Re: Mapping operations to codes

From:
Victor Bazarov <v.bazarov@comcast.invalid>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:51:27 -0400
Message-ID:
<j30pb0$1pi$1@dont-email.me>
On 8/23/2011 12:17 PM, Default User wrote:

I'm not sure how well that subject captured the topic. Anyway, this is a
branching from my previous topic "Fun with member-function pointers".

The general problem is that we have a number of "drivers" for instruments.
These are essentially an abstraction layer than translates control messages
from higher-level modules into something the particular hardware can
understand. The API for this is a system of operation codes and an
associated data word that has bits set or cleared for various options.

My current solution is to map the op codes to pointers to member functions
that handle the particular operation. There's also a requirement that each
driver be able to respond with a list of the supported op codes. The problem
is that it results in a lot of very similar code in each driver. I had
wanted to push down as much behavior as possible to the base class. My
initial thoughts (see other thread) look like they result in undefined
behavior, so no good.


The maps don't seem to be needed per instance of class ('test') but
rather per class (i.e. they should probably be static). That's all I
have so far. I would probably try rewriting the code so that 'write'
and 'list' functions were static as well.

Currently there seems to be no need in using the 'this' to call the H0
or H4 members - you're not using any instance specific data here.
Hence, there is no need for H0 or H4 to be non-static either. Hence
your "pointer to member" statement is unsubstantiated. Each "method"
for dealing with "code" could just as well be static...

Please supply a more complete design that would prove the need to use
non-static driving methods.

It would be nice to see the need for more than one 'test'. Perhaps the
'main' should define two different "drivers" (or even two instances of
each of the two different "drivers") to demonstrate the need for keeping
the maps of members in the instance, and not per class. So far even if
you are trying to use non-static data in those H0 and H4 member
functions, the *map* still doesn't have to be per instance.

Below is a small representation of the problem. It's not the real code
(which would be very large), so it's not necessary to suggest improvements
in layout or that sort of thing. Thoughts on attacking the general problem
would be welcome.

Brian

================= code =================

#include<iostream>
#include<map>
#define CALL_HANDLER(object,ptrToMember)((object).*(ptrToMember))

class tbase
{
public:

protected:
    tbase()
    {
    }
    virtual ~tbase()
    {
    }
};

class test : public tbase
{
public:
    typedef int (test::*HandlerPtr)(int);

    test() // sets up the map of handlers to op codes
    {
       handlers[0] =&test::H0;
       handlers[4] =&test::H4;
    }
    virtual ~tbase()
    {
    }
    virtual int H0(int data)
    {
       std::cout<< "test::H0: "<< data<< "\n";
       return data;
    }
    int H4(int data)
    {
       std::cout<< "test::H4: "<< data<< "\n";
       return data;
    }


Not sure how it plays into your goals, so is there a reason why one is
virtual and the other isn't?

    void write(int data, int code) // finds the handler and passes data
    {
       std::map<int, HandlerPtr>::iterator it;
       it = handlers.find(code);
       if (it != handlers.end())
       {
          // Found, call the function pointer
          CALL_HANDLER(*this, it->second)(data);
       }
       else // unhandled code
       {
          // error handling
       }
    }
    void list() // just prints supported op codes
    {
       std::map<int, HandlerPtr>::iterator it = handlers.begin();

       std::cout<< "Supported Op codes:\n";
       while (it != handlers.end())
       {
          std::cout<< it->first<< "\n";
          it++;
       }
    }
private:
    std::map<int, HandlerPtr> handlers;
};

int main()
{
    test t;
    t.list();
    t.write(123, 0);
    t.write(456, 4);
    return 0;
}


V
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