CoTaskMemAlloc function (combaseapi.h)

Allocates a block of task memory in the same way that IMalloc::Alloc does.

Syntax

LPVOID CoTaskMemAlloc(
  [in] SIZE_T cb
);

Parameters

[in] cb

The size of the memory block to be allocated, in bytes.

Return value

If the function succeeds, it returns the allocated memory block. Otherwise, it returns NULL.

Remarks

CoTaskMemAlloc uses the default allocator to allocate a memory block in the same way that IMalloc::Alloc does. It is not necessary to call the CoGetMalloc function before calling CoTaskMemAlloc.

The initial contents of the returned memory block are undefined – there is no guarantee that the block has been initialized. The allocated block may be larger than cb bytes because of the space required for alignment and for maintenance information.

If cb is 0, CoTaskMemAlloc allocates a zero-length item and returns a valid pointer to that item. If there is insufficient memory available, CoTaskMemAlloc returns NULL. Applications should always check the return value from this function, even when requesting small amounts of memory, because there is no guarantee that the memory will be allocated.

Requirements

Requirement Value
Minimum supported client Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps | UWP apps]
Minimum supported server Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps | UWP apps]
Target Platform Windows
Header combaseapi.h (include Objbase.h)
Library Ole32.lib
DLL Ole32.dll

See also

CoTaskMemFree

CoTaskMemRealloc

IMalloc::Alloc