// Boost.TypeErasure library // // Copyright 2011 Steven Watanabe // // Distributed under the Boost Software License Version 1.0. (See // accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at // http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt) // // $Id$ #include #include #include #include #include #include #include #include namespace mpl = boost::mpl; using namespace boost::type_erasure; void basic1() { //[basic1 /*` The main class in the library is __any. An __any can store objects that meet whatever requirements we specify. These requirements are passed to __any as an MPL sequence. [note The MPL sequence combines multiple concepts. In the rare case when we only want a single concept, it doesn't need to be wrapped in an MPL sequence.] */ any, typeid_<> > > x(10); int i = any_cast(x); // i == 10 /*` __copy_constructible is a builtin concept that allows us to copy and destroy the object. __typeid_ provides run-time type information so that we can use __any_cast. */ //] } void basic2() { //[basic2 /*` Now, this example doesn't do very much. `x` is approximately equivalent to a [@boost:/libs/any/index.html boost::any]. We can make it more interesting by adding some operators, such as `operator++` and `operator<<`. */ any< mpl::vector< copy_constructible<>, typeid_<>, incrementable<>, ostreamable<> > > x(10); ++x; std::cout << x << std::endl; // prints 11 //] } //[basic3 /*` The library provides concepts for most C++ operators, but this obviously won't cover all use cases; we often need to define our own requirements. Let's take the `push_back` member, defined by several STL containers. */ BOOST_TYPE_ERASURE_MEMBER((has_push_back), push_back, 1) void append_many(any, _self&> container) { for(int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) container.push_back(i); } /*` There are a few things to note about this. First, we use the macro __BOOST_TYPE_ERASURE_MEMBER to define a concept called `has_push_back` for a unary member function called `push_back`. When we use `has_push_back`, we have to give it the signature of the function, `void(int)`. This means that we expect to find a function that looks like: `` void push_back(int); `` Thus, we could call `append_many` with `std::vector`, `std::list`, or `std::vector` (because `int` is convertible to `long`), but not `std::list` or `std::set`. Also, note the use of `_self&` as the second argument of __any. `_self` is a __placeholder. By using `_self&`, we indicate that the __any stores a reference to another object instead of owning its own object. */ /*` The concepts created by __BOOST_TYPE_ERASURE_MEMBER take a __placeholder as an optional second parameter. This __placeholder defaults to `_self`. If we wanted to use a different placeholder or have a constant member function, we'd have to specify it explicitly. */ BOOST_TYPE_ERASURE_MEMBER((has_empty), empty, 0) bool is_empty(any, const _self&> x) { return x.empty(); } /*` For free functions, we can use the macro __BOOST_TYPE_ERASURE_FREE. */ BOOST_TYPE_ERASURE_FREE((has_swap), swap, 2); template struct swappable : mpl::vector > {}; /*` The use of `has_swap` is essentially similar to `has_push_back`. We have to pass it the function signature. In this case, however, the signature has one extra twist. We use the __placeholder `_self` to indicate which arguments of `swap` should be __any's. Now, swap should always have the same signature. It should always look like `has_swap`, since `swap` takes two arguments of the same type by reference. Thus, we define `swappable<>` as a convenient short-cut. [note We could define `swappable` to be a typedef of `has_swap`, but `_self` is not the only __placeholder. We could use `_a` instead as long as we substitute it uniformly like `any, _a&>`] [warning Do not try to make one concept inherit directly from another. The use of `mpl::vector` is necessary for the library to understand the relationship between the two concepts.] */ //] //[basic //` (For the source of the examples in this section see //` [@boost:/libs/type_erasure/example/basic.cpp basic.cpp]) //` [basic1] //` [basic2] //` [basic3] //]