Common Definitions
[Foundation Classes]

This chapter contains all relevant information on very fundamental definitions and classes used throughout BALL (part of the Foundation Classes). More...

Collaboration diagram for Common Definitions:

Classes
class	BALL::Exception::GeneralException
	General exception class. More...
class	BALL::HashFunction< T >
	General Hash Function Template. More...
class	BALL::Limits< T >
	Numeric limits class. More...
class	BALL::VersionInfo
	Version information class. More...
Namespaces
namespace	BALL::Constants
	The constants namespace.
namespace	BALL::Exception
	Exception.
namespace	BALL::RTTI
	Simplified RunTime Type Identification.
Functions
BALL_EXPORT std::ostream &	BALL::operator<< (std::ostream &os, const Exception::GeneralException &e)
	Output operator for exceptions.
BALL_EXPORT string	BALL::streamClassName (const std::type_info &t)
	Returns a unique name for a class.
#define	BALL_CREATE_DEEP(name)
	Virtual construction macro.
#define	BALL_CREATE(name)
	Virtual construction macro.
#define	BALL_DEFINE_CREATE(name)
	Virtual cloning method definition macro.

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Detailed Description

This chapter contains all relevant information on very fundamental definitions and classes used throughout BALL (part of the Foundation Classes).

---

Define Documentation

#define BALL_CREATE

(

name

)

Value:

\
  virtual void* create(bool /* deep */ = true, bool empty = false) const\
  {\
    void* ptr;\
    if (empty == true)\
    {\
      ptr = (void*)new name;\
    }\
    else\
    {\
      ptr = (void*)new name(*this);\
    }\
    \
    return ptr;\
  }\
  \
  static void* createDefault()\
  {\
    return static_cast<void*>(new name);\
  }

Virtual construction macro.

This macro is used to define the virtual create method for classes that do not define a copy constructor taking a second argument (boolean, deep or shallow copy). On inclusion of this macro in the public interface of a class, the virtual creation method becomes available. The create method's signature is as follows: virtual void* create(bool deep = true, bool empty = false) const

The create method either creates an empty default object of the class (empty == true) or a copy of the object. The use of the create method requires a (public) default constructor (when creating an empty copy) and a copy constructor taking a reference to an object. The macro also implements a static method createDefault that returns a void pointer to a new instance of name.

Parameters:

name

the class name

#define BALL_CREATE_DEEP

(

name

)

Value:

\
  virtual void* create(bool deep = true, bool empty = false) const\
  {\
    void* ptr;\
    if (empty == true)\
    {\
      ptr = (void*)new name;\
    }\
    else\
    {\
      ptr = (void*)new name(*this, deep);\
    }\
    \
    return ptr;\
  }\
  \
  static void* createDefault()\
  {\
    return static_cast<void*>(new name);\
  }

Virtual construction macro.

This macro is used to define the virtual create method. On inclusion of this macro in the public interface of a class, the virtual creation method becomes available. The create method's signature is as follows: virtual void* create(bool deep = true, bool empty = false) const

The create method either creates an empty default object of the class (empty == true) or a copy of the object. The copy is either deep (deep == true) or shallow (deep == false). By default, the create methods returns a pointer to a deep copy of the object. The use of the create method requires a (public) default constructor (when creating an empty copy) or a copy constructor.

The macro also implements a static method createDefault that returns a void pointer to a new instance of name.

Parameters:

name

the class name

#define BALL_DEFINE_CREATE

(

name

)

Value:

\
  virtual void* create(bool deep = true, bool empty = false) const;\
  static void* createDefault();

Virtual cloning method definition macro.

If the create method has to be implemented by the user, this macro just defines the create method and the createDefault method. The function signatures are:

                        virtual void* create(bool deep = true, bool empty = false) const;
                        static void* createDefault();
                

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Function Documentation

BALL_EXPORT std::ostream& BALL::operator<<	(	std::ostream &	os,
		const Exception::GeneralException &	e
	)

Output operator for exceptions.

All BALL exceptions can be printed to an arbitrary output stream. Information written contains the exception class, the error message, and the location (file, line number). The following code block can thus be used to catch any BALL exceptions and convert them to human readable information:

                                try
                                {
                                        .... // some code which potentially throws an exception
                                }
                                catch (Exception::GeneralException& e)
                                {
                                        Log.error() << "caught exception: " << e << std::endl;
                                }
                                

BALL_EXPORT string BALL::streamClassName

(

const std::type_info &

t

)

Returns a unique name for a class.

This name contains no blanks. It is usually derived by substituting all blanks in the name (as returned by RTTI::getName()) with underscores ("_"). In the case of gcc, however a name demangling decodes the string first. This function is needed for object persistence.

Parameters:

t

the type_info structure as returned by typeid

Returns:

string the coverted class name

Referenced by BALL::RTTI::getStreamName().