Using CRTP (curiously recurring template pattern) you can provide a base class with knowledge of classes derived from it. It is not that hard to create an array that stores an instance of each class that derives from a base class (see example)
class Base{
public:
static std::vector<Base *> m_derivedInstances;
};
template <class Derived>
class CRTPBase : public Base {
public:
static bool m_temp;
static bool addInstance()
{
m_derivedInstances.push_back(new Derived);
return true;
}
};
template <class Derived>
CRTPBase<Derived>::m_temp = CRTPBase<Derived>::addInstance();
I was wondering if it was possible to create a Typelist (see http://www.research.ibm.com/designpatterns/pubs/ph-jun00.pdf) of all the types of derived classes. The problem is that every time the compiler sees a new class that derives from Base
it will need to append a new type to the list, but Typelists are immutable (it is possible to create a new list with the new type appended to it, but adding an element to a list is impossible as far as I know. In the end I would like to have something like this:
struct DerivedClassHolder {
typedef Loki::TL::MakeTypeList</*list all derived classes here*/>::Result DerivedTypes;
};
The ultimate goal is to be able to iterate over all the classes that derive from Base
.
It can be done, using a pseudo type-map. Here is some example code using boost::mpl. The explicit definition of "Implem" can be done with a macro in each corresponding implem header.
#include <iostream>
#include <boost/mpl/vector.hpp>
#include <boost/mpl/eval_if.hpp>
#include <boost/mpl/identity.hpp>
#include <boost/mpl/for_each.hpp>
#include <boost/mpl/push_front.hpp>
#include <boost/mpl/empty_sequence.hpp>
#include <boost/type_traits/is_same.hpp>
using namespace boost::mpl;
using namespace boost;
// A type map. Implem #N of type Key is type (default: void)
template <typename Key, int N>
struct Implem
{
public:
typedef void type;
};
// Type vector building functions
// void, the default type, is used to stop the recursion
template <typename Key, int N = 1>
struct ImplemToList;
template <typename Key, typename Item, int N>
struct ImplemListItem
{
public:
typedef typename push_front<typename ImplemToList<Key, N + 1>::type, Item>::type type;
};
template <typename Key, int N>
struct ImplemToList
{
public:
typedef typename Implem<Key, N>::type item;
typedef typename eval_if<is_same<item, void>,
identity<vector<> >,
ImplemListItem<Key, item, N> >::type type;
};
// Example code: an interface with two implems
class Interface
{
public:
virtual const char* name() const = 0;
};
class Implem1 : public Interface
{
public:
virtual const char* name() const { return "implem_1"; }
};
class Implem2 : public Interface
{
public:
virtual const char* name() const { return "implem_2"; }
};
template <>
struct Implem<Interface, 1>
{
public:
typedef Implem1 type;
};
template <>
struct Implem<Interface, 2>
{
public:
typedef Implem2 type;
};
void print(Interface const& i)
{
std::cout << i.name() << std::endl;
}
int main()
{
typedef ImplemToList<Interface>::type IList;
for_each<IList>(&print);
}