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<p>
In its simplest form the conversion functionality might be deployed as follows:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="preprocessor">#include</span> <span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="identifier">boost</span><span class="special">/</span><span class="identifier">convert</span><span class="special">/</span><span class="identifier">api</span><span class="special">.</span><span class="identifier">hpp</span><span class="special">&gt;</span>
<span class="preprocessor">#include</span> <span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="identifier">boost</span><span class="special">/</span><span class="identifier">convert</span><span class="special">/</span><span class="identifier">sstream_converter</span><span class="special">.</span><span class="identifier">hpp</span><span class="special">&gt;</span>
<span class="keyword">using</span> <span class="identifier">boost</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">convert</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="identifier">boost</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cstringstream_converter</span> <span class="identifier">cnv</span><span class="special">;</span> <span class="comment">// stringstream-based char converter</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">i1</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">boost</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">lexical_cast</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;(</span><span class="identifier">str</span><span class="special">);</span> <span class="comment">// Throws if the conversion fails</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">i2</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">convert</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;::</span><span class="identifier">from</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">str</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">cnv</span><span class="special">).</span><span class="identifier">value</span><span class="special">();</span> <span class="comment">// Throws if the conversion fails</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">i3</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">convert</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;::</span><span class="identifier">from</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">str</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">cnv</span><span class="special">).</span><span class="identifier">value_or</span><span class="special">(-</span><span class="number">1</span><span class="special">);</span> <span class="comment">// Returns -1 if the conversion fails</span>
</pre>
<p>
These calls can be interpreted as "<span class="emphasis"><em>Convert a string to int</em></span>"
for <span class="emphasis"><em>i1</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>i2</em></span> and "<span class="emphasis"><em>Convert
a string to int and return -1 if the conversion fails</em></span>" for
<span class="emphasis"><em>i3</em></span>.
</p>
<p>
The <span class="emphasis"><em>i1</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>i2</em></span> deployments look sufficiently
close and, in fact, are identical behaviorally. Namely, if the requested conversion
fails, an exception is thrown. The user request -- "<span class="emphasis"><em>Convert
a string to int</em></span>" -- lacks the specification for the failure
use-case. Consequently, <span class="emphasis"><em>boost::lexical_cast</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>boost::convert</em></span>
resort to handling that not-mentioned use-case in the standard way.
</p>
<p>
The second specification -- "<span class="emphasis"><em>Convert a string to int and return
-1 if the conversion fails</em></span>" -- is complete and processed "as
ordered" with the provided fallback value returned if the requested conversion
fails.
</p>
<p>
The described (very basic) interface might be sufficient for a variety of conversion
deployments. For example:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="identifier">boost</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">cstringstream_converter</span> <span class="identifier">ccnv</span><span class="special">;</span> <span class="comment">// stringstream-based char converter</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">num_threads</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">convert</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;::</span><span class="identifier">from</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">str1</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">ccnv</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">hex</span><span class="special">)).</span><span class="identifier">value_or</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">INT_MAX</span><span class="special">);</span> <span class="comment">// Read as hex</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">num_windows</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">convert</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;::</span><span class="identifier">from</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">str2</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">ccnv</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">dec</span><span class="special">)).</span><span class="identifier">value_or</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">INT_MAX</span><span class="special">);</span> <span class="comment">// Read as decimal</span>
<span class="keyword">if</span> <span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">num_threads</span> <span class="special">==</span> <span class="identifier">INT_MAX</span><span class="special">)</span> <span class="identifier">log</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="string">"bad num_threads"</span><span class="special">),</span> <span class="identifier">num_threads</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">default_num_threads</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="keyword">if</span> <span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">num_windows</span> <span class="special">==</span> <span class="identifier">INT_MAX</span><span class="special">)</span> <span class="identifier">log</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="string">"bad num_windows"</span><span class="special">),</span> <span class="identifier">num_windows</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">default_num_windows</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="special">...</span> <span class="identifier">proceed</span>
</pre>
<p>
Or even shorter, if we do not care logging:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">num_threads</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">convert</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;::</span><span class="identifier">from</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">str1</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">ccnv</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">hex</span><span class="special">)).</span><span class="identifier">value_or</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">default_num_threads</span><span class="special">);</span> <span class="comment">// Read as hex</span>
<span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">num_windows</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">convert</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;::</span><span class="identifier">from</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">str2</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">ccnv</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">std</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">dec</span><span class="special">)).</span><span class="identifier">value_or</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">default_num_windows</span><span class="special">);</span> <span class="comment">// Read as decimal</span>
<span class="special">...</span> <span class="identifier">proceed</span>
</pre>
<p>
So far the deployment of <span class="emphasis"><em>boost::convert</em></span> seems more compact
and natural (your mileage may vary) and might be potentially more efficient
compared to <span class="emphasis"><em>boost::lexical_cast</em></span> deployment which achieves
a similar (excluding formatting) result with something like
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="keyword">int</span> <span class="identifier">num_threads</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="keyword">try</span>
<span class="special">{</span>
<span class="identifier">num_threads</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">lexical_cast</span><span class="special">&lt;</span><span class="keyword">int</span><span class="special">&gt;(</span><span class="identifier">str</span><span class="special">);</span>
<span class="special">}</span>
<span class="keyword">catch</span> <span class="special">(...)</span>
<span class="special">{</span>
<span class="identifier">log</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="string">"bad num_threads"</span><span class="special">);</span>
<span class="identifier">num_threads</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="identifier">default_num_threads</span><span class="special">;</span>
<span class="special">}</span>
</pre>
<p>
By design this is <span class="emphasis"><em>boost::lexical_cast</em></span>'s only behavior.
Simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, it makes quite a few legitimate
process flows difficult and awkward to implement. That is the niche that <span class="emphasis"><em>boost::convert</em></span>
is trying to fill.
</p>
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<td align="right"><div class="copyright-footer">Copyright &#169; 2009-2014 Vladimir Batov<p>
Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt" target="_top">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)
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