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Yet Another C#-style Delegate Class in Standard C++

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6 Jan 20062 min read 212.2K   1.2K   75  
This article describes a C#-style delegate class completely written in standard C++.
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<title>Delegate&lt;R (T1, T2, ..., TN)&gt;</title>
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<h1>Delegate&lt;R (T1, T2, ..., TN)&gt; Class</h1>
<p>Represents a function object which encapsulates an invocation list, each of which is a C++ 
callable entity (static function, member function or function object).</p>

<h2>Synopsis</h2>
<pre>
<font color="blue">namespace</font> Acf {

<font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TSignature&gt;
<font color="blue">class</font> Delegate; <font color=darkgreen>// no body</font>

<font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> R, <font color="blue">class</font> T1, <font color="blue">class</font> T2, ..., <font color="blue">class</font> TN&gt;
<font color="blue">class</font> Delegate&lt;R (T1, T2, ..., TN)&gt; {
<font color="darkgreen">// Constructor/Destructor</font>
<font color="blue">public</font>:
    Delegate();
    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    Delegate(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f);
    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TPtr, <font color="blue">class</font> TFunctionPtr&gt;
    Delegate(<FONT color=blue>const</FONT> TPtr&amp; obj, TFunctionPtr mfp);
    Delegate(<font color="blue">const</font> Delegate&amp; d);
    ~Delegate();

<font color=darkgreen>// Properties</font>
<font color="blue">public</font>:
    <font color="blue">bool</font> IsEmpty() <font color="blue">const</font>;
    <font color="blue">bool</font> IsMulticast() <font color="blue">const</font>;

<font color=darkgreen>// Methods</font>
<font color="blue">public</font>:
    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    <font color="blue">void</font> Add(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f);
    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TPtr, <font color="blue">class</font> TFunctionPtr&gt;
    <font color="blue">void</font> Add(<FONT color=blue>const</FONT> TPtr&amp; obj, TFunctionPtr mfp);

    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    <font color="blue">bool</font> Remove(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f);
    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TPtr, <font color="blue">class</font> TFunctionPtr&gt;
    <font color="blue">bool</font> Remove(<FONT color=blue>const</FONT> TPtr&amp; obj, TFunctionPtr mfp);

    <font color="blue">void</font> Clear();

<font color=darkgreen>// Operators</font>
<font color="blue">public</font>:
    <font color="blue">operator</font> <font color="blue">bool</font>() <font color="blue">const</font>;
    <font color="blue">bool</font> <font color="blue">operator</font>!() <font color="blue">const</font>;

    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    Delegate&amp; <font color="blue">operator</font>=(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f);
    Delegate&amp; <font color="blue">operator</font>=(<font color="blue">const</font> Delegate&amp; d);

    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    Delegate&amp; <font color="blue">operator</font>+=(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f);

    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    <font color="blue">friend</font> Delegate <font color="blue">operator</font>+(<font color="blue">const</font> Delegate&amp; d, <font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f);
    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    <font color="blue">friend</font> Delegate <font color="blue">operator</font>+(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f, <font color="blue">const</font> Delegate&amp; d);

    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    Delegate&amp; <font color="blue">operator</font>-=(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f);

    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    Delegate <font color="blue">operator</font>-(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f) <FONT color=blue>const</FONT>;

    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    <font color="blue">friend</font> <font color="blue">bool</font> <font color="blue">operator</font>==(<font color="blue">const</font> Delegate&amp; d, <font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f);
    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    <font color="blue">friend</font> <font color="blue">bool</font> <font color="blue">operator</font>==(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f, <font color="blue">const</font> Delegate&amp; d);

    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    <font color="blue">friend</font> <font color="blue">bool</font> <font color="blue">operator</font>!=(<font color="blue">const</font> Delegate&amp; d, <font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f);
    <font color="blue">template</font> &lt;<font color="blue">class</font> TFunctor&gt;
    <font color="blue">friend</font> <font color="blue">bool</font> <font color="blue">operator</font>!=(<font color="blue">const</font> TFunctor&amp; f, <font color="blue">const</font> Delegate&amp; d);

    R <font color="blue">operator</font>()(T1, T2, ..., TN) <font color="blue">const</font>;
};

} <font color=darkgreen>// namespace Acf</font>
</pre>

<h2>Examples</h2>
<p><b>1. Using delegates</b></p>
<pre>
<font color="blue">static</font> <font color="blue">void</font> H() { ... }

<font color="blue">class</font> Foo {
<font color="blue">public</font>:
    <font color="blue">void</font> G() { ... }
};

<font color="blue">class</font> Foo2 {
<font color="blue">public</font>:
    <font color="blue">void</font> <font color="blue">operator</font>()(<font color="blue">int</font> n) { ... }
};

<font color=darkgreen>// Create delegate a which attaches to a static function</font>
Delegate&lt;<font color="blue">void</font> ()&gt; a(&amp;H);
assert(a == &amp;H);

<font color=darkgreen>// Create delegate b which attaches to an instance and a member function</font>
Foo foo;
Delegate&lt;<font color="blue">void</font> ()&gt; b(&amp;foo, &amp;Foo::G);
assert(b == std::make_pair(&amp;foo, &amp;Foo::G);

<font color=darkgreen>// Create delegate c from a</font>
Delegate&lt;<font color="blue">void</font> ()&gt; c = a;
assert(c == &amp;H);

<font color=darkgreen>// Create delegate d which attaches to a function object</font>
Delegate&lt;<font color="blue">void</font> (<font color="blue">int</font>)&gt; d(Foo2());

<font color=darkgreen>// Call delegate</font>
a();
d(<font color="darkred">100</font>);

<font color=darkgreen>// Combine/remove delegates</font>
d += &amp;H;
d += std::make_pair(&amp;foo, &amp;Foo::G);
d -= std::make_pair(&amp;foo, &amp;Foo::G);
d -= &amp;H;
</pre>

<p><b>2. Using events</b></p>
<pre><font color="blue">static</font> <font color="blue">void</font> Hello(Button*, ClickEventArgs* args) { ... }

<font color="blue">typedef</font> Delegate&lt;<font color="blue">void</font> (Button*, ClickEventArgs*)&gt;    ClickEventHandler;

<font color="blue">class</font> Button {
<font color="blue">public</font>:
    ClickEventHandler Click;
    <font color="blue">void</font> OnClick() { <font color="blue">this</font>-&gt;Click(<font color="blue">this</font>, NULL); }
};

Button b;
b.Click += &amp;Hello;
b.OnClick();
b.Click -= &amp;Hello;
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Written By
Web Developer
China China
Yingle Jia is a software engineer located in Beijing, China. He currently works at IBM CSDL (China Software Development Lab). His interests include C++/COM/C#/.NET/XML, etc. He likes coding and writing.

He is the creator of ACF (Another C++ Framework) project. See http://acfproj.sourceforge.net/.

He also has a blog at http://blogs.wwwcoder.com/yljia/

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