Re: [Vala] Help: unowned string returns garbage characters

[bsquared <bwcode4u gmail com>]

LoveBug356 <thijsvermeir gmail com>
writes:

> Hi,
>
> On Sat, 2011-10-29 at 09:44 -0700, bsquared wrote:
> > Hello, 
> >
> > I am refactoring some of my test code into a class and have run
> > into a problem with unowned strings.
> >
> > I have a class that has several methods that return strings. These
> > methods get their value form the response buffer of a Soup Message.
> >
> >         public string send_misc_method (MiscMethod mm) {
> >                [...]
> >                debug ("send_misc_method: %s",
> >                      (string) message.response_body.flatten ().data); // OK
> >                return  (string) message.response_body.flatten ().data
> >         }
> >
> >         public unowned string get_motd () {
> >                string s = send_misc_method (MiscMethod.MOTD);
> >                debug ("get_motd: %s", s);                       // OK
> >                return s.to_string (); // transfers ownership?
> >         }
>
> This looks wrong. You are creating a new unowned string from a string
> wich you will drop te ownership at the end of the function. So this
> unowned string will always be wrong. Probably there is no reason here to
> return a unowned string.
>
> Gr,
> Thijs
>
> >         main (string[] args) {
> >              [...]
> >              debug ("main - get_motd: %s", server.get_motd ()); // !OK
> >              // var s = server.get_motd ();
> >              // debug ("main - get_motd: %s", s); // also !OK             
> >         }
> >
> > output:
> > ** (process:28697): DEBUG: couchdb-server-api.vala:90: 
> > send_misc_method: {"couchdb":"Welcome","version":"1.2.0a-"}
> >
> > ** (process:28697): DEBUG: couchdb-server-api.vala:104: 
> > get_motd: {"couchdb":"Welcome","version":"1.2.0a-"}
> >
> > ** (process:28697): DEBUG: couchdb-server-api.vala:146: 
> > main - get_motd : \xc0\xa0\u0004uchdb":"Welcome","version":"1.2.0a-"}
> >
> > So, what have I done wrong?
> >
> > Thank you.


Thanks.  

I am confused by the ownership. I am referencing other vapi files
and guessed that the string should be unowned if it is returned from a
library.