C++ - pointer array to Vector?

Others have suggested that you cannot wrap an array in a vector, but that's simply not true; think about it, a vector has an array as it's underlying data container! I had been attempting this off and on for quite some time before I came up with a workable solution. The caveat is that you have got to zero out the pointers after use in order to avoid double-freeing the memory.

#include <vector>
#include <iostream>

template <class T>
void wrapArrayInVector( T *sourceArray, size_t arraySize, std::vector<T, std::allocator<T> > &targetVector ) {
  typename std::_Vector_base<T, std::allocator<T> >::_Vector_impl *vectorPtr =
    (typename std::_Vector_base<T, std::allocator<T> >::_Vector_impl *)((void *) &targetVector);
  vectorPtr->_M_start = sourceArray;
  vectorPtr->_M_finish = vectorPtr->_M_end_of_storage = vectorPtr->_M_start + arraySize;
}

template <class T>
void releaseVectorWrapper( std::vector<T, std::allocator<T> > &targetVector ) {
  typename std::_Vector_base<T, std::allocator<T> >::_Vector_impl *vectorPtr =
        (typename std::_Vector_base<T, std::allocator<T> >::_Vector_impl *)((void *) &targetVector);
  vectorPtr->_M_start = vectorPtr->_M_finish = vectorPtr->_M_end_of_storage = NULL;
}

int main() {

  int tests[6] = { 1, 2, 3, 6, 5, 4 };
  std::vector<int> targetVector;
  wrapArrayInVector( tests, 6, targetVector);

  std::cout << std::hex << &tests[0] << ": " << std::dec
            << tests[1] << " " << tests[3] << " " << tests[5] << std::endl;

  std::cout << std::hex << &targetVector[0] << ": " << std::dec
            << targetVector[1] << " " << targetVector[3] << " " << targetVector[5] << std::endl;

  releaseVectorWrapper( targetVector );
}

Alternatively you could just make a class that inherits from vector and nulls out the pointers upon destruction:

template <class T>
class vectorWrapper : public std::vector<T>
{   
public:
  vectorWrapper() {
    this->_M_impl _M_start = this->_M_impl _M_finish = this->_M_impl _M_end_of_storage = NULL;
  }   

  vectorWrapper(T* sourceArray, int arraySize)
  {   
    this->_M_impl _M_start = sourceArray;
    this->_M_impl _M_finish = this->_M_impl _M_end_of_storage = sourceArray + arraySize;
  }   

  ~vectorWrapper() {
    this->_M_impl _M_start = this->_M_impl _M_finish = this->_M_impl _M_end_of_storage = NULL;
  }   

  void wrapArray(T* sourceArray, int arraySize)
  {   
    this->_M_impl _M_start = sourceArray;
    this->_M_impl _M_finish = this->_M_impl _M_end_of_storage = sourceArray + arraySize;
  }   
};  

You can't wrap an array in a vector in place and expect the vector to operate on that array. The best you can do is give the vector the double* and the number of values, which will have the vector make a copy of every element and put it in itself:

int arrlen = 0;

// pretending my_api takes arrlen by reference and sets it to the length of the array
double* dbl_ptr = my_api(arrlen); 

vector<double> values(dbl_ptr, dbl_ptr + arrlen);

// note that values is *not* using the same memory as dbl_ptr
// so although values[0] == dbl_ptr[0], &values[0] != &dbl_ptr[0]

And also, like Praetorian said, if the API you are using expects you to free the memory after using it, you might be interested in smart pointers. See Praetorian's answer.