Re: Function pointer and functor problem

From:
Maxim Yegorushkin <maxim.yegorushkin@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++.moderated
Date:
Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:14:11 CST
Message-ID:
<f938e17c-5e90-4f8b-8cd8-f3f790875cbc@8g2000hse.googlegroups.com>
On Oct 24, 10:31 pm, "lali.cpp" <lali....@gmail.com> wrote:

I am having a doubt about function pointers and functors. I know that
the signatures of a function pointer and a pointer to a class member
function are different. However signature of a global function and
signature of a static class function are compatible.

Here is what i want to achieve:

There are 2 unrelated classes say A and B ( they are unrelated and
hence i don't want to make them part of any inheritance structure)

I have written a timer class in which i can register multiple timers,
it takes a timeout value and a function pointer that would be invoked
when the timer times out i.e basically i want a callback mechanism on
timeout. So internally the timer is using a queue to store all these
function pointer and all these function pointers have signature void
(*ptr)( );

So the queue would be like:

typedef void (*ptr)( );
queue<ptr> timer_queue;

The problem is i want to invoke the member function of classes A and
B when a timer expires so that i can change the state of object of
class A or B.


To call member functions you need an extra piece of data: an object to
call the member function upon. Thus, your queue should be declared
like this:

    struct callback
    {
        typedef void fun_type(void* arg);
        fun_type* fun;
        void* arg; // <--- object pointer

        callback(fun_type* f, void* a)
            : fun(f)
            , arg(a)
        {}

        void invoke() { fun(arg); }
    };

    typedef std::queue<callback> timer_queue;

Let me make it clear( i really suck in communication, sorry for that)

class A
{
        public:
                A( ):a(5)
                {
                }
                void timerExpired( )
                {
                        cout<<a;
                }

        private:
        int a

};

class B
{
        public:
                B():name("JOHN")
                {
                }
                void timerExpired( )
                {
                        cout<<name;
                }
        private:
                string name;

};

So i want a timer that can help me code the below code :( the
following code may not be syntactically correct )

Timer timer;
A obj_of_a;
B obj_of b
// please remember that timer uses a queue of function pointers
timer.registerTimer(A::timerExpired,6)// expires after 5 seconds

timer.registerTimer(B::timerExpired,2) // expires after 2 seconds

Problem is that these two functions are not static and if i make them
static how would i change the state of the objects ( static functions
don't have this pointer)


You make them static and make them accept the extra argument, which is
the pointer to the object:

    class A
    {
    public:
        A()
            : a(5)
        {}

        static void timerExpired(void* arg)
        {
            A* that = static_cast<A*>(arg);
            std::cout << that->a;
        }

    private:
        int a;
    };

    class B
    {
    public:
        B()
            : name("JOHN")
        {}

        static void timerExpired(void* arg)
        {
            B* that = static_cast<B*>(arg);
            std::cout << that->name;
        }

    private:
        std::string name;
    };

Then you do:

    struct Timer
    {
        // ...
        void registerTimer(callback cb, int timeout);
        // ...
    };

    Timer timer;
    A obj_of_a;
    B obj_of_b;
    // please remember that timer uses a queue of function pointers
    timer.registerTimer(callback(A::timerExpired, &obj_of_a),6); //
expires after 5 seconds
    timer.registerTimer(callback(B::timerExpired, &obj_of_b),2); //
expires after 2 seconds

Is it even possible i.e to store pointers to member functions (of
different classes) in a queue and invoke them.

It can be done if i make A and B derived from class C containing a
virtual function timerExpired and then storing a functor instead of a
function pointer but i don't want to do that as in my case A and B are
not at all related.

Can it be done somehow using wrapper static functions of classes A and
B ??
Please provide some hint or guidance.


Another way is to use boost::function<void()> as your callback
functor. This way you can use regular function pointers as well as
member function pointers and more. Here is your example once more:

    #include <queue>
    #include <string>
    #include <iostream>
    #include <boost/function.hpp>
    #include <boost/bind.hpp>

    typedef boost::function<void()> callback;
    typedef std::queue<callback> timer_queue;

    class A
    {
    public:
        A()
            : a(5)
        {}

        void timerExpired()
        {
            std::cout << a;
        }

    private:
        int a;
    };

    class B
    {
    public:
        B()
            : name("JOHN")
        {}

        void timerExpired()
        {
            std::cout << name;
        }

    private:
        std::string name;
    };

    struct Timer
    {
        // ...
        void registerTimer(callback cb, int timeout);
        // ...
    };

int main()
{
    Timer timer;
    A obj_of_a;
    B obj_of_b;
    // please remember that timer uses a queue of function pointers
    timer.registerTimer(boost::bind(&A::timerExpired, &obj_of_a),
6); // expires after 5 seconds
    timer.registerTimer(boost::bind(&B::timerExpired, &obj_of_b),
2); // expires after 2 seconds
}

Please see:
http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_36_0/doc/html/function.html
http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_36_0/libs/bind/bind.html

--
Max

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