First of all, I'd like to thank the author of AngelScript. It's been the best and easiest scripting language I've worked with so far.

So I'm encountering a null pointer access error when I try to define the value of a class member which is a reference type script object. I have properly registered it with proper factory functions and everything. I can create new instances of it just fine when I directly define it in a variable; however, if I declare a class member with that type and then define its value in the constructor, I get the error, and then my application crashes.

Here's what my class looks like:

class Rectangle
{
public:
    math::Vector2 position;
    float width;
    float height;
    uint8_t type;
    Rectangle(): position({0.0f, 0.0f}), width(0.0f), height(0.0f), type(0) {}
    Rectangle(math::Vector2 position, float width, float height, uint8_t type = RectangleType::STATIC);
}

Here's how the copy constructor looks:

Rectangle &Rectangle::operator=(const Rectangle *rect)
{
    this->position = rect->position;
    this->width = rect->width;
    this->height = rect->height;
    this->layers = rect->layers;
    return *(this);
}

This is how the class is registered:

r = engine->RegisterObjectBehaviour("Rectangle", asBEHAVE_FACTORY, "Rectangle@ f(Vector2, float, float, uint8)", asFUNCTIONPR(RefFactory, (math::Vector2, float, float, uint8_t), Rectangle*), asCALL_CDECL); assert( r >= 0 );
r = engine->RegisterObjectBehaviour("Rectangle", asBEHAVE_LIST_FACTORY, "Rectangle@ f(const int &in) {Vector2, float, float, uint8}", asFUNCTION(RefFactoryList), asCALL_CDECL); assert( r >= 0 );
r = engine->RegisterObjectMethod("Rectangle", "Rectangle @opAssign(Rectangle@)", asMETHODPR(Rectangle, operator=, (const Rectangle*), Rectangle&), asCALL_THISCALL)

And this is what my script looks like:

#include "BaseObject.as"

class Player: BaseObject
{
    Rectangle @hitbox; // declaring the reference type member
    Player(json data)
    {
        hitbox = {{ 0.0f, 0.0f }, 10.0f, 10.0f, 2}; // defining its value
        print("Object constructed");
    }

    void Start()
    {
        print("Start method called");
    }

    void Update()
    {
        if (IsKeyPressed(KEY::SPACE)) {
            print("Space key pressed");
        }
    }
}

Like I explained, before, I get no errors if I define an insance of this type before declaring it first, but if I declare it before and then define its value like in the example above, I get a null pointer access error. I'd really appreciate it if somoene could explain how I can fix this issue. Thanks in advance.

Edit: Apologies for posting this under the artificial intelligence forum. I was sure I postetd it under Angelcode, but I guess the setting got reset when I refreshed the page.

WitchLord said:
Add the @ symbol to show you really want a handle assignment.

@hitbox = {{ 0.0f, 0.0f }, 10.0f, 10.0f, 2};

That actually solved the problem. I didn't tihk to look at the scripting language section in the docs thinking all I need would be the developer manual. Thank you!