C/C++ :: How To Build Array In A Function

I need to build an array in a function and return that array. Well, two arrays actually, which means I can't return it in the return statement.

Long term, this function/method is supposed to return two populated buffers for further processing. The buffers/arrays are loaded from a file. So, the size of the array is completely unknown until after the file is read. So, you can't have a fixed size array until the function is almost ready to return.

I'm hardcoding the arrays here for testing purposes, but eventually they will be loaded in from a file. That's the whole purpose of this.

Anyway, I need to pass the arrays that are created in this function/method to the caller. But I can't figure out how to do it. The code "almost" works, except that it's overwriting my array when it returns.

Here's the method:

bool GameModelClass::LoadBuffersFromPUNCFile(std::wstring PUNCFileName, VERTEX* &VertexListPointer, unsigned int* &IndexListPointer) {
VERTEX GroundVertexList[4] = {

[Code]....

VertexListPointer returns the correct data structure (actually its an array of structures). The problem is that the first time I use the other variables it over rights the array. The pointer still points to the same spot, but VertexBufferDescription is next to the VertexListPointer and so completely overwrites it.

What I "think" I want is to allocate the array in a totally different area of memory. VertexListPointer should be a pointer, not a contiguous block of memory. It should point to the contiguous block of memory elsewhere.

This is where my weak understanding of pointers comes back to bite me in the posterior end.

In the end, I just want to pass back two arrays/buffers to be used by the calling code.