Dealing with Memory and Selector Object

[MickeyGentry]

I will try to be judicious about the question and code here...

I have an array of strings:

const char *presetListMan[]  = 
{ 
  "001 (Circle) : Chiptune Vibes",
  "002 (Triangle) : Wub-Wub Tremolo + Auto Wah",
  "003 (Square) : Twin Some",
  "004 (Circle Alt) : Recorder/Flute",

... 50 items...

}

I'm using the ProgramChanger and IncrementDecrementSelector to send program change commands to a synth pedal, which all works. I'm trying to display those preset names on a TFT display. The Control_Surface and Adafruit TFT libraries take up memory of course. Here's what I find odd. I can assign the current preset number from the Selector to a variable, no issues. I can use that variable as an index to assign the array value to a char pointer, no issues. If I try to print that to the display I get memory issues. If I use a number index in code the print works fine, no memory issues. If I assign a number to the char point variable it works fine. I don't under why using a 'dead' number in code would be any different than using an int for the index.

uint8_t currentPreset;
char *presetName;

// this works fine
  currentPreset = selector.get();
  presetName = presetListMan[currentPreset];   

  tft.setRotation(3);
  tft.fillScreen(ILI9341_BLACK);
  tft.setTextColor(ILI9341_RED);    
  tft.setTextSize(3);
  tft.println(presetName);  // this causes a memory problem

If I change the line to

presetName = presetListMan[6]; // it prints fine

If I directly assign a number to presetName, it prints fine

presetName = 8;

It makes a BIG difference, 55% of dynamic memory to 106% of dynamic memory. I thought that a variable int would not be much bigger than a static number. I'm sure I'm missing something about how the arrays or Selector class works.

Thanks for any help!

[MickeyGentry]

I found out what's happening here. When the compiler sees a static number index to the array it just gets that one string. When there is a variable as the index the compiler needs to put the whole array into memory, and that's too big!