Delphi error returning TList

Question

I made a very simple application, but I have a problem that I really can't understand. Take a look at this basic code:

unit Unit1;

interface

uses
  Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics,
  Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, generics.collections, Vcl.StdCtrls;

type
  TForm1 = class(TForm)
    Button1: TButton;
    procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
    procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
    procedure FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
  private
    { Private declarations }
    test: TList<integer>;
    aList: TList<integer>;
  public
    { Public declarations }
    function testGenerics: TList<integer>;
  end;

var
  Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
 test := testGenerics;
 test.Sort;
 showmessage(test[0].tostring);
end;

procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
 test := TList<integer>.Create;
 aList := TList<integer>.Create;
end;

procedure TForm1.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
begin
 aList.Free;
 test.Free;
end;

function TForm1.testGenerics: TList<integer>;
begin

  aList.Add(4);
  result := aList;

end;

end.

Basically, when the form opens, I'm going to create testand aList, and then, when I click the button, the function is called testGenerics. Why do I have an Invalid pointer operation error?

I really can’t understand, because I create and destroy objects (I think) correctly. This code works fine:

function TForm1.testGenerics: TList<integer>;
begin

  Result := TList<integer>.Create;
  Result.Add(4);

end;

In this case, I return the instance TList<integer>, but also in the above case, return the instance aList(which is a TList).

, test := testGenerics test := aList ( aList), test , aList. ?

Answer 1

, testGenerics(), test, aList. test, OnCreate, . OnDestroy, test.Free, , aList, , .

- test ( TList, test, ), test aList, OnDestroy , .

---

? . Sort() 1 .

test , test testGenerics() ( testGenerics() test Self), .

aList, .

:

unit Unit1;

interface

uses
  Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics,
  Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, generics.collections, Vcl.StdCtrls;

type
  TForm1 = class(TForm)
    Button1: TButton;
    procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
    procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
    procedure FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
  private
    { Private declarations }
    test: TList<integer>;
  public
    { Public declarations }
    procedure testGenerics(aList: TList<integer>);
  end;

var
  Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  testGenerics(test);
  test.Sort;
  ShowMessage(test[0].tostring);
end;

procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
  test := TList<integer>.Create;
end;

procedure TForm1.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
begin
  test.Free;
end;

procedure TForm1.testGenerics(aList: TList<integer>);
begin
  // FYI, a better way to exercise Sort()
  // would be to use RandomRange() instead
  // of a hard-coded number...
  aList.Add(4);
end;

end.