What are some ways to trace a pointer ?

[kmkkra]

OS: Windows 7 64bit
IDE: Visual Studio 2008 (Express)


Hi I'm a novice C/C++ programmer, and right now I am trying to continue learning programming... I have started and
stopped a number of times in the past.

I am working with the codebase of "Blender 3D" which is a free open source 3D content creation suite ( Blender.org ). The codebase is mostly written in C. I have come across a situation in the code that is making things difficult. The PNL_CLOSED (#define PNL_CLOSED 6) bit is - disabled - within " block->panel->flag " whenever an end user opens a panel in Blender 3D; it must pass through an "if" statement just prior disablement. My problem is that at no point do I find where the PNL_CLOSED bit was enabled; it should be enabled whenever an end user closes a panel. Here is a code snippet:

if (block->panel->flag & PNL_CLOSED) {
   block->panel->flag &= ~PNL_CLOSED;

I have used the "Find All References" feature within VS 2008, and none of the references seem to be enabling the
PNL_CLOSED bit.

=============QUESTIONS============================

1) Can Visual Studio 2008 trace pointers? (e.g. it can trace the hierarchy of classes and functions)

2) What are some ways to trace a pointer?

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Thanks a lot.... Good day to you.