static member(2d array) of structure (2d array) in C

Question

I got a question regarding to static member of structure Here is the scenario:

• Need 2d array variable to retain its values even after exited from the function in another C files. Subsequent call from main()-in another C file, to the function will use that last value and continue to do calculation to produce and update new values(retained also). So, I I think I need to use static for that array.

• The 2D array is member of an 2D structure. I need 2D structure for identity purposes for the 2d array. Lets say I got identity[row][column] with member[5][5], I need statically define the member throughout the call from main(). But static for structure member is not allowed in C as I notice.

code i am trying on:

//in function.h

 #define row 2
 #define column 5
 int function(int rowNUM);

  //in function.c
int function(int rowNUM)
{
typedef struct {
    static int member[5][5];
    int y[5][5];
    int forg;
} mystruct;

mystruct identity[row][column];// declare the identity as structure array

int columnNUM;
int c;
int d;

//----try to initialize member to 1
for (columnNUM=0;columnNUM<column;columnNUM++)
{
for (c=0;c<5;c++)
   {
for(d=0;d<5;d++){
   identity[rowNUM][columnNUM].member[c][d]=1;
       }
    }
}


//----try to update member--- The values should retain for subsequent call from main
for (columnNUM=0;columnNUM<column;columnNUM++)
{
for (c=0;c<5;c++)
   {
for(d=0;d<5;d++){
   identity[rowNUM][columnNUM].member[c][d]=1+identity[rowNUM][columnNUM].member[c][d]; // to update member new value
       }
    }
}
}


// in main.c

main()
{
function(1);
function(2);// member here is in different identity from function (1)
function(1);//member should retain its value from function(1)
function(2);//member should retain its value from function(2)
}

Any other suggestion is welcomed if this is not the way to achieve the goal. I am quite new in programing Please help me on this.

Answer 1

If you only want a member of the struct to be static, your best option will be to make a static type in the function, which in your case would be a static 2D array, and do the assignment to the [stack] structure when the function is called.

Eg:

.. function(...)
{
  static int b[2][2]
  typedef struct { int a[2][2] } struct1;
  struct1 x[2][2];
  x->a = b;
}

Answer 2

You have defined a 2d array of structs, which is really hard to statically initialize because each struct contains matrices of ints. Also, you can't have only a member of a struct static, the whole structure has to be defined static.

The easiest way I can think of doing what you want is defining an static matrix of mystructs and a helper variable to initialize it just on the first call, ie,

//in function.c
#include <stdbool.h>

int function(int rowNUM)
{
    typedef struct {
        int member[5][5];
        int y[5][5];
        int forg;
    } mystruct;

    // helper flag    
    static bool first_call = true;

    // this is a matrix of (row x cols) mystructs
    static mystruct identity[row][col];

    if (first_call) {
        /* initialize the matrix however you want
           BUT remember to set first_call to false!
        */
        first_call = false;
    }

    // rest of function ...
}

If you don't want to keep the values of the y and forg members (what does forg stand for? is it a typo?), you should split the struct in two, but I can't see why would you want to keep some values of the struct and discard others unless they are temporal variables.

If y and forg are temporal varaibles, you should definitely split your struct definition in two.

Another way of doing that is passing the pointer to the matrix as a parameter to your function, so you can maintain state without using a static variable

int function(int rowNUM, mystruct **identity)

But note that, although most of the times arrays decay to pointers (you can find more information in similar questions to this one), they are not the same thing.

Answer 3

void function(int rowNUM){

int c;
int d;
int columnNUM;



typedef struct {
int member[3][3];
}mystruct;

mystruct identity[ROW][COLUMN];
static bool first_call = true;
if (first_call) {
// INTIALIZE each element of member array to 1 
for (columnNUM=0;columnNUM<COLUMN;columnNUM++)//total cell
{
for (c=0;c<3;c++)
   {
for(d=0;d<3;d++){
   identity[rowNUM][columnNUM].member[c][d]=1;
//printf("identity[%d][%d].member[%d][%d]=%d\n",rowNUM,columnNUM,c,d,identity[rowNUM][columnNUM].member[c][d]);
       }
    }
}
first_call = false;
    }



identity[0][0].member[0][0]=identity[0][0].member[0][0]+3;
printf("%d\n", identity[0][0].member[0][0]);
identity[0][0].member[0][1]=identity[0][0].member[0][1]+1;
printf("%d\n", identity[0][0].member[0][1]);



}

The above code produce: first call= 4 2 second call= 7 3 third call= 10 4 Work perfectly fine,nice. But it works fine either I declare

mystruct identity[ROW][COLUMN];

or

static mystruct identity[ROW][COLUMN];

Does it mean I dont need to declare static at all?