Actor pointing to null but if (Actor) returns true

[Bionic_Ape]

Hi Everyone,

I’m not sure if I understand how Unreal Pointers work correctly.

I normally use if (Actor) to see if the pointer has a value. Is what everybody recommends and I have been using this everywhere.

This works everywhere but in this specific piece of code:

AFocusableBase extends from AActor and I call this public method from an external different Class.

This is the value of Focused Actor when I debug it but if (FocusedActor) still returns true.

I have tried this too, but same result:

I checked, but Focused Actor is still null:

Is there anything that I am missing?

Cheers,

Bullyproof

[staticvoidlol]

Are you using a “debug” instead of “development” configuration in VS? I’ve found that you can’t really trust the debug output in VS when using a “development” configuration.

[Bionic_Ape]

Do you mean the Solution Configuration?

I am using Development Editor, I get the same result when I compile from editor without using the VS Local Debugger. It crashes:

Access violation - code c0000005 (first/second chance not available)

“”

msvcr120
msvcr120
msvcr120
UE4Editor_Core!FMsg::Logf_Internal__VA() [d:\buildfarm\buildmachine_++depot+ue4-releases+4.9\engine\source\runtime\core\private\misc\outputdevice.cpp:549]
UE4Editor_DisturberVer1!ADisturberBall::Use() [c:\users\movethirtysix\documents\unreal projects\disturberver1\source\disturberver1\disturber\disturberball.cpp:19]
UE4Editor_DisturberVer1!AMainCharacter::Action() [c:\users\movethirtysix\documents\unreal projects\disturberver1\source\disturberver1\characters\maincharacter.cpp:128]

[link text][2]

[Bionic_Ape]

I solved the Crash, it was a matter of removing %s in the String when it didn’t have a value, but I still don’t understand why Visual Studio returns true when if (Actor) in that specific piece of code…

[Bionic_Ape]

It’s the other way around, as Daniel Ricci pointed out, It is Development editor the one who has funny behaviour. Honestly I still don’t understand why. Thanks for your answer!

[anonymous_user_bc5b3c85]

Is it possible that your pointer is a smart pointer handled in such a way that you need to call a function to check if its valid? Also can you try compiling your game under Debug Editor, if thats to slow you can always remove optimization in the PCH files.

[Bionic_Ape]

That was it. I debug it using Debug Editor and it worked. I still don’t understand the differences between the different Compilers, thanks!