Re: Partial pimpl design pattern?

From:
"Daniel T." <daniel_t@earthlink.net>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:07:56 -0500
Message-ID:
<daniel_t-F2EE2B.20075606122008@earthlink.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>
In article
<559b868f-165e-407e-8001-9e01a575e8cd@v13g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
 "jason.cipriani@gmail.com" <jason.cipriani@gmail.com> wrote:

On Dec 6, 4:33?pm, "jason.cipri...@gmail.com"
<jason.cipri...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm writing a class where I want to keep a few details out of the
public header, but those details are only a small fraction of
everything in the class.

Normally I'd do this with pimpl or something, but I want to avoid the
inconvenience of coding and maintaining the entire pimpl abstraction.
I always get uncomfortable when I try a new design pattern though. My
question is: Is something like the example below in poor form? Is
there a better way?

So, say I originally have a class like this:

class MyClass {
public:
? MyClass ();
? ~MyClass ();
? void a ();
? void b ();
? void c ();
? void d ();
private:
? int x_;
? int y_;

};

And I only want to separate part of it. So I do this (I've inlined
function definitions to keep the example brief but note that, of
course, the actual source code is split into appropriate headers and
source files):

class MyClass {
public:
? MyClass () { impl_ = new MyClassPartialImpl(this); }
? ~MyClass () { delete impl_; }
? void a ();
? void b ();
? void c () { impl_->c(); }
? void d () { impl_->d(); }
private:
? int x_;
? friend MyClassPartialImpl;
? MyClassPartialImpl *impl_;

};

class MyClassPartialImpl {
public:
? explicit MyClassPartialImpl (MyClass *owner) : owner_(owner) { }
? ~MyClassPartialImpl ();
? void c ();
? void d ();
private:
? MyClass *owner_;
? int y_;


Stick a "friend MyClass;" here; both MyClass::a() and MyClass::b()
would have access to the "hidden" things in MyClassPartialImpl (e.g.
y_, or any private functions).


I wouldn't bother with friends:

class MyClass {
public:
   MyClass();
   ~ MyClass();
   MyClass(const MyClass& that); // note you need these
   void operator=(MyClass that);
   void c();
private:
   int x;
   struct Impl;
   Impl* pimpl;
};

// in cpp file

struct MyClass::Impl
{
   Impl():y(0) { }
   int y;
};

MyClass(): x(0), pimpl(new Impl)
{
}

MyClass::~MyClass() {
   delete pimpl;
}

MyClass::MyClass(const MyClass& that)
   : x(that.x)
   , pimpl( new Impl( *that.pimpl ) )
{
}

void MyClass::operator=(MyClass that)
{
   x = that.x;
   Impl* tmp = that.pimpl;
   that.pimpl = pimpl;
   pimpl = tmp;
}

void MyClass::c() {
   pimpl->y = 4;
   x = 8;
}

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