How to use C++ Builder OPENARRAY in a custom function - c++

Question

I would like to use OPENARRAY (or an alternative, if you have one) to pass multiple placeholder variables into my function. I know that it can be used for String::Format in this way:
UnicodeString Text1 = "abc";
int Num2 = 1;
String::Format("Some %s and %d", OPENARRAY(TVarRec, (Text1, Num2));
What I would like is to use Text1 and Text2 variables in something like this:
MyFunction("Some %Txt1 and %Num2", OPENARRAY(TVarRec, ("%Txt1", Text1, "%Num2", Num2));
Or perhaps:
MyFunction(OPENARRAY(TVarRec, ("Some %Txt1 and %Num2", "%Txt1", Text1, "%Num2", Num2));
So it would accept the text and replace the placeholder variables with appropriate variable content.
What I don't know is how do I read OPENARRAY parameter content from MyFunction.
So the function would look like:
UnicodeString MyFunction(UnicodeString Txt, ?WHAT-HERE?)
{
// read openarray here and replace vars
return StringReplace(Txt, ?WHAT-HERE?);
}
So I don't know how do I accept the OPENARRAY variables. Also, if you have an alternative solution to passing placeholder, variable in similar manner (without the use of C++11), that would also be welcome.

Answer 1

When passing a Delphi-style Open Array to a function, two things are actually passed:
a pointer to the first element of the array
the index of the last element of the array (NOT the length of the array, as you might expect!).
So, in your example, you can declare your function like this:
UnicodeString MyFunction(UnicodeString Txt, const TVarRec *Values, const int Values_High)
And then loop through the array using normal pointer arithmetic.
TVarRec can hold many different data types, so you have to look at its VType field to know what kind of data it is actually referencing, and then access the appropriate data field. Some values (integers and single characters) are stored directly in the TVarRec itself, while others (strings and other class types) are referenced by pointer instead.
For example:
UnicodeString MyFunction(UnicodeString Txt, const TVarRec *Values, const int Values_High)
{
if (((Values_High + 1) % 2) != 0)
throw Exception("uneven number of values!");
for (int index = 0; index <= Values_High; index += 2)
{
String OldValue, NewValue;
switch (Values[index].VType)
{
case vtString:
OldValue = * static_cast<const ShortString*>(Values[index].VString);
break;
case vtPChar:
OldValue = Values[index].VPChar;
break;
case vtPWideChar:
OldValue = Values[index].VPWideChar;
break;
case vtAnsiString:
OldValue = * static_cast<const AnsiString*>(Values[index].VAnsiString);
break;
case vtWideString:
OldValue = * static_cast<const WideString*>(Values[index].VWideString);
break;
case vtUnicodeString:
OldValue = * static_cast<const UnicodeString*>(Values[index].VUnicodeString);
break;
default:
throw Exception("illegal value type at index %d!", ARRAYOFCONST(( index )) );
}
switch (Values[index+1].VType)
{
case vtInteger:
NewValue = Values[index+1].VInteger;
break;
case vtBoolean:
NewValue = Values[index+1].VBoolean;
break;
case vtChar:
NewValue = Values[index+1].VChar;
break;
case vtExtended:
NewValue = * static_cast<const Extended*>(Values[index+1].VExtended);
break;
case vtString:
NewValue = * static_cast<const ShortString*>(Values[index+1].VString);
break;
case vtPChar:
NewValue = Values[index+1].VPChar;
break;
case vtWideChar:
NewValue = Values[index+1].VWideChar;
break;
case vtPWideChar:
NewValue = Values[index+1].VPWideChar;
break;
case vtAnsiString:
NewValue = * static_cast<const AnsiString*>(Values[index+1].VAnsiString);
break;
case vtCurrency:
NewValue = * static_cast<const Currency*>(Values[index+1].VCurrency);
break;
case vtVariant:
NewValue = * static_cast<const Variant*>(Values[index+1].VVariant);
break;
case vtWideString:
NewValue = * static_cast<const WideString*>(Values[index+1].VWideString);
break;
case vtInt64:
NewValue = * static_cast<const __int64*>(Values[index+1].VInt64);
break;
case vtUnicodeString:
NewValue = * static_cast<const UnicodeString*>(Values[index+1].VUnicodeString);
break;
default:
throw Exception("illegal value type at index %d!", ARRAYOFCONST(( index )) );
}
Txt = StringReplace(Txt, OldValue, NewValue, TReplaceFlags() << rfReplaceAll);
}
return Txt;
}
MyFunction("Some %Txt1 and %Num2", OPENARRAY(TVarRec, ("%Txt1", Text1, "%Num2", Num2)) );
On a side note, when a function takes an open array of TVarRec values, you should use the ARRAYOFCONST() macro instead of the OPENARRAY() macro directly, eg:
String::Format("Some %s and %d", ARRAYOFCONST(( Text1, Num2 )) );
MyFunction("Some %Txt1 and %Num2", ARRAYOFCONST(( "%Txt1", Text1, "%Num2", Num2 )) );