Add a reference to an SDLNet_Address.
Defined in <SDL3_net/SDL_net.h>
SDLNet_Address* SDLNet_RefAddress(SDLNet_Address *address);| SDLNet_Address * | address | The SDLNet_Address to add a reference to. |
(SDLNet_Address *) Returns the same address that was passed as a parameter.
Since several pieces of the library might share a single SDLNet_Address, including a background thread that's working on resolving, these objects are referenced counted. This allows everything that's using it to declare they still want it, and drop their reference to the address when they are done with it. The object's resources are freed when the last reference is dropped.
This function adds a reference to an SDLNet_Address, increasing its reference count by one.
The documentation will tell you when the app has to explicitly unref an address. For example, SDLNet_ResolveHostname() creates addresses that are already referenced, so the caller needs to unref it when done.
Generally you only have to explicit ref an address when you have different parts of your own app that will be sharing an address. In normal usage, you only have to unref things you've created once (like you might free() something), but you are free to add extra refs if it makes sense.
This returns the same address passed as a parameter, which makes it easy to ref and assign in one step:
myAddr = SDLNet_RefAddress(yourAddr);It is safe to call this function from any thread.
This function is available since SDL_Net 3.0.0.