateString returns NULL in case of error, but cJSON_AddItemToObject ignores the NULL item without any action. My suggestion (in case someone is interested!) would be to add a return value to cJSON_AddItemToObject and similar functions (for example, let cJSON_AddItemToObject return item). In this case, I can write this code:

if (!cJSON_AddStringToObject(obj, "nombre", "pepito")) {
  ... failed, do something ...
}

Bottom line, the return value of cJSON_Create[*] is thrown away, and the library's user is never informed if the operations succeeded or not. What do you think?

Regards,
Diego.

[FSMaxB]

Sorry, I can't do this right now because it would break the API, but I will definitely put this in the queue for version 2. (although I still can't give any estimate on when that will be, might take a while).

[dismirlian]

Hi Max, thanks for your quick answer. I think this could be added in version 1.x, because it only requires a change from return void to return cJSON*. The existing code wouldn't need any changes because it already ignores the return value from cJSON_Add.... .

As an added benefit, if the compiler warns about unused return values, the usage of these functions will be flagged as potential problems.

Of course, it is not the neatest thing to do....

Diego.