Re: C++ Templates - passing a pointer to the member to that member's base class

From:
Greg Herlihy <greghe@pacbell.net>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++.moderated
Date:
Mon, 23 Apr 2007 04:52:05 CST
Message-ID:
<C251AAE4.12D3%greghe@pacbell.net>
On 4/20/07 10:27 AM, in article
1177080733.878314.49360@n59g2000hsh.googlegroups.com,
"jonas.andero@hotmail.com" <jonas.andero@hotmail.com> wrote:

I'm writing a little framework for interface programming, where the
interfaces are represented by template classes with modern features
like properties ? la C#. While these properties are member variables
with Get and Set operations, it is the implementing class that shall
handle these calls and hence I want Get and Set to be members of the
class that implements the interface.

The folowing code is an example what I want to achive (simplfied).
First the interface class and then an example with a class that
declares a property "time_pos".

-------------- Begin code --------------

template <class C>
class Interface
{
public:

  template <class T, class D, D C::* pmp>
  class Property
  {
  public:
    typedef typename Property<T, D, pmp> P;
    typedef P C::* prop_mbr_ptr;

    void Set(T t)
    {
      C * c = (C*)(((char*)this) - ((char*) &(((C*)0)->*pmp)));
      ((C &) *this).Set<D, T>(t);
    };

    T Get() const
    {
      C * c = (C*)(((char*)this) - ((char*) &(((C*)0)->*pmp)));
      return ((C &) *this).Get<D, T>();
    };

  };
};


Is there a reason why the Property class template cannot store the value of
the property as well? I find the current design - that effectively splits a
single property of the class between two data members (one stores the value
and the other mediates access) - overly complicated. Whereas consolidating
the two data members into one has the advantage of a cleaner design and
implementation:

     template <class T>
     class Property
     {
         T prop;
     public:
         Property() : prop() {}

         void Set(const T& t)
         {
             prop = t;
         }

         T Get() const
         {
             return prop;
         }

         T operator()() const
         {
             return Get();
         }

         Property& operator=(const T&t )
         {
             Set(t);
             return *this;
         }
     };

class Implementation : public Interface<Implementation>
{
public:

  // Accessor templates (must be declared!)
  template<class P, class T> void Set(T);
  template<class P, class T> T Get();

private:
  // the Value of the property is kept here
  int _time_pos;

public:
  // time_pos, a Property of int-type
  class time_pos_t : public Property<int, time_pos_t,
&Implementation::time_pos> {} time_pos;

  // Specializations of the accessor templates for time_pos
  template<> void Set<time_pos_t, int>(int i)
  {
    _time_pos = i;
  }

  template<>int Get<time_pos_t, int>()
  {
    return _time_pos;
  }

};


The Implementation class can now be simplified as well:

     class Implementation
     {
     public:
         // time_pos, a Property of int-type
         Property<int> time_pos;
     };

void main()
{
  Implementation impl;
  impl.time_pos.Set(42);
  int i = impl.time_pos.Get();
}


The Property class supports not only explicit Get() and Set() accessors, but
also the assignment and function call operators for a more compact syntax:

     int main()
     {
         Implementation impl;

         int i = impl.time_pos.Get();
         impl.time_pos.Set(42);

         i = impl.time_pos(); // Get() is optional
         impl.time_pos = 42; // Set() is optional
     }

Greg

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